Letters from Uganda - Gorilla Safari & Settling In


September 14, 2016
Two weeks in Uganda, just the beginning

Uganda Safari Photo Album
Uganda Photo Album
Hello Hello!
I sure could not tell from landing at Entebbe International Airport and then taking a long late night drive (25 miles, 60+ minutes) to the capital of Kampala for my first night's stay that Uganda would be so wonderful.  That long drive connecting Entebbe & Kampala means a very narrow road crazy with dust, smoke, motorcycles, crowded streets, pedestrians dodging traffic, as well as restaurants & street food vendors catering to large numbers of people… and then we had to cross the city of Kampala.  I could not tell at the late hour that morning would begin with a new perspective & that the day would show me a whole new side of Uganda.

At dawn the next morning I woke to the most beautiful call to prayer I have heard a muezzin sing. It was only as the sun edged up that I could see a rose tinged mosque rising from the morning mountain mist.  Later, I learned from Jimmy, my safari driver & guide, that Kampala was founded on seven great hills though it has now spread to over 20 hills. My guesthouse, high on the 4,134 ft. Namirembe Hill has the distinction of being one of the original seven hills & home to St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, but it was the dawn adhan that set the tone for the rest of the day.

Crested Crane - National Bird of Uganda
Traveling without a guide book & with limited internet access on my smartphone to research my destinations leads to many surprises, mostly pleasant ones. Though I was able to set up a local Ugandan 5-day safari to travel west to the Queen Elizabeth & Bwindi Impenetrable national parks while still the Seychelles, I was not prepared for such diverse & beautiful countryside nor how pleasant the climate would be so close to the equator. The high altitude keeps the humidity & temperature relatively low.

I found my safari buddy, Cesar, to be an interesting & charming young fellow from Mexico who has been working as a mechanical engineer for the oil industry in Kuwait on a 2-year contract. But, this job was just a way to make some big bucks so he could finance his real passion of starting a business that is bringing the electric car recharging infrastructure to Mexico. We shared the same interests in "freestyle" travel & science so had plenty of great conversations along the way. Our driver/guide, Jimmy, is an enthusiastic & engaging fellow who made sure to keep us entertained while learning about the culture, geography, food, & wildlife of Uganda. Jimmy loves bananas - the staple food of Uganda - and I think Jimmy showed us at least 4 ways Ugandans prepare & eat bananas on our first day (mashed & steamed, stewed in light tomato sauce, stewed in a peanut sauce, baked)! I don't think eating so many bananas in one day was that great for my tummy!

We safari took us through beautiful countryside as we headed east to west towards the border of the DRC - Congo. From open plains, desert-like highlands, on through rolling green hills, and finally to the more lush tropical mountains along the border. I was surprised to see the highest peak was over 16,000 feet. The temperature was great given the altitude, warm but not too hot and not humid (and not buggy!).



We spent our first two nights in a lovely safari lodge and visited the Queen Elizabeth Park to see the Tree Climbing Lions, a somewhat unusual behavior for lions that exists in relatively few prides scattered about Africa. But of course the highlight was heading south along the border to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, National Park to see the mountain gorillas. And the park really does deserve that name. The forest is made up of incredibly steep hills/mountains, over 4,000 ft. - the incline sure looked well more than 45 degrees - and the dense trees and foliage was intimidating even when seen from a distance far below. The village of Bwindi hugs the roadside with steep climbs or drops on either side. The climate was pleasant but a little cool. Our lodging was fixed tents with en suite bathrooms and they gave us hot water bottles & warm blankets for the cool nights.

Crested Eagle
The morning of our trek we were up early for breakfast & the lodge provided us each a generous boxed lunch before off we went for a short drive to the Park. You may have heard that the gorilla trek is expensive - well yes, the park entrance & guided trek together is a whopping $600 (not including lodging & transportation) considering that once you encounter the gorillas the visit is limited to one hour. However, to the Park's credit, it seemed extremely well cared for and what trekkers don't see is all the infrastructure that is needed to keep the Park navigable & the wildlife protected.  There are crews of rangers that are fulltime in the field, even camping in the wild. They are on rotating 5-day shifts & their job is to stop poaching & observe/report on the overall health of the wide range of wildlife - much of which most trekkers won't even see, such as the unhabituated gorillas & chimps, small mountain elephants, cats, etc. Next are the spotters who track the eight or so groups of habituated gorillas every day rain or shine, trekkers or not. Their tracking begins in the early morning at the spot where they last saw the gorillas bed the evening before. They have to go every day, every day, to be able to keep tabs on them. It's crazy to see how thick the forest is - vines that try to trap you at every turn, steep steep rocky slippery paths, foliage so thick you can't pass without chopping away at it with a machete. And on top of that they have to watch out for the aggressive mountain elephants!  Two armed guards are needed for every trekking group - they would only shoot in the air to fend off aggressive elephants. And then the guides - really they must have sent them all to charm school! So polite, so thoughtful, and certainly so knowledgeable. And finally - the porters! The porters are not paid by the Park, they are trained local citizens who are for hire to carry trekker's backpacks (lunches, cameras, water, rain gear) & to lend a hand or push up the steep terrain.  The trekkers are given a lot of encouragement to hire porters because 1) their employment helps the local economy tremendously (& therefore reduces poaching) and 2) they really help get all us trekkers up those steep, vine tangled paths. The organization of it all was amazing. I don’t know if they were fully booked the day I was there but there were at least 5 trekking groups that were organized in groups of 8 plus one guide, 2 guards, porters, & a group of at least 4 spotters per group in the field. Once we started our trek we never saw the other trekking groups so we felt we were alone in the forest with the wild creatures.

