Hanging with Gorillas in Uganda – December 17, 2010

My highlight in the Uganda section of the tour is the gorilla trekking. Leading up to it we had several long days of driving from Kenya, before finally reaching our campsite at Lake Bunyonyi. It’s been nice to stay in one place for a few consecutive nights and have the chance to relax!

I was in the second group from the tour to visit the gorillas. We woke up at 4am and were on the road at 5am for the 3 hour drive from our campsite to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The park is located south of the equator in south-west Uganda, near the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. It covers an area of 330 km2.

Driving in Uganda has been a slow, painstaking process, but the scenery is absolutely stunning. Hill after hill covered in farm plots and trees. Farming must be incredibly difficult, because the hills are STEEP. The trees are planted to prevent erosion and landslides. Our drive took us up through the hills on winding, bumpy, crater filled roads, our tiny van hugging the cliff side. There were times I looked out the window and we were inches from the edge. A wrong manoeuvre and our van would be rolling down the hill and we’d all probably die. I was glad to sleep through most of the drive to the park.

Only 8 people are permitted to visit a gorilla family each day, and the visits are 1 hour. Permits for non-residents are $500 each. For residents, the cost is $75. I’ve heard that in 2011 permit prices will be raised to $1000/person, so I’m glad I had the chance to see them now! There are only 600-700 mountain gorillas left in the wild, and they are found in national parks in Uganda and Rwanda. People continue to encroach on the gorilla habitat, and there are farms bordering the park. The gorilla families are habituated to people over a 2 year period before visitors are allowed to see them, so that they aren’t aggressive. However, we were given some basic guidelines to follow during our visit. If a gorilla did charge us, we were told not to look it in the eye or run away. We were also to keep our voices low, and stay in a tight group a minimum of 7m from the gorillas. Gorillas are susceptible to human diseases, which is why they limit the number of people and length of the visit.

I visited the Nkuringo Family, who have been habituated to humans for 12 years, the longest of any of the families in the park. There are 18 members in this family; 3 silverback males, a few blackback males, and females, juveniles and babies. Our guide told us that over the length of our visit we saw all 18 members, but it was hard for me to tell them all apart.

To find the gorillas, it’s possible to trek for anywhere from 1-8hrs. Trackers stay with the gorillas until they settle in to sleep for the night, and then return the following morning, hoping to find them in the same place. We were lead by a guide and two rangers with rifles. The rifles are apparently used to scare off elephants because they are scared of the noise. Our guide was in contact with a team of trackers, and we only had to hike for about 45 minutes. We followed a trail down a steep hill, passing farms, cattle, and homes. People really do live right up to the boundaries of the park. While the first group that went the day earlier had to hike through some dense, muddy jungle, we only had to walk in a few steps, and the gorillas we right there. The first gorillas I saw were sitting on the ground, peering out at us through the leaves. It was kind of surreal to see them sitting there so close to us. A large silverback walked right in front of us and didn’t even look our way.  Our guides moved us more into the jungle, where most of the family were sitting and munching away. The gorillas seemed to view us all with a nonchalant attitude. They climbed up in the trees, and one of them even peed while perched up on a branch. It was really neat to stand and watch them in their natural habitat.

While we were all crouched near the ground taking pictures, a juvenile gorilla about 2-1/2 years old made his way over to our group. He reached out and touched the knee of a girl sitting beside me, and then smelt his hand. He was just very curious of our group. After that our guide told us we needed to move back to try and keep the 7m distance. It was amazing to watch and be that close to a gorilla.

Another gorilla was lounging on his back under a tree, getting ready to take a nap. Before we left, we saw the remaining blackback from the group. He was sitting separately from the rest, pulling down branches and eating the leaves. All of a sudden we heard this long, loud fart. The blackback continued munching away, and our visit was over.

The Pygmy Village, The Orphanage, and Responsible Tourism – December 16, 2010 (Uganda)

Our base camp for doing the gorilla trek was a campsite at Lake Bunyonyi. On our days off, we had the chance to relax and do nothing, or participate in some of the activities they offered. The first morning there, I went with some people from the group to visit a Pygmy village further down the lake.

We took boat ride across the lake for about an hour, and the scenery was fabulous. As we approached the area we’d be docking the boat, children were running along following our boat. We obviously weren’t the first group of tourists they’d come across. We were greeted by a group of about 40 kids. The minute we stepped off the boat the kids grabbed our hands and started leading us up a steep hill. They walked with us the entire way to the village.

