The moment finally arrived after eager anticipation, and our 2-day gorilla-trekking experience at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest turned out to be a tale of two stories…

Day One – trekking the Bitukura family

Day one caught us somewhat unprepared given that 2009 was a particularly busy year and consequently something had to fall by the way-side and for us this was physical fitness! Our trek began easily enough on relatively flat and open terrain, but this was only the pre-cursor as we were simply walking to the point where we would have to enter the dense forest. It was here that two things became clear. First, we understood why Bwindi was called Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, as the foliage was incredibly dense. Second, we understood why the gorillas were called mountain gorillas – as we found ourselves navigating slopes of 60 degrees or more! It was definitely a trek and a half.

Fortunately we didn’t have to trek for long as we found the gorillas within an hour, but it was nevertheless an intense trek. Then came the next surprise, which perhaps reflected our naivety more than anything else. Somehow we had envisioned that after some hard trekking we’d break through into a beautiful open clearing where the gorillas would be seated in a neat circle, inter-acting among themselves and posing for photographs when required. Reality was somewhat different. On this day, we’d found the gorillas in a particularly dense bit of the forest on a very steep incline. The dense foliage meant that, despite the Bitukura group being a family of 13 gorillas, we could see no more than one gorilla at a time. And it also meant that you had little rest during this hour as you were fighting to keep your footing on the steep incline, battling through the foliage as you looked for the other gorillas, supporting yourself by hanging onto vines and undergrowth and then of course trying to actually photograph the gorillas.

Despite all this, we were brimming with excitement when we caught a glimpse of our first gorilla, a silverback. Admittedly, conditions that day were simply not ideal for photography as the gorillas were often shrouded by the foliage, and we also had limited room for movement and hence little scope for composition given the dense shrubbery and steep inclines. So we had to resign ourselves to enjoying and appreciating the moment – seeing these magnificent creatures in the wild. Our highlight of the day: an adorable baby gorilla up a tree.

Tip: try to find out in advance which gorilla family you’ll be trekking. The Bitukura and the Shonji families are actually several hours away from the main lodges in Bwindi and you’re therefore advised to find accommodation closer to where your treks will actually take place.

Day Two – trekking the Mubare family

After the first day of trekking, we weren’t sure if we had the reserves to trek for a second consecutive day. But fortunately we woke up somewhat rejuvenated after a restful sleep!

Day two was a much easier trek for us despite it being a longer one – this was at least in part due to the fact that we were mentally prepared, and partly also because the terrain was easier and our group as a whole maintained a slightly slower pace.

And when we finally found the gorillas, this time we found them in a relatively open space and a gentler slope! As sod’s law would have it, A&T had left some additional photographic gear behind after day one as we thought that conditions would make it virtually impossible to switch lenses or to try to carry more than one camera. Day two was a photographer’s dream and we managed to get some exceptional clear views of the gorillas with room to move around for angles and composition.

But the highlight of the day (and the trip) was yet to come… Chun was busily shooting Kanyonyi, a 14-year old blackback gorilla in the group (they tend to become silverbacks around the age of 15), when it suddenly got up and started walking straight towards him… and didn’t stop until his muzzle was pressed up against Chun’s cheek. Kanyonyi sniffed him and looked him up and down for a good couple of minutes, checked out his camera equipment, pressed his nose and mouth against the side of Chun’s face again before finally moving off.

Unforgettable, adrenaline-charged, emotional and simply magical… words simply can’t describe the incredible experience. Kissed by a mountain gorilla – this will be one memory of Uganda that A&T will remember for a lifetime.

Also read our related post, Exploring Uganda.

Of course no safari to Uganda would be complete without visiting the home of the mountain gorillas in Bwindi. This was A&T’s first gorilla-trekking experience – does it live up to the hype and expectations? We trekked twice in Bwindi and we can imagine that individual experiences can be vastly different. For A&T, gorilla-trekking alone made the trip to Uganda more than worthwhile. We knew this during our second trek. We knew that even if we did not see any big game on our game drives during the rest of our stay in Uganda, we would go home happy with memories to last a lifetime. But is this because our experience was unique? Perhaps. But perhaps unique experiences on these gorilla treks are more common that we think. Read more about this our article, ‘Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi – Kiss of a Mountain Gorilla’.

The one failing in Uganda is the state of its roads. There are some stretches of extremely poorly kept roads which seem like an extended network of pot-holes and crevices, where you’re sometimes reduced to driving at no more than 10-20kmh. It’s believed that efforts are underway to repair some of these roads as there’s increasing recognition in the Ugandan government of the value of the tourism trade to GDP. In the meantime, chartered flights may be the solution to avoiding some of these roads (scheduled flights to key safari destinations in Uganda are still relatively rare).

So what’s game viewing like in Uganda? We’re probably not yet qualified to be any sort of authority on this, given we only managed to cover Queen Elizabeth National Park and Lake Mburo. But our initial experience was that big game was relatively more sparse compared to Tanzania and Kenya. But it may be a case of knowing where to go, as we had an incredible boat ride experience in the Kazinga channel that links Lake Edward to Lake George. The channel was simply teeming with birdlife, elephants, buffalo, crocodiles and hippos. The water is still which still makes it possible for excellent photography opportunities. And, on a boat, you manage to get a lot closer to the birdlife than you normally do in a 4×4. Truly this is an experience not to be missed for anyone, but perhaps even moreso if you’re a bird lover. We enjoyed it so much we repeated the boat trip the following day. We met a wonderful couple on this boat trip who also came back for seconds, one of whom was a wildlife biologist and their excitement at being immersed in this ‘National Geographic’ experience was infectious.

For would-be philanthropists in Uganda, there is simply no shortage of opportunities to make a profound difference. We were very privileged to meet several exceptional individuals on this trip who have already, in their own way, accomplished so much in Uganda. It was humbling to hear their stories and certainly A&T would like to explore further how we and our future clients could all contribute to some of these incredible projects. We will be writing more about this in due course.

Certainly a return to Uganda is already in the cards and we’ve heard fantastic things about some other parks in Uganda, particularly Murchison Falls and Kidepo National Park. As we gradually unwind our backlog of work, we will update our blog with more photos and details of various aspects of our trip. Stay tuned!

Photography:-
‘Children of Africa’ featured photos
Gorilla trekking article and photos