Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Uganda... Nile special, and Gorillas


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. 

No comments:

Post a Comment