Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park - Gorillas!! (Finally!)

Hmmmm...just what message is he trying to send? Lol. 

We were up early on Saturday, 9/23, for our first gorilla trek! We began at the park’s information center with a presentation including song and dance from a local non-profit, Ride 4 Women. After a briefing, we were assigned a guide and a gorilla family. Eddie drove us about 45 min to the starting place. We met our porters and set out through the thick rainforest. We had to cross two small rivers, but at least the bridges were intact this time! Lucky for us, we only trekked about 30 minutes before we found our gorillas!

Visitor's Center and Ride 4 Women.

Rog and Rian with our porters.

Over the river and through the woods....

The Habinyanja group had 12 members including a tiny infant, the youngest member of a habituated group. Our first contact was an amazing experience. The gorillas were sleepy after eating and just lazed around totally unconcerned about our presence. I was surprised at how close we were able to get, and the guides did a great job moving brush and vines so we could get photos. The mom and baby were napping about 10 feet away and I really enjoyed watching them.

We were assigned the Habinyanja Group.

One of the silverbacks just chilling.

Gorilla Paparazzi! They really were unconcerned.

The tiny infant, Mashuri, was just precious.

Mom was very attentive.

This group had two silverbacks, the alpha/dominate male and the previous leader of the group. The guides said it was somewhat unusual that the junior silverback had taken over the alpha role and allowed the previous leader, who assumed a subordinate role, to stay with the family group. However, it benefited the group because they now had two strong silverbacks to protect the family. The gorillas have few natural predators, but there are occasional conflicts with other gorilla groups. The alpha silverback kept tabs on the family members and on us, but for the most part he was kicked back and totally relaxed. 

Dominate silverback being groomed.

Close-ups of the two silverbacks. 

Female mountain gorilla.

Girl time.

Our second gorilla trek was scheduled for the next day and the morning followed the same script. We were assigned a different guide and gorilla family, the Katwe group. I really liked seeing the "family portrait" (below) so we could try to identify the individual gorillas we encountered. Instead of driving to another part of the park, we set out from the information center on foot. We walked for about five minutes down the road, a little past Buhoma lodge where we were staying, and the guide stopped. I thought he was going to give us another briefing, but nope, there was a young gorilla in a tree right next to the road! I think this must qualify as the shortest, easiest gorilla trek ever. Lol. The guides hacked a path further into the vegetation so we could get closer to the family group.

Today we were assigned the Katwe Group.

 

Ready to head out on a long (NOT!) trek with our porters.

Check out the size of this snail on the road!

Just a few minutes walk and we found our gorilla family!

Hello handsome!

The Katwe group was smaller, with eight members, the youngest a 3-year-old female, Miracle. This group also had two silverbacks and a naughty blackback male. At 12-years old, he definitely had some teenage attitude. He was also a bit of a bully and liked to vocalize and mock charge the tourists to get a reaction. He tried that with our group and the guide literally wagged his finger at him and told him to behave, which I found hilarious. He said his name, Karureeta, translates to Chaos Instigator or Troublemaker. Lol. The video clip shows him moving from two perspectives, so you can see how close to Rian he came. Luckily this was before he did his little charge, although Rian is still giving him some serious side-eye. Lol.

This is our little "Troublemaker". Lol.

     

 Video Clip (1 min): Trouble on the move. Lol.

This is 3-year-old Miracle, isn't she a cutie?

Miracle with her Mom.

                        

Video Clip (36 sec): Miracle coming for a hug.

        Video Clip (1:48): Katwe Gorilla Family - Lunchtime!

We had to move that afternoon to the Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp lodge, which was just down the road from where we were staying. We were sad to leave Buhoma Lodge, but we hadn’t been able to book another night there. On the upside, the move scored me an unofficial third gorilla encounter! Apparently, the new lodge was situated within the feeding area of the Katwe group. I was sitting in our tent/cabin writing blog notes when I heard a rustling behind the tent. I didn’t pay much attention to it, until I saw one of the guests walking along the side of our cabin. I asked him if there were gorillas outside, and he said yes. So, I grabbed my phone and went in search of my tribe. Lol.  (I've gotten a few of my videos to upload into the blog - fingers crossed these will work! Let me know if you like the embedded videos better than the YouTube links.)

