Uganda episode 2

Tuesday 29^th May

We packed up and headed into Fort Portal to go to the internet café and to get petrol before heading out to Kibale Forest. At 2 o’clock we set off with Johnson our guide to track the chimpanzees in the jungle. Dave was wearing underpants, long pants, socks AND shoes – he really felt restrained! We headed off through narrow paths under the heavy canopy of trees, unfortunately under heavy skies with the threat of rain, which is not good for tracking. However, after about an hour the skies had cleared and we heard from somewhere deep in the forest an excited hooting rising in volume, tempo and pitch before fading away. Johnson listened carefully to where the sound was coming from – told us it was a call to say they were on the move – and then we headed down another path to intercept them. We came across one male first and stepped up our pace to follow him – and there in a clearing we came across the group of chimps resting after lunch. Some were in the trees but about 12 to 15 were on the ground which was very lucky. The alpha male was totally relaxed, lying on his back just enjoying the view, with about 4 body guards around him. It was absolutely amazing to be within 5 or 6 meters of some wild animals and to be able to observe them. This group are habituated and used to tourists, but still. The alpha male, called Mbutu, just looked at us through heavy eyes, and casually scratched himself every now and then. Then his right eye began to bother him and he sucked his finger and very meticulously cleaned his eye! A female, who was in oestrus, came down a vine in search of a male, or so Johnson told us, but before we could focus our cameras, the deed was done! It was the quickest “quickie” we had all seen. Apparently, because we are taller than the chimps, they perceive us as more powerful, and that is why they do not challenge us, although a big male can pick up 4x his body weight! For this reason, children under 12, are not allowed to track the chimps. Well, before we knew it, our hour with the chimps was up, and we had to say our farewells and start our trek out of the jungle again – thank goodness for Johnson, as we came out on a completely different path! It was a very special afternoon and we feel very privileged to have been able to spend an afternoon tracking chimpanzee in a Ugandan Forest in the middle of Africa.

Wednesday 30^th May

We left and drove SW towards the Ruwenzori Mountains – this range runs for almost 120kms along the Congo/Uganda border and is the highest mountain range in Africa. Mount Stanley is the 3^rd highest mountain after Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, and is made up of 2 peaks, Margherita(5109m) and Alexandra(5083m). Our going was really slow as Willie is overheating and the conclusion is that he has a possible crack in his cylinder head! On one of the stops we checked our radiator and found that it needed a whole lot of water as it had developed a leak. Luckily, Dave had a bottle of sealant that he poured into the radiator and this seemed to solve the problem. Then, to top it all, poor Willie got a puncture, so they have not had a good day! Anyway, we reached the Ruwenzori campsite and set up camp. The highest peak, Mount Stanley was covered in mist, but by the evening it had cleared and with binoculars, we could see ice and snow on the top.

Thursday 31^st May

During the night it began to pour with rain and when we woke up it was still pouring. Eventually we all decided that we had to get up and pack up – just then the rain slowed down and almost stopped – we packed up and an hour later we were all on the road and the heavens opened again! We have really been incredibly lucky with the weather all in all. Locals walking along the road were using banana leaves as umbrellas! The banana is an integral part of Africa. In Uganda it is the main subsistence crop for 40% of the population. We couldn’t imagine eating bananas as a staple diet, until we discovered more – there are 4 types of banana – matoke which are green and are boiled, gonja which are roasted, mbide which are distilled into wine or beer and menvu which are the sweet fruit ones which are eaten raw. You need to know which ones to buy in the market, or else what looks to be a juicy sweet banana will in fact be foul and floury until it is cooked. We have boiled the matoke bananas and they taste almost exactly like boiled potatoes!

We arrived at Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Hardmans and us headed straight for the camp as our top mounting bolt had come off our front shock absorber. Dave fixed that fairly quickly but we just stayed in the campsite as there were hippo, waterbuck and an abundance of birds right here in the campsite. We have had a few laughs – Brian chasing a warthog away when in fact he was walking backwards and being chased by the warthog himself! And, Dave running to chase a marabou stork when we realized it was about to snatch our fillet steak thawing on the bonnet! But generally, it has been a difficult day for me – I get SO homesick – today I had to cover up the picture of my three kids as otherwise I just couldn’t stop crying! Ingrid tried to console me, but she also gets homesick, so that just had 2 of us crying! We seem to be the only 2 suffering from this malaise.

