Gorilla tracking, viewing, and photographing

Gorilla's!!! I headed to Africa knowing that I would head out on safari and see all sorts of animals in the wild. But, Gorilla's?!? I never imagined I would see Gorilla's in the wild.

To get to the Impenatrable National Forest of Bwindi is really not easy. And, when one considers the cost, 250 dollars, to see the Gorilla's, one would imagine that the getting there would be a simple matter. It's not. It is also mandatory that if you are going to view the Gorilla's on the following day you must stay that night in the park. This makes things very annoying. First off the bus to Butogota is at least a 12 hour ordeal, if nothing goes wrong. Then from Butogota you have to find someone who will take you the 17 kms. to Buhoma, the village just inside the gate of Bwindi.

Of course, there is a bus that leaves Kampala at 7am. We plan on taking this one. We even go down to the bus park a day in advance and try to book a ticket. Of course, this is Africa and all the buses are prvately owned and operated. A group of guys tell us to come back the following morning and be on the bus before 6.30am to get a seat. This sounds reasonable. The next morning we are at the bus park and on the bus at 6.20am. But, there are few others. Time ticks away, slowly. The bus finally pulls out of the bus park at 9.30am. We've been had. This is not the 7am bus. The journey has started off on the wrong foot. But, according to the LP the journey shouldn't take longer than 8 hours, Liar Planet is very wrong. At about 7pm the bus driver stops in a small village. It is now getting increasingly dark and we are on a windy narrow mountain road, it is raining, and for safety reasons(which actually pleases me) the driver has stopped, the lights don't work. So, the driver and the conductors all set to fixing it. I set to finding another ride as the conductor has assured me, only moments before we stopped, that we are only 10 km. away, or less. But, for some reason the guys I talke to want 20 dollars to go this last little distance. I then learn that we are really about 35 km. out of Butogota. This puts us at about 50 km. outside of the park. The conductor tells me to be patient and they will have the lights fixed in minutes. This is yet another lie. At 9pm, I am begining to lose my patience and I let the conductor know exactly how I feel about this entire situation. Normally, it would not matter to me. These things happen, it is Africa after all. But, the combination of all these lies and the fact that if we do not sleep in the park that night we will lose our permits(250$), make me very worried. Eventually, we find a guy who is willing to drive us all the way to the park for 45 US dollars. We're in a pinch and we give in to the price. He takes us to a restaurant on the way which really worries me as it is now past 10pm and we are very worried that the later it gets the more likely they will turn us away at the gate. But, around 10.40pm we are let inside the park. What an experience, and we haven't even started the tracking of the Gorilla's yet.

Next morning, we head out with a guide, an American couple(Denverites) on their honeymoon, and a batallion of the army. Ever since the tourists were killed here, by Congo rebels in 1997, the trackers have gone into the park with armed escort. We had more guys with guns with us than there were numbers of us tourists. I felt very safe.

We headed straight up a hill into the forest. A couple trackers went ahead to find the Gorilla's track and we made our way up steadily. Everything was so green, I felt like I was in a jungle forest, beautiful. In one direction we looked over a ridge into the Congo and in another it was into Rwanda. I couldn't quite believe it. A place I never really imagined being. At the top of the hill we found the trackers that had gone ahead. We were in great luck, the Gorilla's were right around the corner. This was somewhat of a shock. Sometimes it can take 5+ hours to find them and we had found them in one hour.

We turned the corner. The ground became squishy and soft with all the freshly cut brush and then ther they were. The first thing we saw was a bush moving around, and CRACK, a branch ripped off. The guides pointed to where you could see through an opening, the SILVERBACK! Wow, we could barely see him, but there he was. And I could see enough of him to see how absolutely enormous he is. The guides told us to follow them to where more could be seen and told us we would see more of the Silverback later. We followed them around to where a mother could be seen alos through some brush. And then we looked up and there were two in a tree. We watched the two in the tree for a bit and then moved on. Inside some underbrush we were able to get a really great look at the silverback and a couple younger ones playing. As we apprached the Gorilla's were a bit timid and wondered down the hill to a tree stump. Then, to our surprise the Silverback charged the younger ones and and took the best spot by the stump. They all proceded to lounge around and eat ants and play tarzan with the vines and sleep and generally ignore us. We took tons of photos and watched them for a while. At one point a 15 month old baby came out and had a look at us. More curious about us than anything, the little guy got really close and then scuried off when his mom came round and he jumped up on her back for a free ride. Then our limit of one hour was up and we headed down to the bottom. It was worth every penny. Just an absolutely amazing experience that can be had nowhere else in the world.

That night we headed back to Butogota. But, on the way we went to see the USA get pummeled in their match against Poland in the World Cup. But, with Korea's win we still advanced to the next round. The game was on at the Tea plantation's cantina, the only tv for miles and miles.

The busride back to Kampala on the 15th only took 12 hours. This was with the bus company that we should have been on two days before. They leave from Kampala at 7am everyday. Oh well, in the end it all worked out, and what an experience, I'll never forget it.