That's our tent/cabin in the background.
Rest assured, I offered them an open invitation to visit. Lol.

We saw several members of the group, including one right behind our cabin. The silverback walked by on a path about 20 feet away. We moved around the property keeping them in sight for an hour or so. Then one of the lodge staff motioned for me to come in closer. He and I duck-walked through a tunnel the gorillas had made through the vegetation. The two silverbacks were to my left and a female was on the right - surrounded! Then the silverback vocalized and the staff said to stand very still and not make eye contact because he was judging us. After a few minutes the silverback started to come our way and I held my phone at my side and got a short video of him walking toward us and then moving into the vegetation. The staff asked if I was afeared, I said no, but my heart was certainly pounding. It was so freaking cool! Check out the last video for my unofficial encounter. 

This magnificent specimen walked right by me. 

A silverback and a juvenile dining at the lodge. lol.

So, as exciting and fun as our gorilla encounters have been, we were extremely disappointed to find out a few days ago that we will lose Eddie at the Rwandan border. I had deferred to our travel consultant as to whether we should keep the same guide or switch to a Rwandan guide when we left Uganda. There was some miscommunication about who our guide(s) would be, so when Evelyn said we had Eddie for the whole trip, I didn’t think anything of it. After we got to know him, we were thrilled but, sadly, she was mistaken.  Tomorrow we say a tearful goodbye to Uganda and Eddie. Sniff.  But don't leave yet, we have a whole 'nother country and more adventures in Rwanda coming up next!

Queen Elizabeth National Park and more!

Elephants are probably my second favorite animal to watch.

Our three nights at Ndali Lodge went by quickly and we left on Thursday, 9/21. During the drive to our next destination, we crossed the equator and stopped at a roadside demonstration of the Coriolis Effect showing how water swirls counterclockwise in the Northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern hemisphere, and drains straight down at the equator. Unfortunately, according to Snopes the Coriolis Effect really would not change how water swirls in a small basin, but instead impacts weather systems and objects moving at speed over long distances. So, the demonstration we observed was more sleight of hand than physics, but it was still fun and entertaining. Maybe we are just too easily amused. Lol.  

Demonstrating the Coriolis Effect.... maybe... Lol.

 

Edingtons on the Equator. Lol. 

Speaking of amused, we had a blast watching this standoff between a Martial Eagle and a Vervet Monkey. Neither one was willing to give an inch! (Note: I'm still having trouble uploading to the blog any videos I took using my phone, which was pretty much all of them. Sigh. Apparently Blogspot doesn't support the compression algorithm used by the newer phones. Sorry. In the meantime try the YouTube link. It's pretty cool!)

Video Clip: Martial Eagle vs Vervet Monkey

We checked in for just one night at Twin Lakes Safari Lodge, located on the border of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. We could stand on our veranda and spot elephants in the distance!  We did two game drives in Queen Elizabeth, which is famous for its tree-climbing lions. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily during our game drive through the Ishasha sector where the lions hang out in the large acacia trees and we missed seeing them. You all know what cats think about getting wet. 😊

What an amazing view into Queen Elizabeth National Park.

 

Twin Lakes Safari Lodge - another gorgeous lodge.
Just wish we had more time to hang out and relax!

Entering Queen Elizabeth National Park

Topi Antelope in the rain.
(Rog called them the antelopes in knee-socks. Lol.)

Even the baby Cape Buffalo look like they have attitude. 

Elephant having an afternoon snack.

Ele-family.

The highlight of our visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park was the 25-mile boat cruise through the Kazinga Channel which joins Lake George and Lake Edward. The cruise lasted about 3-4 hours and being safely on the water allowed us to get closer to herds of elephants and cape buffalo, as well as the ever-present hippos and crocodiles.

