Bwindi National Park

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bwindi National Park is in a mountainous area with the headquarters in a valley at about 5,000 ft elevation. This is our chance to see mountain gorillas. It is a hard day but a fantastic day. Early in the morning trackers are out to locate the gorilla groups – they start from their last known location and follow them, radioing their position to our guides. We hear they are high on the mountain and we are to take a short cut to make access easier. Road through the village, path through the tea and banana fields, stream crossing, short walk on an aqueduct which is under construction. Then a climb that is brutal, at least for me. Muddy, slippery, steep (really steep), rocky, overgrown, thorny. Some people have hired porters to help carry packs and to push them along. Partway up I abandon my pride and give my pack to one of them and he pulls me along over the hard parts . We reach a spot and are told to drop our packs because the gorillas are close and we will walk the last part with only cameras. The silverback is suddenly there, lounging twenty feet away eating bark from small shrubs and occasionally glancing our way. Further up the hill are several more younger gorillas and we hear one of the trackers hacking away at the vegetation with a machete to clear a path up to them. When the way is relatively clear we make our way up to about ten feet from a young male who is just sitting peacefully, looking back at us. We are not there long when the skys open up with a downpour and we realize all the rain-gear is with the packs - humans and gorillas get equally soaked. The porters bring the packs up but the damage is done. Lesson learned. I think the exertion to reach the gorillas makes the experience even more special. Apparently this group sometimes comes down the mountain to raid the banana fields, but it is special to see them in their home. The way down involves a lot of slipping and falling on ground even  muddier than on the way up – I am wasted by the time we reach the fields at the bottom. It really was my limit today. Our guide, Benson, gives us graduation certificates saying we have successfully completed his course in gorilla tracking but all we are thinking of is dry clothes and hot showers.