The village was built on a steep hill (it was pretty much all steep hills around the lake), and we had to walk down a little bit to a flat landing area. They sat us down on a bench and formed a semi-circle around us. Then they started clapping, singing and dancing. An old woman was the first one to dance in the middle of the circle. After a few songs they invited us to go up and join them. I went up with a few other people from our group. I enjoyed watching them dance, and had fun dancing with them as well.

When the songs were finished they brought out all the goods for us to look through and buy. The people of the village just hovered over as everyone looked at the stuff.

I heard that there have been complaints that these aren’t “real” pygmies because they aren’t that short. Because of inter-marriage with people outside the village, the people are starting to get taller. Even considering that, I thought that some of the women were tiny. There were 20 year old women with babies strapped to their backs, and they just came up to the height of my shoulder. I’m not very tall either, so I’d consider them pretty short.

Some people from the group had brought candy and pens to distribute to the kids. Previous tour leaders has mentioned that if anyone wanted to give out anything to the kids, to make sure there was enough for everyone and hand them out individually so the kids don’t start fighting. The people giving out the candy were being mobbed and had to be careful to take the candy out one piece at a time or the kids would just grab it. One woman, Suma, had some pens to give out, and the kids just snatched them all right from her hands.

The kids walked us back to our boat, and the entire walk back asked us all for money, pens and candy. They would say “give me money” or “give me pens” or “give me sweeties”. It was all gimme gimme gimme. The way they were asking was like they were entitled and if we didn’t have pens we could at least give them money then. I found it to be really hard to take, and as horrible as it sounds I couldn’t wait to get away from them.

This visit really got me thinking about responsible tourism, and if visiting this village did more harm than good. The village makes some money from the fee we paid to visit, as well as anything bought, but what are the kids learning? Here come the muzungo’s (visitors/tourists) they’ll give us things?

That evening some kids from the village orphanage in the just outside our campsite came and performed for us. There were kids ranging from about 3 years to 15 years old. They sang and danced and got us up there dancing with them. This felt a lot more real and genuine than some of the other visits I made throughout the tour. I had a lot of fun dancing with the little kids. Afterward we were asked to donate some money, and it felt better for me to give something directly to an organization (where it will be used to care for the kids), than to give candy or toys directly to the kids. To me it seems like the more responsible thing to do, to donate supplies directly to an organization where it can be properly distributed. That way the kids aren’t waiting around for an Overland truck to drive by and give them things. My first tour leader told us never to give money to the kids who came to our truck, because it could encourage them to skip school and wait for the trucks every day, I think that’s a really relevant fact. As a visitor I want to help and not harm the communities I visit.

A Witch Doctor in Malawi – November 27, 2010

While camping at the edge of Lake Malawi, we got the opportunity to visit a witch doctor, and it was an awesome experience. I thought the whole thing was so interesting, and unlike anything I’ve seen or done so far. A guide from the village walked us from our campsite to the home of the Witch Doctor. There were 8 of us, and we all crammed into this tiny room and sat on mats of the floor. A couple of men were drumming in the corner, and kids filled the corners. The witch doctor came out, dressed in a bright green dress with a red cross on the front and a couple on the back. He wore a wide belt made of leaves, and had on anklets made of leaves and strung with bells. The men began drumming, and he starting dancing by shaking his hips like crazy. Every now and then he’d stomp his feet to ring the bells in time with the music. Once that dance was finished, he invited each of us up to dance with him. When it came time for my turn, he kept me up there dancing for way longer than anyone else, and I wasn’t really sure why. We all just tried to mimic his moves as he shook his hips and shoulders. At one point, a woman came in and started dancing with the witch doctor and a woman from our group, and she was just givin’r up there.

Once the group dancing was finished, someone walked in and handed him a stick that had been lit on fire and was still burning.  He continued to dance, and then out of nowhere bit off the end of the stick that was burning. Sparks fell to the ground. He kept on dancing and biting off the end of the stick. Crazy!

We all went outside, so that we could have the chance to go in and speak with him one on one. While we sat outside waiting, we talked with all the little kids hanging around. It was really interesting going in and talking with him. He had an interpreter, so he would speak, and then the interpreter would relay what he said.  He started off by talking and telling us things, and then afterwards we had the chance to ask questions, about what he prophesized for us, and anything else we wanted to know. The whole thing was really cool. I stayed in there a while and asked him lots of questions. He pulled out an old cardboard box filled with old plastic water bottles of stuff, which turned out to be the medicine he uses. The whole experience was totally cool and unique, and felt a lot more like authentic Africa then some of the stuff I’ve seen.

Living it up in Livingstone (Victoria Falls) – November 18-21, 2010 (Zambia)

We stayed in Livingstone to experience Victoria Falls and all the activities there. It’s an easy place to spend a lot of money, because there are so many cool things to choose from! Helicopter and micro light flights, elephant safaris, a lion walk....I did a mirco light flight, went rafting, visited Devil’s Pool, and as a very last minute decision, went for the bungee jump and swing.

