Jambo everybody! I have been unable to get access to my blog for a few days, but we are fine and full of interesting stories. Our impressions of Uganda are good. There are lots and lots of banana plantations everywhere. They also grow a lot of tea and coffee. The country people are very poor, but the children wave and smile to you as you pass by. They live in one room brick structures with a door way and curtain, maybe a window without any glass or screens, and no running water or electricity. Some of the families you see along the roads are wearing tattered clothing and the children don't seem to have any shoes. There are no safety issues at all. The main roads around the capital and large cities are fine...they drive on the wrong side of the road like most of these previous English colonies. The country roads are horrible! Dirt, rutted, full of rocks, and washed out from rain in some places. You get all bumped around and by bedtime you feel like you are vibrating. The travel is slow and arduous. BUT when you reach your destination, it is Wonderful!
The three places we have been to have been different habitats. The first place in Lake Mburo was a tented camp. We had not tried this type of lodge before, but it was OK. The tent was under a thatched room and the floor was concrete. We had to climb many stairs to get to it and it overlooked a vista of beautiful acacia trees and animals at a watering hole below. We were the only guests there that night. We have been the only guests at most of these lodges since it is what they call Low Season....Although they say it is the rainy season, it has only rained once in an afternoon and cleared up by night.
So, you are wondering why I have the warning as the title of this update.....We spent 2 nights at Bwindi Inpenatrable Forest and we did penetrate it! We trekked yesterday, beginning with an orientation at 8 am and then we were off on foot. We had a packed lunch with us, gloves, had to tuck our pant leg into our socks so the ants wouldn't crawl up our legs, had a wooden walking stick, a back pack with camera lenses and video.....We decided to hire what they call a Porter....it was a young lady named Jennifer. Our guides were David and Ivan. They said we were lucky and the gorillas were close and not over that huge mountain. By close I thought great, we won't have to do any mountain climbing....WRONG! We were told to keep close as they hacked the jungle in front of us and we trudged very carefully through vines, old fallen logs, slippery rocks, leaves, all kinds of holes and tree limbs....I could not believe I was doing this!
We went down treacherous slippery slopes to the small river down deep in a gully. There was a small water fall and the guides says the gorillas are across the river....So, Ivan says, I will carry you! What? That can't be possible! Guess what? He carried me on his back across this waterfall slippery path until we got across. I can't believe this....Richard decided he could do it himself, so he got his shoes and socks totally wet and squishy, but we made it....Then we looked down the river a bit and saw the first of the gorilla family we were visiting. This family had 19 members with one big silverback male. To be Continued......
The three places we have been to have been different habitats. The first place in Lake Mburo was a tented camp. We had not tried this type of lodge before, but it was OK. The tent was under a thatched room and the floor was concrete. We had to climb many stairs to get to it and it overlooked a vista of beautiful acacia trees and animals at a watering hole below. We were the only guests there that night. We have been the only guests at most of these lodges since it is what they call Low Season....Although they say it is the rainy season, it has only rained once in an afternoon and cleared up by night.
So, you are wondering why I have the warning as the title of this update.....We spent 2 nights at Bwindi Inpenatrable Forest and we did penetrate it! We trekked yesterday, beginning with an orientation at 8 am and then we were off on foot. We had a packed lunch with us, gloves, had to tuck our pant leg into our socks so the ants wouldn't crawl up our legs, had a wooden walking stick, a back pack with camera lenses and video.....We decided to hire what they call a Porter....it was a young lady named Jennifer. Our guides were David and Ivan. They said we were lucky and the gorillas were close and not over that huge mountain. By close I thought great, we won't have to do any mountain climbing....WRONG! We were told to keep close as they hacked the jungle in front of us and we trudged very carefully through vines, old fallen logs, slippery rocks, leaves, all kinds of holes and tree limbs....I could not believe I was doing this!
We went down treacherous slippery slopes to the small river down deep in a gully. There was a small water fall and the guides says the gorillas are across the river....So, Ivan says, I will carry you! What? That can't be possible! Guess what? He carried me on his back across this waterfall slippery path until we got across. I can't believe this....Richard decided he could do it himself, so he got his shoes and socks totally wet and squishy, but we made it....Then we looked down the river a bit and saw the first of the gorilla family we were visiting. This family had 19 members with one big silverback male. To be Continued......
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