Two months shy of 3 years ago I booked the gorilla trekking holiday almost as soon as it appeared. It ticked all the boxes and looked to be a potentially sensational trip. It was ! A long time to wait, but we got there in the end.
There were 11 of us on the tour plus our inestimable TM Damian. I was barely through the Heathrow door when I was spotted by Damian and he directed me to the baggage drop off. This proved very easy and quick. Not so the ever stressful Security ! I’m unable to go through the metal detectors, so it’s everything in the boxes .. belt, watch, wallet, shoes, jacket and then on to ‘the frisk’.
We flew with Emirates and I have to say they are very good. That said, I still failed to get much sleep over the 4 flights. Once checked in we all headed to the Lounge for an hour or so and with a section cordoned off for our group getting to know everyone was made that much easier.
We were soon boarding and took off soon after 9pm. Just over 6 hours later we landed in Dubai (a shorter flight than expected). The joy of Security followed before we were allowed into the terminal. Our flight from Dubai took off late at 10:30 and in 5.5 hours we landed at Entebbe. Having a window seat allowed for great views of downtown Dubai and it was an enjoyable flight in general with lots to see. Touchdown came at around 3pm local and once through the formalities we were led to the two Landrovers we would be using throughout the trip. First impression of Uganda ? It was very hot ! Bags were loaded onto the vehicles and it proved to be a tight squeeze. A word of advice. If you’re thinking of doing this tour, don’t bring too many bags. Especially large suitcases. In our case it was decided to strap several cases on the top of the vehicle to give people room to move. The first trip to the hotel was a quick 15 mins, but the long drives needed the cases on top. I felt sorry for our two drivers/guides Africano and Tony who had to keep loading and unloading them, often each day, if it involved a one night stay. Once at the hotel and checked in we gathered to walk round the corner to the Bureau to acquire some Ugandan Shillings. Back at the hotel Damian gave us a briefing on the holiday, then we hung around for our pre-ordered dinner while sampling the ‘drink of the tour’ Nile Special. Very nice indeed ! Once dinner was over most of us retired to our rooms to prepare for the next day. It was going to be an interesting one including walking with white rhinos. Alarm set for 6:15.
Day 3 and a reasonable nights sleep. Up at 6:20, breakfast at 7:00 and ready for departure at 8:00. Ahead of us was a long drive. We soon hit the edges of Capital, Kampala. This was to be quite an eye opener. Chaotic in the extreme with ‘pushing in’ seemingly a national sport. For every car/van, of which there were plenty, there must have been 20 motorbikes. Quite the scene. It was most welcome to finally clear this busy part of the country. 2 hours in and we stopped at a roadside market where all sorts of produce, mainly fruit, was being eagerly sold off. Every vehicle that stopped was immediately surrounded by very friendly vendors, with many deals done. This included our party. These were early glimpses into Ugandan life and were fascinating. Damian loves jackfruit and wanted us all to try some. So when we carried on our way he passed pieces round. My verdict ..ok, but a bit rubbery. A banana like flavour for me, so I’ll stick to them. We continued on to our pre-ordered lunch venue. Masses of butterflies were milling around the entrance and this was to be an ongoing theme. If you like butterflies, we must have seen hundreds of thousands. I’ve never seen anything like it. The whole country was covered with them. And some beautiful ones too.
A very pleasant lunch and break and then we carried on to the Ziwa Rhino Centre where we were prepared for our ‘walk with rhinos’. We were out for just over an hour and came across a number of White Rhinos who were very amenable ! Great to get up close (15 yds) to these wild animals, who are actually well habituated to humans. But you never know ! A great experience in very hot and humid conditions and was an early indicator of what might be to come ..
Next stop was a brief visit to the mighty Murchison Falls. The Falls were indeed mighty. Very impressive from the top. We were now running a bit late and arrived at our lodge at 7:10. A quick shower and change and back for the buffet dinner. Plenty of options and very enjoyable (with a couple of Nile Specials to help it down !). Back to the room at 9:15 to prepare for a very early start tomorrow (6:15).
Day 4 alarm call 4:45 !! Coffee 5:30, prepare brekkie 5:50, on the road 6:30. It’s hard work this holiday game .. Within 20 minutes of our lodge we entered the Game Park. Dirt tracks with plenty of humps and bumps, but also plenty of wildlife. Numerous Kob, Giraffes, Buffalo, Warthogs, Hartebeest, Oribi, Guinea fowl plus a plethora of birds including Groundbills and Palm Nut Vulture.
