Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Hey Guys,

One of the big ticket items of trip had already arrived- our gorilla tracking! We did this in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Doesn't that name just evoke thoughts about a steamy, lush, exotic jungle? Just me? Ok, well we were lucky to already be in the south west area of Uganda, so it wasn't too far to get to Kabale town and then to our hostel out in the National Park. 

This was the view over the edge of the balcony, looking out on the forest of Bwindi. Within those trees are the mountain gorillas, the whole reason we have come here. Mountain gorillas are critically endangered by IUCN's Red List. There are only about 800 left in the world, living in two remaining groups. The first group has about 400, living here in Bwindi. The rest are in Volcanoes NP (Rwanda) and the Virungas (DR of Congo).

This is us starting the trek, through some very thick and lush jungle. 

We found some bee's honeycomb along the way. The 'Twa people, who were forest pygmies, used to live in Bwindi and subsist on the forest alone. They harvested honey by climbing way up into the trees. There are no Twa people in the park anymore, they have all moved into the villages. 

This is the morning glory vine and flower. This is a big part of the gorilla's vegetarian diet. 

After walking for about 2 hours, we came across the gorillas! There were three trackers that went ahead of us, and they stay with the gorillas all day to see where they go to sleep. This makes it easier for them to find them the next morning. They keep a low profile while tracking them, and as tourists we are only allowed to be near them for one hour. At all times, a distance of 7 m or more must be maintained (unless they approach you!) 

This is mucunguzi, the silverback of the group. In the local language, this word means 'saviour.'

He was right there! It was so amazing.

At one point in the tracking, we saw Mucunguzi lean back against a tree and look up, scoping out the canpoy. What we didn't realize was that he was getting ready to climb a tree. All of a sudden he walked RIGHT by us and scaled the tree with incredible ease. Fruits started dropping all over the forest floor, and then he took a huge pee! Luckily none of us were directly underneath. 

One of the fruits they like to eat

Here we are with the two other people on our tour. We are laughing because we were trying to get organized for a selfie, and the second we were all in position the Silverback decided he was outta there! We had asked to do a trek with lots of walking, and this was so great because we only got paired up with 2 other people. Some groups had 8. So we had a much more intimate experience. It also helped that these two ladies from Barcelona were absolutely lovely, and let us refresh our bad Spanish with them for hours.

What a great day! We walked back out of the jungle, and at the bottom there was a group of local ladies that gave us a great dance to celebrate our successful tracking.

The tea plantations along the road are so beautiful here, a really vibrant shade of green. This little boy was very shy, but his brother told me he wanted to be in the picture. 

Until Next Time!