Amazing birds!!

Best hippo butt ever.
And check out the cute babies!

Elephants and hippos and Cape buffalo all enjoying the water.

 

Such majestic creatures,
although the legs crossed on the bottom pic cracked me up. 

Monitor lizard.

This was as close as we needed to be. 

Yes, he was watching us.

Kazinga Channel -  a gorgeous safari cruise.

Elephants silhouetted against the clouds. Can you see them?

On Friday, 9/22, we drove to the very southern part of Uganda to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park where we checked in at Buhoma Lodge for three nights. This turned out to be one of our favorite lodges. Since it was a Wild Frontiers property (the company Eddie works for), he got to have dinner with us and hang out. Eddie introduced us to Richard who pretty much ran the bar/restaurant area and made an absolutely delectable gin and tonic. For the record, I am not at all a G&T fan and when Eddie suggested it, I was not enthusiastic. When he said the local gin was distilled from bananas, I definitely made “that” face. But he talked Rian into trying it and after just one sip of hers, I was a convert. I was happy to be proved wrong and you would be correct if you guessed that a bottle followed me home. We’ll be featuring a taste of Africa at a happy hour soon. 😊  

We finally made it to Bwindi!

Buhoma Lodge was a favorite!

Eddie introduces us to the local spirits in an excellent G&T. 

Entertainment was on the house. Literally. 

I’m going to go a little out of order so I can consolidate our gorilla encounters in Uganda into one post. (Coming soon!!)  Since I am probably the only person who finds perusing several hundred gorilla pictures pure joy, you’ll get the Reader’s Digest version if I have to limit myself to one post. Lol.

So skipping over the Saturday morning gorilla trek for now, Eddie took Rian and I out to run errands in the afternoon. We wanted to find a couple bottles of the local gin to bring home and visit a local non-profit that benefits disadvantaged women. The group, Ride4Women, had given a presentation before our gorilla trekking briefing. They started off with a bicycle rental/repair business (hence the name) and have branched into sewing, basketmaking, and other marketable craft items. We enjoyed learning more about the organization, purchasing items made on site, and meeting the women who had made them. 

Out and about on our errands.

The ladies at Ride4Women pose with the items they've made.

So many talented women!

We had also purchased some soccer balls and school supplies to give to a local elementary school. We told Eddie we would be happy if he could just drop them off as we didn’t want anyone to make a fuss. But that is not the way it’s done! The teacher had a group of the kids ready to perform, and the kids seemed to enjoy a chance to sing and dance instead of studying. 😊

 Video Clip: Buhoma schoolchildren welcoming us.

Eddie also arranged for us to tag along with staff and volunteers from the Pangolin Rescue Camp, a local non-profit organization. They were releasing their 157th pangolin, which are adorable but very odd-looking creatures. Sometimes called spiny anteaters, pangolins are the only mammals that have scales all over their bodies. The scales are made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails and hair. Weighing about 5-7 pounds, they are shy, nocturnal animals who feed mainly on ants and termites, using their long tongues and strong claws. They roll into a ball when threatened, exposing their sharp scales as a defense mechanism. The non-profit is working with local farmers to relocate rather than exterminate pangolins that are caught in their fields. 

The goal was to release the pangolin across the river so he would be less likely to return to the same fields. However, the bridge was washed out. The staff created a very sketchy crossing using a log and some rocks. Rian and Eddie wisely opted not to cross. I made the outbound crossing just fine, but managed to miss a stepping stone and plunge into the water on the very last step of the return trip. I squished for the remainder of the afternoon. Lol.

This little cutie is about to be released back into the wild.

A sketchy bridge is hastily constructed with a log and some rocks.

Video Clip: Pangolin Rescue Release

Pangolin happily disappears into the forest.

Let me know what you think of the video clips... love 'em or hate 'em?

Next post – Gorillas!! Finally! I promise.