Highlight was probably seeing a just born Oribi struggling to find it’s feet being encouraged by a female Kob as it’s mother had abandoned it. Apparently, first time mothers can do this as they’re just not aware of what they should do. Sad really.
A stop for our brekkie was made at the side of the Nile delta. Some very basic toilet facilities (I.e. a hole in the ground !) was interesting ! After a 45 mins stop we returned to the lodge for a brief rest and lunch. Next on the menu was to be a cruise on the Nile up to Murchison Falls. We were all looking forward to this despite the sweltering heat. With lunch out of the way we made our 5 mins drive down to the boat pontoon where, after checking Hercules Poirot wasn’t on board, we climbed aboard the African Queen. Plenty of room and we were soon on our way. A good 700m wide we hugged the left hand bank making sure we avoided the rather large hippos mostly submerged. This was a cruise of about 1.75 hours to Murchison Falls. There was lots to see ! Hippos, Crocodiles, Waterbuck, Warthogs, Elephants, Buffalo, various Antelopes and plenty of birds. Kingfishers, Bee Eaters, Fish Eagles, Herons, Egrets to name a few. A great visual feast for the eyes ! We returned the same way taking about 45 mins after an interesting 180 turn at MF. Our pilot nearly sank us when he misjudged a rock formation mid-channel and gave it a good thump. It was nearly Titanic 2, but fortunately no damage was done. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing 2.5 hours in total.
Back at the lodge a rest and freshen up was welcome before dinner at 7:00. Another good buffet. Hot banana pudding was particularly good ! Not such an early start tomorrow with brekkie at 7, bags out by 7:15 and ready to leave at 8. More wildlife plus a tea plantation visit as we travel south down the western side of the country.
Day 5 and we were away by 8:20 with another long driving day ahead. Fascinating Ugandan life on view all of the way. The roads were well tarmaced, but bumpy. Every small town/village had quite severe speed bumps, which made it quite a rollercoaster ride at times. Sights enjoyed were local women in bright, colourful dresses walking on the roadside, usually carrying provisions of some sort. These included large water bottles and big bags of fruit and veg. Also, schoolkids returning home in their colourful uniforms looking very smart and the great majority of whom waved enthusiastically at us as we sped by. Unusual and unexpected sights included a large roadside market selling everything from double beds to cattle and goats. We also passed a massive funeral gathering with hundreds of people in attendance and more approaching. One thing we observed caused some amusement. We passed 3 young lads waving crash helmets, but with no bikes. They were actually hiring them to riders without helmets to pass a police checkpoint around the corner with the idea they handed them back on the other side out of sight of ‘the law’. A nice little earner !
Our packed lunch break was taken in a rather exclusive establishment with an excellent garden set-up for our picnic. In this area there were several trees with a lot of noise being generated. It was coming from some hungry heron young as they greeted their parents return. There were at least 3 families on the go which made for some good photos. Back on the road we stopped 20 mins short of our hotel for a tea plantation visit. This was very much on the edge of the plantation, which was vast and impressive. Similar in outlook to the winelands of France. Tea was served as we were given a very interesting account of the tea making process from planting to drinking.
Once at our hotel chaos reigned ! We eventually found our rooms and had an hour or so before dinner. A nice enough 1st floor room, but no a/c, wi-if not working and ‘interesting’ shower facilities!
I had a lovely balcony which had a beautiful, flowering tree directly opposite. It wasn’t long before all manor of colourful birds paid a visit. Great for us photographers and did I indulge !! Dinner was calling and proved to be decent and then back to the room to prepare for a 7:00 start as we take on the Chimpanzee tracking. It’s going to be a test, but all being well it should prove to be one of the highlights.