Well you may wonder if I opted for a porter - heck yes!! The going rate is $15 USD  & so worth it (plus I gave my fellow, Emanuel, a big tip along with tips for the spotters). I was nervous that I would slow the group down if I had to carry a pack & maneuver the steep hills. But -the guides have that figured out too; they put the weakest link in the front so the pace is set by the slowest and the end of the line is the strongest so groups can more easily stay together.  Guess who they picked for the lead position - the "old" gray haired lady - me!!  Emanuel was a dear & gave me a helping hand over the really rough spots but I'm happy to say I really wasn't the slowest - it was the 30-something couple behind me! They were troopers though and pushed through when they thought they would have to give up.  I have to admit though, there was a time or two that the porter behind me gave me a little butt boost when she thought I needed it! The porters were terrific.

After about 2 hours of hiking on increasingly narrow & more difficult paths the guides began to veer off into the wild bush. Being in front I could tell that the guide & spotters were spending more time talking on 2-way radios & even cell phones when reception was poor. The trail was very difficult and it was hot - plus we were all bundled up in long sleeve shirts & long pants with our socks pulled up over the pants to ward off fire ants - we were all pretty much soaked with perspiration.  Cesar did not bother to pull his socks up over his pants & look nerdy like the rest of us - we made up stories that the guides would ask the trekkers to do ridiculous things just to see if we would follow their instructions & look silly. It was fun to laugh about but I still was going to follow whatever the guides told us to do… it was a jungle out there!

Ok ok  -so what about the gorillas!! So finally at about 2.5 hours in we spotted the spotters & we knew, this is it!! The spotters had cleared a small open space where we could all gather for our final briefing, e.g. how close we could get, how not to use flash, how to move or not move, how to store our packs, etc etc. We could not see a thing beyond this small opening… and then we passed through the brush and, it was like walking into a cathedral! We were all so awed, we did not make a sound… there they were, our little family of giant gentle creatures! One massive silverback, 3 mamas, 3 infants … just doing what gorillas do… eating, playing, scratching, farting, picking their noses, cuddling their little ones … so at peace, so at ease.  They are not shy with eye contact - but seemed completely content and unperterbed - so much so the babies could roam around just out of reach of the silverback & the mamas. It was as if they were more comfortable than we are in knowing that our DNA is just a few percentage points off theirs.

We stayed for our full allotted hour in this relatively small space - just mesmerized & enchanted. We even had a few close encounters with a mama and then the silverback as each moved within a few feet of our group to seek out better foliage to eat. The silverback even passed by & brushed the legs of two women in our group - we were all so stunned but the guide just spoke softly telling everyone it was ok and not to move. With the silverback's movement we could really appreciate how massive the male gorilla can get - for being a vegan that fellow was solid muscle! Interestingly, as the end of our one hour came up, it seemed that the gorillas knew our visit was at an end & each group … human and primate began getting up to wander off along our own separate paths.













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September 19
Now to shift gears completely…
I had arranged before arriving in Uganda that I would do some volunteer work with a young British fellow, Andy, who has set up a community development business in the small city of Masaka in the south Central district of Uganda. Andy works for a British charitable organization that collaborates with Ugandans to host the annual Uganda Marathon which serves as a fundraising organization for various non-profit groups. He has lived in Uganda 2 years but in the past 6-months or so has set up a parallel, non-profit fish farm & restaurant known as The Farm. The type of community development methodology that Andy follows is one in which local businesses are launched to create jobs & become sustainable.  

His fish farm was built by & is fully staffed by local Ugandans. The effort to dig the pond was massive - it is amazing to look at it and realize that it was all dug by hand. The business has only been operational for 4-months or so. The farm was stocked with 5,000 Tilapia which will be harvested in the next couple months & then will be restocked.  


The Pond Restaurant
A quaint little wooden shack kitchen was built & the business model is Catch & Cook - guests come to fish for their own dinner; seasoned fried fish and chips (AKA French fries). There is a small covered area with bar & bar stools & then several areas of cushioned seating where folks can gather.  The intent is to cater to locals & charge local prices but Mzungo (foreigners) come too!

I came on board to help assess kitchen workflow to speed up the time it takes for the freshly caught fish to be served to the guest. The restaurant is only open Friday, Saturday, & Sunday so it took a little while to get to know the staff & gain their trust as I was helping & observing their restaurant processes.  They work amazingly well as a team but I was able to identify some stumbling blocks and recommend some operational & structural modifications which I documented in a 10 page formal business document & reviewed with Andy today. It is of course a challenge with the cultural differences & expectations that we Westerners & the Ugandans have - but that makes it all the more interesting. 

I am not quite sure how long I will work with Andy - we are still figuring that out. It could be a week more perhaps, I don't know yet. Meanwhile though I am making a connection with a bed & breakfast nearby - I have already reviewed their web site and will meet with them tomorrow to suggest edits to some of the English verbiage which only suffers a little from being written by folks who speak English as their second language. 

Andy's compound, my room is under the trees
Part of the deal working with Andy is getting free room and I may work out a deal with the B&B to stay there if the work with them goes on into October. I am happy to get the chance to learn about the restaurant & hospitality business. It's all a challenge but fun.

Hope to get back to you all soon after my next adventure of going to visit habituated chimpanzees at the Kibale National Park and daily life in Uganda. It is very beautiful here and very easy to get used to. The people are kind and many speak English!!

Wish you all the best!




Plantains for sale everywhere
Getting around town










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