Uganda…
Crossing into Uganda was a breeze. We drove the rest of the
day until dusk when we arrived into Kampala (Uganda Capitol). We stayed at Red
Chili Hideaway, a really awesome hostel/ campground. It had free wifi (slow as
hell), and a double room upgrade for $15 for both of us. By this time I am
going to make it a goal and not camp again for the rest of my trip. We stayed
two nights at Red Chili. The second day I spent the day wondering around the
town. Jareb, Brittany, Shari and I caught boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) and
headed to Garden City mall. It was a really great mall. I left everyone and
found an ATM. I drew out money for Cecilie (who’s ATM is still for kids) it
only allows $200 US a day so she has to get money out every day (gorillas were
coming up and they cost $500). She wanted to relax at the campground so I said
I’ll get money for her. I also got money for myself. After getting money I walked by a movie
theatre and low and behold expendable 2 was starting in 10 minutes. Two hours
later of mindless entertainment I was on my way back to red chilies.
Next day we left at 0530 in the
morning (to beat Kampala traffic) and took off towards Mbarara. We arrived
there just before it got dark. Once again we upgraded to a really dingy double
bed. The place wasn’t bad it just wasn’t that good. That night the owners told
Suse he would start a fire. 20 minutes later the owners took apart a picnic
bench and started a fire.
We left for Kisoro the next day at 1000 and only had a two
hour drive. It took us 3 hours but Suse stopped and helped a truck who had a
huge hole in their radiator. Kisoro was our hub for the gorilla trek. I am so
excited; I have wanted to do this ever since I watched the movie Gorillas in
the Mist. At the time I wanted to dedicate my life for the gorillas. Cecilie
and I ate at a really good café and spent the day getting a packed lunch and
charging our camera batteries.
By 0630 in the morning we were off to see the gorillas in
two vehicles. The first vehicle ( a 2wd car) was Sarah, Nico, Denise, and Brit.
In the other vehicle (4X4 van) was Talbot, Cecilie, Kev, Alexis, Jareb, Yoshi
and myself. What supposed to be an hour and a half drive took us a little over
2 hours. When we got to the orientation camp (Bwindi) we were told that we were
going to go in a group of 8 and another group of 3 (the group of 3 was supposed
to meet up with 5 people who just left. We were then told that we needed to
drive to our leave point for the gorillas. Nico, Denise and Talbot got into a range rover
while the rest of us piled into our minivan. Not knowing at the time that the 3
people who got into the Range Rover where the ones who were going to meet up
with the other group.
We took off behind the Range Rover, but about 10 minutes
into the drive our tire exploded and we had a 15 minute delay while our driver
changed the tire. Ten minutes later, all of us were handed a walking stick and
took off to see our gorilla family. We knew we were going to trek through
jungle, but honestly I had no idea how tough it would be. I felt in shape, but
the ground was muddy and we were going up and down thick jungle. About 2 and
half hours into the trek we stopped because our guides didn’t know where the
family was. We took about a 30 minute break while the trackers found the trail
of the gorillas. (This is where I was mistaking. I thought they had security on
the gorillas 24/7 but they don’t). They know where the gorillas are the night
before. After the 30 minute break, we started going through even thicker
jungle. The jungle was thick with vine, and nettles. An hour later we heard the
Silverback let us know he was there by beating on his chest. The next hour was
a blur, but a blur in such a good way. Our family had 24 gorillas, but because
of the thick jungle we saw 11 of those gorillas. Two babies, 7 females, and two
males one male was adolescent (but very large), and one silverback (massive).
About 20 minutes into the showing there was a male sitting under a tree and we
knew the silverback was just off to the right. Yoshi took one step to close to
the male sitting on the ground. Next thing we knew we heard screaming and the
silverback was charging us. The other male started charging as well. The guides
tackled Yoshi and Cecilie and started using their sticks to scare the
silverback away from ripping our arms away from our body. It only lasted a few
seconds but that was one of the scariest seconds of my entire life. It was so
amazing, scary and beautiful all at the same time. After that the silverback climbed a tree and
didn’t even give us a second look. He just sat on the tree farting away. I only
took a few pictures, because I spent the rest of the time just admiring the
beauty of their eyes, fingers, fingernails and their mannerisms. After 45
minutes we started the same decent back to the start. It started raining which
made the ground almost impossible to walk on. We made it back in 2 and half
hours with one minor incident. Yoshi only brought a 20oz bottle of coke and no
water. About 20 minutes from being back, Yoshi collapse. I went to him and couldn't feel a heartbeat; none of his muscles were working. I put him on the
ground and Cecilie gave him some sugar. Myself, and Yoshi’s porter grabbed him
and started carrying him (hands under his legs) down the treacherous muddy
ground. After 5 minutes of carrying him the sugar hit him and Yoshi was back to
his normal self! He finished the trek to the vehicles. At this time our guides
gave us a certification of trekking with the gorillas, and we took off back to
our hotel. The road was even worse than before, and took us 3 hours to get
back. We arrived at 2030 hours, tired but really glad we spent the money. To me
it was worth every cent of the $500. We were supposed to take off that night,
but because of getting back 4 hours later than expected.
Next morning we had a short drive back to Mbarara where we
stayed at a very posh campground. Cecilie and I upgraded to a very nice room.
First room this trip that had a TV, huge bed and hot hot showers. We stayed
here for two days just organizing and getting caught up on personal things.
Everyone but Cecilie, Alexis, Fred and Yoshi went to Rwanda. I really didn't want to go to Rwanda for just a day. There was also a chance that I would have
to pay for my visa to Kenya again. Once you go into Rwanda your Uganda, Kenya
and Tanzania visa are invalid. Luckily everyone who did go only ended up paying
for Uganda visa.
The next morning we took off at 0530, and headed back to the
capitol Kampala for one night. We made pretty good time and arrived there at
1630, traffic wasn’t as bad as Suse thought. We are only here for a night
because Suse was going to try to get Sudanese visas for the rest of the truck.
That night was movie night. Cecilie, Alexis, Maria, and Kev went to see Marley,
and Denise and I saw Total Recall!
Next morning we were off to Jinja (the source of the Nile).
We had 3 days at Adrift campsite. The campsite had wifi so I spent the first
day downloading the first 3 episodes of Sons of Anarchy season 5 (my favorite
character died in episode 3 and I am still upset). I booked a bungee jump and
whitewater rafting trip. The first day I didn’t do anything, the second day I
bungee jumped and the third day I spent all day white water rafting the Nile
river. The bungee jump was so much easier than Victoria Falls. I didn’t even
hesitate just jumped. The cool thing about this place was you get dunked in the
Nile after you jumped. I believe it is the only place in the world where half
your body goes into the water after you jump. The next day whitewater rafting
was a blast. When asked which one I liked better Zambezi or Nile I can’t give
an honest answer. Zambezi has 3 times more rapids, and its intense. The Nile
was more relaxed and our guide was trying to flip us on every rapid. I also liked
the fact that if you did go into the water it wasn’t a rush to pick you up. You
could float between rapids. I also liked that it was just Nico, Denise and
myself in the boat with the guide. It was a really great day and I feel so
blessed to have been able to do the Zambezi and the Nile all in the same trip.
Next day was a full day of driving over the border into
Kenya.
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