“Uganda 🇺🇬 ~Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Gorilla Tracking”

• January 1, 2020
• By Pen n Daryl
• 0 Comment

The highlight of our journey to Uganda was to track the wild Mountain Gorillas “somewhere” in the large protected mountain reserve. It was the actual purpose for this fully packed 8-day Safari adventure.

On Christmas morning, we were up and on the go, early. We had driven an 11-hour day, the day before from Kampala, to reach our first reserve, Track the Golden Monkey, then make our way, by dark, to Bwindi, where we would be ready for our Christmas morning activity. We were quite surprised to see the number of other travels who chose Christmas Day to track the Gorillas.

We would have eight incredible Safari days; on a Safari, unlike any other Safari we have ever been on. This safari was light on game drives from a jeep, and more on hiking, and boating to see the wildlife; right along with some full-day drives to get from one reserve to the next. Most of the drives were very scenic and enjoyable, where we went through numerous remote villages. It is always enjoyable to observe the life of the locals, going about their day-in and day-out activities. The roads are pretty torn up for the most part, as they are creating better ones, that will be in place one day.

It was not until we met at the briefing building in Bwindi, where we would learn which Gorilla family was selected for us to get to find, observe, and take photos for one hour, after we get to the family. Trackers go out early in the morning to locate each family, and report back. In small groups of 8 people, several groups set out in different directions to find their assigned Gorilla families. It was very exciting! In our case, we got a family called Habinyanja, so we got in the jeep and drove about 25 minutes to a trailhead, where we were let out, and with two armed guards; one in the front and one in the backs long with a guide, we began our climb. They call them Mountain Gorillas for a reason!

We would spend five hours on this Christmas Day finding, observing and returning from the Gorillas. The thrill, seeing my first glimpse of the large Apes was life changing. Here was a small family, peacefully going about their lives; eating, climbing trees, grooming, and playing.. When they moved, we moved. When they settled, we settled. The hike in was not easy, but we hired two porters to carry our bag, water and lunch. They helped us up from slipping down the mountainside in the mud, and they pulled us up the mountain, in the equally slippery mud. We waded through marshes, stickers, stinging nettles, and bee hives; along a tea plantation at the boundary of the reserve for awhile. The leader with the rifles, also had a machete and would cut in a trail, that we would follow, The cut vines and thick, soft floor of the jungle had me sinking, and getting vines wrapped around my feet, constantly. Between my walking stick and the porter, we came through it all. I have no desire to do another trek like that, but I would not have wanted to go my lifetime without this opportunity to see the Wild Gorilla. Bucket list for sure, that is complete ✅! It was the most incredible experience, ever! Nothing compares to seeing a Gorilla look right at you, or walk right by you. I thought they would smell super musky and strong, but I did not smell anything. They were all very clean, and incidentally, as hot as it was to sweat through this hike, December is a very good time to go, as the bugs are far less, because it is considered a cooler time of the year. I got eaten up plenty by the pesky mosquitos, but not at this higher elevation as much. I heard it is far worse at other times of the year.