Micro light flights are amazing. The micro light plane reminded me of a motorized hang glider, with a couple of seats hanging under the wings. They sat me down in a seat behind the pilot, gave me a headset and helmet, and did up my seat belt, which as just an ordinary airplane belt. Cameras aren’t allowed in case you drop them, but there was a camera attached to one of the wings. We did a loop down the dirt runway before lifting off. Taking off and being able to feel the wind rushing past me was amazing. My flight was only 15 minutes, and we flew over the Falls and surrounding area. My pilot pointed things out as we went and I saw the bungee/swing bridge, Devil’s Pool, hippos, elephants and giraffes.The views were spectacular. Since its low season, the lower water level meant that the Falls weren’t crazy and overflowing. The upside to this is that it’s only possible to visit Devil’s Pool during low season, and the rafting is at its peak.   

Devil’s Pool is a small, natural rock enclosed pool at the edge of the Falls. I’d like to know who first decided to go for a swim right at the edge of the Falls. We went out with a guide, and the first thing we had to do was swim over a small section to get to the rocks near the pool edge. The first guy from our group got in and started swimming, but the rest of us stayed on the edge, because there was a hippo in the water about 50ft away from us. After everything I’ve heard about how dangerous hippos are, I didn’t really want to go swimming with one. Our guide was all “A hippo? No worries, just get in there and swim” So we did. And we all made it out alive. Apparently a few hippos and elephants go over the edge every year.

Jumping into the pool was scary and awesome at the same time. It’s not very big, and the rock edge is submerged under a few inches of water so it looks like you’ll just go over the edge. In the pool the current pushed us all right to the ledge, that’s a few feet wide. We weren’t allowed to sit up on it, because they don’t want tourists slipping and going. I heard that a guide died last year saving a tourist. I’d still definitely recommend going to the Pool if you’re ever in Zambia.

I did the bungee jump and swing as a last minute decision, A few people from my group were going, but I’d already spent so much money on other activities I figured I should skip it. The morning of though, I decided what the hell, let’s go for it. The Vic Falls bungee is the 3^rd highest in the world at 111m, and the location is stunning. The highest bungee is in South Africa, and it’s over 100m higher!!. The only reason I did the swing as well as the bungee is because they offer a good deal that includes a zip line, bungee and the swing for pretty cheap. We all started off on the zip line, that took us from the Zambian side of the Falls to the Zimbabwean side. From there I did bungee first, and the swing second.

The guys working there put everyone though pretty quick; this was kind of nice because it didn’t leave much time to get freaked out. They got me out on the platform, sat me down and harnessed me in, and gave me my instructions. Then it was hop hop hop over to the edge. I looked down for a second and just thought “shit what am I doing?” They told me to look out to the horizon, counted down “5,4’3’2’1 bungee!!!!” and off I jumped. I thought the bungee was absolutely terrifying! Way, way scarier than sky diving. The fall felt really long even though it was only few seconds, and I felt like I was bouncing around for a while. My first bounce up I was flipped up so I was upright, before falling back down.

The swing was even scarier than the bungee. On the platform they harnessed me in, but since it’s a swing, the ropes ropes are set up to hang low, so it felt like I was being pulled downwards from the platform. On this one, instead of diving off head first, we were told to walk to the edge and put our toes over, and then step off to fall feet first. .Such a scary feeling to step off and free fall feet first! Again the free fall felt super long. Once the swing caught it was actually really nice to just swing back and forth above the water.

After doing all this, I think bungee jumping is more of a once is enough type of activity.

Bush Camping in the Delta – November 14-15, 2010 (Botswana)

We spent two nights sleeping in the bush of the Okavanga Delta. According to some reviews, the bush camping is a highlight of the tour. I don’t think I would go so far as to say it was a highlight. It was interesting, but kind of boring.

We packed up everything we could possibly need: tables, chairs, mattresses, tents, kitchen stuff and food. The only thing we lacked at this campsite was facilities.

We rode a speedboat halfway, and then transferred into mokoros, carved out wooden canoes. The mokoro ride was the highlight of my bush camping experience, it was so relaxing! They set up our sleeping pads as chairs, so we could just lean back and lounge as the canoe was poled along. Since the delta isn’t deep, they use long poles that are just pushed into the ground to move and manoeuvre the mokoro. At the camp we got to try it out, and it was incredibly difficult to keep balance and steer this giant canoe through all the reeds.

Other than that, we did some game walks (but didn’t see many animals), played some cards, and laid around.