Friday 1^st June

Will has ordered a head gasket which Brian is going to collect for him from a town 25kms away, and they are going to replace that today, here in the campsite. We spent the whole day at the campsite catching up on laundry etc while the 3 men stripped Will’s entire engine to replace the head gasket – luckily it was just a blown gasket and not a cracked head which was also a possibility. At 4pm all was done and we headed off from Mweya campsite on a game drive to meet up at campsite 2.

Saturday 2^nd June

We left early and headed SW to the bottom of Queen Elizabeth to Ishasha River campsite. The road was slow going but we saw a bateleur, a whole bunch of vultures feeding on a buffalo and best of all, Dave spotted a leopard crossing the road in front of us – he went into the grass and observed us for a few seconds before disappearing into the thicket! Unfortunately, we did not even have time to photograph him, but we were still delighted.

We camped at campsite 2 on Ishasha River – right on the river bank with hippos all around us and a troop of red tailed monkeys as well as resident baboon! It was a noisy night with hyena cackling, hippo snorting and Neville snoring! Anyway, we slept well as we had full bellies – our cooked matoke bananas and mince – they taste just like boiled potatoes when cooked.

Sunday 3^rd June

A lazy day with a game drive along the northern circuit to the papyrus lined edge of Lake Edward, and then a leisurely braai with a camp fire. At night we see lots of fire-flies – something I have not seen since a child, and I don’t think our children have ever seen! It was only when we saw them here higher up in Africa that we all commented how we realized that we had not seen them for years – I suppose they are casualties of all the insecticide sprays used at home.

This time traveling through Africa has given Dave and I time to think a lot of things through. We both agree that this is still something we want to achieve and we are happy taking this year out as a gap year. However we have decided that we do not have gypsy spirits and we do not want to do such an extended holiday again. Home is actually where our hearts lie and we miss our children, parents, friends and pets! So, we won’t be traveling back down the west coast of Africa in a year or so – 2 or 3 month holidays are our absolute limit and then we need our home base to feed our souls.

Monday 4^th June

Today we traveled 160kms S to Kisoro. The journey took us 7 hours and our average speed was 29km per hour. However it was one of the most scenic drives we have done. The entire day we drove through hundreds of “Valley of 1 000 hills” – and virtually every steep slope was cultivated by the locals with maize, potatoes, bananas, forestry and vegetables. It was quite a sight to see and the hills looked like huge patch work quilts of crops. At the end we arrived at Kisoro which has the Virunga mountains as a backdrop. The Virungas are a chain of 8 freestanding volcanic cones strung along a fault line associated with the same geological process that formed the Rift Valley. They straddle the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC and they all exceed 3 000 metres in height. Two are still active volcanoes and the last eruption was on 17 January 2002. Mountain gorillas inhabit the 6 dormant volcanoes and tomorrow we are going to track one of the habituated groups which we are all looking forward to.

Tuesday 5^th June

What a day we have had! We woke up at 5.30am to be bundled into a taxi – all 6 of us in a corolla! It was a 10km drive to the Uganda/DRC border where we were met by Daniel, our tour operator. We walked through to the DRC and to his office where our gorilla tracking permits were to be issued. But this is Africa at its best – the “professional tour group” had no pen!! Luckily Ingrid had one, so there we all were using 1 pen, the tour operator included. Finally we were loaded into a Landcruiser along with 2 armed guards and the driver to make the 1&1/2 hour journey to where we would track the gorillas. When we arrived the driver disappeared and we all just waited – with our 2 armed guards and a whole gaggle of interested local children! An hour later, he returned to tell us in broken English, that the guide was no where to be found and we must all get back in and head back to Daniel at the border! Another 1 ½ hours of bumping along, then drawn out stories and discussions, meetings with chief immigration officials to organize visas at no cost for tomorrow, back through the border and the 10km taxi ride back all cramped into a corolla!! So, 3pm, we are back in Kisoro and tomorrow we have a 5.30am wake up call to start the whole procedure again! Sometimes you have to be very patient in Africa – luckily we are not on a strict time schedule.