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I wish I:
- Had brought more film for my 35mm camera. It was next to impossible to buy more and I seriously underestimated the amount that I could have used. Especially for photographing the gorillas. Even though I'm nowhere close to a professional wildlife photographer, it would have been easy to sqeeze off another two to three rolls of 800 film.
- Had a digital camera that would have taken many photos in rapid sequence. Jan's Canon shot something like 5 shots within seconds, and with all the gorilla movement, it would have been nice to have.
- Had brought more money. We seriously underestimated the amount of U.S. dollars to bring with. Forewarned that it was impossible to cash Travelers Checks, and no place accepted VISA, we still thought there would be an ATM somewhere along the way. So wrong! It cost $120 U.S. just for the Visas to get in and out of Uganda...then there were all the tips for gorilla guides, staff at the tented camps and hotels, drinks (wine and soft drinks), and various Arts and Crafts.
Continue reading "Uganda/Rwanda - Hindsight Is Always 20/20" »
The Nile is considered the longest river on Earth, 4,160 miles, and makes its way to Egypt ending in a large delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea. John Hanning Speke was the first European to sight Lake Victoria (he named the Lake after Queen Victoria) in 1858. The British explorer was traveling through central Africa searching for the source of the Nile. When seeing this "vast expanse of open water" for the first time, Speke believed that this was the source of the Nile.
This section of the Nile is called the "White Nile" flowing to Khartoum, Sudan where it merges with the "Blue Nile" to form the Nile River. Climate changes and dams are blamed for a huge drop in the level of Lake Victoria - at least six feet in the past three years. The Lake is over 27,000 square miles (about the size of Ireland) and is the greatest of Africa's Great Lakes.
The group got into a little river boat...View image... for our trip up the Nile to view the source and also do some more bird-viewing.
heading to the source by boat
Continue reading "The Source of The Nile" »
Back in Entebbe, there was time to finally get on the Internet...View image. About two or three Internet facilities approximately a mile away from The Boma with reasonably fast connections.
Pat suggested a day trip to Jinja, the reputed "Source of The Nile" in Uganda. (Rwanda claims that the Source of The Nile is in their country.) As well as seeing the Nile source, Jinja also had Bujagali Falls and was a quaint, laid-back old town. Everyone but Josh (leaving tonight for New York) thought that was a great idea. Jinja was a little over two hours from Entebbe but we would be forced to travel in and out of congested Kampala one more time.
Jinja map
Continue reading "A Day Trip to Jinja" »
We started out of Mburo National Park, driving slowly on the last game drive of this trip. Our "seen animals and birds" list was quite long by now but still no Zebras or Impalas. It was going to be a long driving day back to Kampala (hoping to find an ATM there) and on to Entebbe, staying at The Boma for two last nights.
Joseph calculated that we drove around 650 miles throughout the entire trip, and even though that included some tough, long, driving days, there is no other way to really see a country. There was constantly something to engross us on the road whether it was the colorful people carrying loads on their heads...View image, amazing produce stands, the "Great Mother of all Mud-Holes" or beautiful terrain.
A few minutes away from Mburo Tented Camp, we spotted our first solitary, ordinary Zebra (its name).
ordinary Zebra
Continue reading "From Mburo National Park to Kampala" »
Mantana Camp was situated high up on a hillside off the main route from Park Headquarters. Our tented camp was raised on pilings off the ground with wonderful views of Lake Mburo. This Camp had a total of nine double, completely enclosed and screened tents with a veranda to enjoy views of Lake Mburo. ...View image...
After lunch, we drove down to the Lake for a small boat cruise. We hoped to spot Nile Crocodiles, hippos and lots of birds. Because of its close proximity to Kampala, there were quite a few people down by the shoreline, eating and drinking in a small refreshment area, on day trips. The area around also had many Civet Monkeys running around, trying to get into the parked vehicles...
curious Civet Monkey
Continue reading "Cruise on Lake Mburo and Game Viewing" »
Destination today? Lake Mburo National Park, the closest savanna reserve to Kampala, and known for dense populations of zebra, wart hog...View image, buffalo, impalas, nile crocodiles, and more herds of hippos. Our home there was going to be Lake Mburo Luxury Tented Camp for one night.
On the ride, Pat filled us in with more bytes of information:
- Nile crocodiles can grow to be 9 feet long and can live to be 100 years old.
- Hippos yawn to show aggression not because they are tired, and can weight more than 7,000 pounds.
- A "boda-boda" is either a motorcycle or bicycle used to carry passengers...similar to taxis and also used to haul goods on the back of them. The word, "boda-boda" originated from "border-to-border." Every time we came to and through a town, lines of boda-bodas were lined up along the road waiting for passengers.
boda-bodas
Continue reading "Heading to Mburo" »
A few more facts:
- Uganda is slightly smaller than Oregon while Rwanda is a little smaller than Maryland.
- The Virunga Mountains are separate volcanos and not one chain.
- Dian Fossey established her research center at Karisoke between two volcanic mountain ranges, Karisimbi and Visoke. Sabinyo (partially in Uganda) is the other main volcano that groups of gorllas are tracked on.
Heading back to the Uganda border, we prepared to pay an additional $30 U.S. per person for a new Visa to re-enter. They get you coming...and...going. The one-year old new road (extending from Rwanda to the Uganda border) was not an easy adjustment for the Rwandan people. They considered it a walking roadway for their use only - a place to stand around on, sit in the middle or sell their goods. It took quite a while for them to start moving out of the way when automobiles and trucks started using it.
carrying baskets down the road
Continue reading "On Our Way To Kisoro" »
Back at Gorilla Nest with time to sit. Getting up around 5:00am both days and the excitement of gorilla tracking left us exhausted, mentally and physically. We never returned to Gorilla Nest until after 1:00pm in the afternoon and by the time we ate lunch, got cleaned up... View image...and started to repack, the day was almost over. There was a little time to sit on our patio and rehash the gorilla experience. Francois kept telling us all to take "more Silverback photos" but it was the babies that captured our hearts. The interaction, care and love shown by the parents, the baby's huge brown eyes and fluffy little crests of hair just won us over and I couldn't stop babbling.
Tomorrow, we were heading back across the border into Uganda with a one-night stay in Kisoro before going on to Lake Mburo National Park, and Mantana Camp.
very blurred photo of Crested (or Crowned) Cranes outside our room
Continue reading "One Last Evening In Rwanda" »
Gorillas are considered babies until the age of 1, juvenile until the age of 4, adolescents are over 5 years of age, Blackback is a sexually mature of up to 11 years and Silverback is an adult male gorilla, typically more than age 12 (named for his distinctive patch of silver hair). Mountain Gorillas actually fall under the Eastern Gorilla sub-species. How do you tell one gorilla from another? Like humans, they have individual fingerprints but researchers look at their noses. No two gorilla noses are alike! The researchers take close-up photos of each gorilla’s face to help identify individuals
Gorillas are peaceful, family-oriented, plant-eating animals and the largest of the primates. We could vouch for all of the above...or they never would have allowed us to get anywhere near them...
group and gorillas
Continue reading "More Time With The Hirwa Gorillas" »
How do the trackers know where the gorillas are? Gorillas are basically very lazy. They go to sleep around 5:00pm and wake up around 8:00am in the morning. That's when they start moving, eating for hours, take some naps, eat some more and go back to sleep. (Sounds like a good life to me.) There are trackers for each individual group that stay with them all day until the gorillas are fast asleep. Then, the tracker runs down the mountain, goes to sleep and runs back up the mountain before the gorillas wake up in the morning. He stays with them and in constant walkie-talkie range with the guides who then lead the groups directly to them.
There were different gorilla statistics posted back at Park Headquarters. The United States was #1, and Britain #2 in the amount of people who visited the gorillas in September, 2006. High season runs from May to October and low season, from January to April. However, you are on the equator and there is little variance in the temperature and amounts of rain. Our gorilla permits were $375 per person for a one-hour visit, increasing to $500 in 2007.
gorilla statistics
Continue reading "The Hirwa Gorillas" »
Gorillas share 95% of our genes and are susceptible to the same viruses as us. Francois filled us in on even more details:
- In the entire world, there are approximately 625 gorillas in the wild, entirely in Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo.
- Females have the same gestation period as humans - 9 months, and usually have one baby.
- They are four to five feet tall. Males can weigh up 600 pounds, and Females weigh in at a a dainty 480 pounds.
- Gorillas eat about 60 pounds of food a day and are vegetarians. It takes a lot of bamboo and nettles to weigh 60 pounds.
munching on lots of bamboo stalks
Continue reading "More Time With The Amahoro Gorillas" »
Now it was getting serious. Through the bamboo forest, stinging nettles, narrow, muddy, slippery trails...holding on to bamboos trying not to fall...watching out for vines that would get entangled around our legs...one after anothe in single file...with ex-Marine and myself in the front (I guess we were the oldest). It was around 8:15am when we crossed over the lava wall and started a strenous uphill. Almost everyone in the group took turns sliding and falling on our rear ends in the mud.
Through all this, Francois was constantly on the "walkie-talkies" with the trackers getting Amahoro location updates. It took two-hours before we came to a semi-clearing where the trackers were waiting for us. Dropped our daypacks and sticks in a pile and left them behind with a ranger, porters and guards. Walked for a few minutes and there one was!! Our first wild gorilla...
Gorilla sitting in the shrubs
Continue reading "At Last - The Amahoro Gorillas" »
This long awaited day had finally arrived and we were nervous and excited. Dressed in a lightweight fleece top, long pants, gaiters and boots, we were ready to eat breakfast and leave. Arriving at Volcanoes National Park, everyone was amazed to see the goings-on. Various tour groups, guides, park rangers running around, registering people, drinking coffee, using the bathrooms, locals on the road...View image. Even though I logically knew there was going to be a lot of activity, it hadn't registered until that moment. Up to now, the day was starting out warm and sunny...maybe we wouldn't need our rain jackets...with wonderful views of the volcanos...
one Virunga volcano
Pat came over to Steve (ex-Marine) and myself and asked if we minded being in a different group other than the people we were traveling with. We had no objections and joined a group of Belgiums and two English girls. The Belgium people had come to Rwanda strictly to see the gorillas - flying in and out of Kilgali, Rwanda and this was the 3rd day of gorilla viewing. Big Dian Fossey fans.
people milling around
Continue reading "Mountain Gorillas, The Amahoro Group" »
Our first impression of Travelers Rest Hotel? Great food! (You can tell I really travel on my stomach.) Too bad we can't savor it...Pat is so tightly wound that you can almost feel the vibrations coming off him. For good reason. We had to get to the Rwanda border before it closed for the night at 5:00pm. Pat gave the group 15 minutes to rush into a little shop and buy wine to take with across the border ...wine is very expensive in Rwanda.
Back in the 4WD's to the Rwanda border. Customs was a snap. Fill out a form, present it, the Customs Official stamps your passport and there's no Visa fee! I wonder how long it will be before that changes. On a newly constructed, good road, it was only another 45 minutes to Gorilla Nest for two nights. ...View image...
ex-Marine and Joseph at Gorilla Nest
Continue reading "Over The Border Into Rwanda" »
This day should really be called..."The big mudhole day." We knew it was going to be a long ride over not-so-good roads but no one ever expected the sequence of events that followed.
Out of Ishaha Tented Camp, goodbye to my leopard on the prowl, and fabulous tree-climbing lions. No more savannas, instead hilly terrain started to appear with farmed terraces almost to the top of the hills...View image...growing tea, coffee, bananas, pineapple, tomatoes, cabbage, corn, maize, potatoes and much more. The terraces were incredibly steep and I wouldn't have wanted to hike down them in boots, using poles, let alone farm these terraces every day. Beautiful bright red flame trees brightened up all that green...View image...
terraced fields
Continue reading "From Uganda to Rwanda" »
I awoke several times during the night hearing unusual sounds (other than ex-Marine's snoring). The leopard made his rounds and thanks to Pat's detailed explanation and demonstration of leopard vocalization, I was positive it was a leopard I was hearing. The sounds came from right by our tent and even though we were zipped in and secure, my mind started running rampant..."could he rip a hole in the tent and get in?....what if he did get in and was in our inside toilet....and so on" There were also baboons calling to each other across the river. One would hoot and within minutes, you'd hear one hooting back...this went on for quite a while. Then came early morning, and the Weaver Birds started their ruckus...but I didn't come this far to worry about a little lost sleep or, a lot of lost sleep.
At breakfast, the camp staff assured me that, yes, the leopard had made his rounds during the night and left his prints in the dirt!
Continue reading "Tree Climbing Lions of Uganda" »
Queen Elizabeth National Park was originally called the Lake George and Lake Edward Game Reserves and renamed in 1954. There are 10 crater lakes, 10 primate species and 20 predators within the Park boundaries. And we finally arrived at Ishasha Tented Camp...View image. Ishasha has six East African-style luxury tents, again with its own private en suite bathroom and dressing area ...View image
...providing hot water "bush" showers (that means the water bag is on the outside of the tent, filled with hot water by the staff when you request a shower...same as in Ngamba) and the same eco-friendly toilet we had at Ngamba. At least we were all familiar with the operation of the eco-friendly toilet because you are never supposed to step foot out of your tent at night. They also had two outside daytime toilets for our use. ...View image...
Ishasha was beautifully situated...tents spread out in a row on the Ntungwe River (far enough apart for privacy) with many African Weaver birds, hard at work constructing their nests, in the trees lining the River. There was always a possibility of seeing crocs on the sand banks and immediately, a tree on the other side of the Ntungwe filled up with baboons...interested in our arrival. The baboons sat there for hours, moving from branch-to-branch for better views of us.
Our Ishasha Tent
Continue reading "Ishasha Tented Camp" »
Breakfast and off to the south end of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The roof covers were flipped open on our 4WD's, all the better for game-viewing during the ride. Today's destination was Ishasha Tented Camp for two nights and Pat filled us in on a few new facts while driving:
- The highest mountain in the Rwenzoris is Margarita at about 15,000 or 16,000 feet.
- Giant Forest Hogs are only found in Queen Elizabeth National Park and each weighs at least 88 pounds.
- Ishasha section of QE Park has both north and south game loops, each one around 12 miles long.
- Crocodiles date back around 150 million years and need to bask in the sun each day to get their temperature up. The largest number of Nile Crocodiles are found in Uganda. They too are endangered because its high-quality skin is made into shoes, handbags, and belts.
Continue reading "Queen Elizabeth Nat'l Park, South and Ishasha" »
At one time there were 15,000 Hippos in Lake Edward but a mass slaughter took place during the '60's for meat and there are now approximately 4,000. Eighty percent of Lake Edward is in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). Nile crocodiles were reintroduced into Lake Edward during the '80's. We certainly saw enough Hippos, but now we were on the look-out for other game and birds especially crocs basking on the sandbanks.
The Cape Buffalo is NOT related to the Water Buffalo and Pat threatened to kill the first one of us who referred to them as "water buffalo." A main herd consists of both sexes and all ages with an occasional bachelor herd. The head bull is called the "Boss" (naturally!). It is a very strong animal and has few natural predators. Lions (they weren't any in this part of the park) do kill a buffalo occasionally, but it usually takes more than one lion to bring down a single adult. ex-Marine and I saw three lions guarding their Cape Buffalo kill on our first trip to Kenya. The lions were absolutely exhausted from their efforts and couldn't even get up the energy for a twitch of the tail.
Cape Buffalo, known as one of the "big five" in Africa
Continue reading "Cape Buffalos, Birds and More Mweya" »
The first thing everyone needs to get used to in Africa is the length of time it takes to get anything done. Whether it was buying postage stamps - every time we came to a Post Office it was either a Saturday, Sunday or Holiday and closed, or the correct window wasn't open - waiting for meal service (slower than molasses to us "type A" people) - anything. These very friendly people definitely move to their own beat.
A fast check-in at the beautiful Myewa Lodge, filled with lots of tour groups and individual tourists. Every tented camp was stayed in had only 4-6 tents which our group took up. Showed to our rooms, skimmed the Myewa info pack..."please be advised that the Lodge in situated within a National Park...in your own interest and safety, NOT to approach or feed any animals you may encounter"... fat chance of me doing that! Down to order an extremely s...l...o...w... lunch with Pat (almost vibrating now with anxiety,) and group. Slow service but very good food.
Mweya lunch
Continue reading "Cruising on the Kazinga Channel" »
An early morning start (what else) toward Queen Elizabeth National Park with today's destination, Mweya Safari Lodge, located on a peninsula within the park. Mweya is a luxury resort (with swimming pool) overlooking the Kazinga Channel that runs between Lake Edward and Lake George. There would be no tented camp tonight - instead a room with unlimited hot water (no filling up the shower bags outside our tents) and flush toilets. What luxury!
Queen Elizabeth National Park flanks both Lakes Edward and George. The melting glacier waters of the Rwenzori Mountains created this vast wetland system and thousands of Hippo populate the lake shorelines. We were spending the first night in the northern portion. This area offers prime grazing to buffalo, elephant, various antelope, wart hogs, etc. Pat was a little concerned that we wouldn't get there in time for a fast lunch and a scheduled two-hour boat cruise on the Kazinga channel, leaving at 3:00pm. This cruise would give us a chance to see Hippos, crocs and some of the over 600 bird species.
Queen Elizabeth Park map
Continue reading "Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda" »
I don't know how long we walked through the underbrush and on the trails but it wasn't easy. Ranger Paul would stop now and then for explanations and show different trees, figs ripening (one of the chimpanzees favorite fruits), lichens, moss and parasites, different flowers. By now the slow rain had stopped, and we soldiered on...still hoping to see more chimpanzees.
Pat Dewil picked up a huge Breadfruit (or Jackfruit) that fell off a tree..very heavy and hard. It is a large, tropical evergreen tree that can grow over 70 feet tall. Breadfruit can weigh more than 10 pounds. While looking up for chimps, we were also nervously watching for one of these Breadfruits to fall and bean us..."death by Breadfruit"... Breadfruit was first collected and distributed during Captain Bligh's voyage on the HMS Bounty. An interesting history for such a big fruit.
this is a one, big Breadfruit
Continue reading "Kibale, Colobus Monkeys and Uganda's Savanna" »
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