Day 6 and up at 5:15. Brekkie at 6. The usual fayre and just the job before the big event ! We left at 7:15 and arrived at the Chimp starting point 45 mins later to find 20 odd vehicles filled with like minded individuals. We signed in and we’re all then given a briefing, which included the dos and donts while tracking. Once that was done we were assigned our Trackers and were soon on our way into the dense forest. Very humid and watching your step a must. Quite up and down but apparently nothing like Bwindi. We were in luck ! About 30 mins in we came across some chimps. Our 1 hour had started. There were plenty of people from other groups there too so access was tricky but doable. We had struck lucky to find the chimps enjoying some honey from a hive they had found. Fortunately the bees were still asleep (apparently they wait til it gets hotter !), so we weren’t attacked by a swarm. Amongst the 6 or 7 chimps were a mother and baby, but she soon made an exit to protect her youngster from us ! Moving on we came upon another group and some good sightings were made. The hour had soon gone by and a wander through the Forest took us to our vehicles. Back at the control centre we were given our certificates for our successful mission. We then bade good bye to our Trackers and headed for lunch. We had been out tracking for about 3 hours apparently and most, if not all, were feeling rather tired. Bwindi will be another step up, literally ! Our lunch stop was at Tinka’s Homestead. This was set up about 10 years ago by Mr Tinka himself and lunches are served in his garden. Usually by him, but he was away so his daughter, Bridget looked after us. We all took our places in a large round room with a huge revolving table in the middle. Bridget then told us about the traditions of Ugandan food and practices before our lunch was brought out. A dozen or so pots were but around the edges of the table and Bridget went through what each of them was and it’s significance. We were then invited to sample each item before deciding what we liked for when the ‘proper’ eating started. I tried most but Ugandan cuisine isn’t high on my preferred list it turns out. There was enough to feed me though and it was good to experience the real Uganda. After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a rest and a shower (3:00) Both coming and going we reached a section of the road guarded by Olive Baboons. Heading out we found them spread across the road and unwilling to move. In one place a big fight broke out while a large male proceeded to climb onto our bonnet ! He had a good look at us as we did him before, with a gentle hint of acceleration he jumped off. On our return, however, one decided to investigate the roof as well as the bonnet and clung on despite some prompting to get off. Meanwhile Baboons of all ages got on with grooming and feeding oblivious to their hinderance. We finally got free and carried on our merry way with great amusement. Plans were to visit the local market at 5:00, but I decided I’d rather rest on my balcony and see what birds paid a visit. Quite a few as it turned out !
Dinner at 7:00 again. Quite tasty. Reports from the Market visit not great, but I think it was more of a cultural observation than anything else. Tomorrow it will be swamps and scenery. Alarm at 6:20 ..
Day 7 brekkie at 7 and on the road at just after 8. The Bigadi Swamps were first on the list today. This was close to where we were tracking chimps yesterday. This included ‘Baboon Boulevard’. And yes, they were all waiting and hoping some food was on offer. Needless to say one moved into the centre of our lane to stop us before jumping up onto the bonnet again. We stopped directly alongside a pair of adults both cradling babies. There was no time for messing about and we moved on despite the ‘bonnet jumper’ clinging on. We reached the Swamp area after 45 mins and found we were the only visitors this time. A quick briefing followed and we were off on the trail. Quite narrow and a number of boardwalks to negotiate. There were early sightings of Red Tailed and Colobus monkeys. Also some impressive blue turacos and weaver birds. Several stops were made as and when we encountered the monkeys and we were soon at the 1.5 hours mark which was halfway. This was the planned mark for us and the cars were summoned to take us on to lunch. A very enjoyable nature trek. We set off for our planned lunch stop taking a detour to meet driver Africano’s wife. She was busy selling bananas at the turn off on the main road. We took some bananas with us. Half the size of ours, but very good. We then made our way along dirt roads passing through small villages and experiencing the real Uganda. Very interesting and thought provoking. We then made it back onto the main road and made further stop offs at 3 water filled craters. Effectively huge lakes. Very picturesque and tranquil. A late lunch was taken at the Queen Elizabeth Pavillion. Erected in her honour having visited the site in the early fifties. She hasn’t been back ! Another very beautiful area though. We were now destined for our lodge in the middle of Queen Elizabeth National Park. We arrived at around 4:30 to find breathtaking views over Lake Edward. A fabulous location with facilities to match. A bit of rest before a buffet dinner at 7:00. Another action packed day ahead with a Game Drive departure time of 6:00.
Question : What do you do when you’re climbing a steep jungle ‘path’, stop to catch your breath, then look round to find a Silverback Gorilla 12 feet behind you using the same path ?
More on that later … :shy:
