Touched By A Mountain Gorilla - Repost

This isn't me, but wish it was. Reminded me of my encounter with Marika in 2008.
Enjoy the video. It gets going around 1 minute in. Awesome.


http://www.wimp.com/mountaingorilla/


You can't have that experience sitting at home. :)
Travel.

PS: Here's the link to my Marika video, in case you want to watch it.

2 BODA's, LOTS OF MUD, THE RAINS OF GOD and yes, GORILLAS

Well Team!

sorry for the long delay, I have been in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where there is... well, trees, mountains, rain rain rain, awesome people, gorillas and a lot of darkness coming in at night. Electricity and the internet are not around, and that is perfect. :)

sooooooo much has happened since my last email, that I’m sure I won't be able to tell you it all in this email. but here goes:

some folks asked about a gorilla permit. Well, in order to see the mountain gorillas of Rwanda or Uganda you have to purchase a permit from the government. These go for a whopping $500 USD a piece. And there are only 32 a day in Uganda. And 40 a day in Rwanda. That's it. It buys you a guide, trackers and the chance to see the mountain gorilla at close range in their natural habitat. a lot of times tour operators buy them all up. the fact that I got one was pretty lucky and the foundation of one crazy ass journey.

but first...

Lake Bunyonyi.

Awesome. Island studded lake. I rented a canoe and managed to make Mzungu Circles for an hour before I was given a tip by a local who was rocketing past me. Then I got it down well. Devin, I now know what was happening that last day of the canoe trip!

I hung out with a bunch of kids in a little village at dusk.

okay,

this update is going to be short because my hands are hurting from this keyboard (what is it with the keyboards!). And I’ve been typing and responding to emails personally for an hour now.

still...

2 Bodas? yep. On mountain roads. I mean MOUNTAIN roads. One lane wide with jungle cliffs on the side. And then, on both trips it started to rain. HARD. and yes... we crashed, ONCE. we were going about 10km/hour and WHOOSH, slid down in the mud. Only a little scraped up. The second ride was supposed to be a car, and the car wasn't there, so a boda boda it was. Down THE WORST ROAD ON EARTH. Okay, it wasn't really the worst, but it was a 4WD road for sure, muddy as hell, rocky, rutted and surrounded by beautiful mountainside. And cliffs galore. but Richard (the driver) was much safer than the first guy and better and we made it safely down the mountain. Though I did have to walk a little bit of it as well. :)

Everything in western Uganda is muddy. It's a rain forest. Its' beautiful.

And speaking of rain. The Rainy season (here) has begun. I was on a village walk in Buhoma (a tiny little town outside the National park). we were seeing tea plants, medicine men (who speak French), and these great kids at the school who did a fantastic dance and song for us. Then had us join in. Wile there the RAINS OF GOD came. I mean...hurricane Ike, you have met your match. Perhaps not with wind, but the rain fell so hard that you couldn't see anything beyond 25 feet. And with such a force as you wouldn't believe. If we'd stepped into it we would've been soaked to the bone in 3.2 seconds, MAX.

after the rains we couldn't get back to the lodge because of the swollen creek over the road. no one dared cross except this drunk pigmy guy who went back and forth like we were all a bunch of idiots. I have some cool video of it.

And yes... gorillas.

two words:

Absolutely Amazing.

I was in the Mubare group, which has 8 individuals, 1 a silver back. 1 baby. etc. You meet at the park office at 8am, and head out with about 8 people. a 30 minute drive later we began trekking through a village and into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Thick and muddy. Steep slopes and exciting. The guide was in touch with the trackers via walkie talkie. They found our group, so we took shortcuts over the hills. 2 hours of hiking and we neared where they were. (other groups had to hike for 4 hours in really thick vegetation and rain, so we "lucked out").

So we leave our bags and get rid of our walking sticks so as not to scare them.

And head on...

Naturally I got up front near the guide cause hell, I came to see the mountain gorillas.

and see them, we did.

Came past a tree and there was a HUGE silverback sitting and eating. I mean, he was 15 feet away. Then you see the others. One on a tree branch 12 feet away. Then a baby climbs up on the branch and they wrestled. A black-back (adult male about 13 years old), pounds his chest and tears through the trees. We move to a different location above them on the slope.

Then we're nearly surrounded. The gorillas playing, eating, and looking at US. Staring right at us. You could take all the pics and video you wanted, but no flash, no eating (yep I had to do it before I got there), and stay 5-7 meters away. Well, we can try, but gorillas don't really follow the rules. So this 5 year old decided to challenge us... and when I say us, I mean me. He stared at us, and then came forward and rolled down the hill a few feet. Everyone watched or took pics as he inched forward and then slapped his hand on my knee and left it there. Then he hurried off. Pretty fricking awesome.

But it's not over. We watched two others wrestle, and then the baby joined in. The mother nursed the baby and some of them fell out of a tree. Then the Silverback got up, grunted and they all moved out.

And naturally we followed them.

And then they got to a clearing under some trees. The baby on the mom's back. And then Mr. 5 year old decides he'll have another go at us. He charges forward and then comes up and hits my knee again. And turns back...looks me in the eye... and comes up and slaps my shoulder before running a bit away and pounding his chest.

Pretty fricking awesome.

And very unusual. Apparently they rarely do that. And it happened three times.

And writing this doesn't capture what it was like. It was amazing. This isn't a petting zoo. This isn't a domestic animal. This was like touching mother nature herself. It was such a surreal experience that it actually brought tears to my eyes.

Incredible.

My tip to you is: Wear Red. Apparently one lady one time had bright red hair and the gorilla came up and played with her hair. :)

Worth every penny.

Come to Uganda.

Gotta go, gotta sleep and rest. The 3 hour muddy boda boda ride on the edge of mount doom was exhausting (after the 3 1/2 hour hike through the forest).

It's been good. I leave Uganda tomorrow and love it. "Hello, How are You?" ask almost everyone you pass. And they want to know. And you can chat to anyone like they are your friends. It's safe and friendly and pretty much just RULES.

Get your ass to Uganda.

Talk to you in a couple days.

Craigo

I Catch The Rains Down In Africa!

That's right Team, I'm in AFRICA!!!!!

I made it after 36 hours of flying, two overnights, 6 hours of whirlwind touring in London ("Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!"), where I saw much more than I thought I would. Another overnight, where I was so tired I crashed out immediately, then looked out the window to see literally BLACKNESS. There was a moon hanging over a black as far as you could see. I think this was the mighty Sahara... and it went on for ages.

The sun came up and below was desert and then green.

On to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I happened to be there for their NEW YEARS DAY and had some bitter bitter coffee and tasty bread... and popcorn! They had grass on the floor of the restraunt in the airport and were very friendly. And who knew, Ethiopia was GREEN as can be! And no, no one looked like they do in the adds with the starving kids. I'm sure they are there, but not at the airport.

Then 2 more hours flying to reach Entebbe Uganda on the shores of the massive Lake Victoria.

I sat next to Joseph and Lebega from Uganda. They had just spend a year in Iraq as guards for some US company building something there. They described dust storms, and hot and even cold. And basically kept saying over and over "it's shit, shit shit." We'll just leave it at that.

Well.... Africa.... Uganda.... Friendliest country in Africa.

And it is.

I was offered a ride from A Ugandan coming home to visit. So she and her friends drove me the 40km to Kampala, capital of Uganda. It was a wild ride on the English side of the road. And on the way they bought me a fried fish and chips. And I mean the WHOLE FISH. And you put on a plastic bag over you hand and ripped it apart to eat it. Welcome to Africa! :)

I'm staying at a place called Backpackers Hostel... it's out of city center a little. But you take a boda-boda to get around. That's basically a motorcycle with a guy driving. You hop on and he takes off like a bat out of hell and it's a rollercoaster ride with no safety harness. The traffic is pretty slow, but they fly over speed bumps, up on sidewalks, and on the wrong side of the road. But I didn't get to that until Friday because...

Thursday I checked into my Gorilla single room for 12 USD a night, and talked a little. And went to bed at 6pm.

And got up at 6am.

Awesome.

But now I'm on Africa time, and today I met a guy named Chris from Chicago. It was his last day and my first. We ate and jumped on the Boda-Boda and headed to see the Kupali Tombs. Very interesting Thatched huts of the traditional Buganda people, largest kingdom in Uganda. Our guide Tony was super nice and taught us a lot. Then we goto Uganda museum, and learned more history of the area. Had an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet for $8. SOOO good. Prices are a little higher here in the capital. Looking forward to getting out to other cities.

Then the Gorilla Permit.... I went to the tourist authority and there was a cancellation! SO I could get one for next Friday. As long as I could come up with 500USD in CASH in less than 2 hours. I had some on me. ATM card wouldn’t' work, so I have to deal with that. But had to race down hill to fancy hotel, cash all my travelers checks (first time I’ve ever used them on one of my international trips!) Race back up hill as rain was coming in. All on a Boda-Boda. Get there and they even had to spot me 100 shillings. (1650 shilling to the dollar). But I got it... whew. Then my Boda Boda friend Alex took me on a wild ride back to hostel.

And here I am.

Uganda is awesome (other than money thing but that's not there fault, darn banks!). People super friendly. Speak English in this neat accent. Lots of smiles. Lots of goodness. So far Africa's bad rap is just that. I'm sure parts of Africa are in bad shape, but Uganda isn't one of them. Hell, you can even walk around the capital city and feel safe (in the daytime:)

Anyway, gotta go and call the bank. Hopefully can sort this out otherwise I head off tomorrow with no money and no way to get money. Fortunately the river rafting trip takes a credit card.

It took me about 24 hours on the ground to get my travel-legs back. And all the intimidation I felt before I left is all gone. This is humanity baby, it's good. Our guide at the tombs said if Africans would stop fighting and set constitutional limits on their presidencies then they could start solving the big problems like Aids and poaching and such.

Welcome to Africa.

So far it rocks.

Craigo