Uganda's primates are wild, whimsical and rude
Credit to Author: Dave Pottinger| Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2019 17:56:23 +0000
Bakwate, a 300-pound silverback, stalks through the underbrush, barely glancing at my trekking group, as he heads off to supervise the 19-member Oruzogo gorilla family.
It’s a humid morning in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in western Uganda and my precious one hour with the world’s largest primates has just begun.
A female gorilla sits amid foliage in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Using machetes, Ugandan guides slash through the thick foliage that gives this 331-square-kilometre UNESCO World Heritage Site its impenetrable reputation. A vigilant, sure-footed porter named Innocent totes my knapsack, full of water bottles, as I clamber up steep-jungle slopes, wearing garden gloves to protect my hands.
I’m fortunate. It’s only about an hour’s hike for my group of eight, despite braving elevations ranging from 1,160 metres to 2,300 metres, before we find Bakwate and his band.
Nyangoro, a serene female, grooms her baby, who stares wide-eyed at us. A young male gorilla named Bwengye relaxes on his side, playing with his feet.
We maintain a prescribed minimum distance of seven metres. If a gorilla charges, we’re to remain still and keep our eyes averted so as not to seem challenging.
Time slows down as we gaze at their whimsical, expressive faces. Another silverback marches by. More gorillas sit in the crooks of nearby trees like wise sentinels.
There are only about 1,000 mountain gorillas worldwide. Half of them live in this East African nation, primarily in Bwindi.
On the way back, a refreshing rain begins to fall. One trekker inadvertently takes a tumble into the bushes on a muddy hillside trail, but with remarkable speed, his porter breaks his fall.
When we return to our van and receive our official gorilla trekking certificates, our trek through Bwindi has taken about three and a half hours.
The day’s excitement simmers down to a peaceful warmth as we drive past cows and helmetless motor-bikers. Finally, we head down a bumpy driveway to the Mahogany Springs Safari Lodge.
My room boasts a canopied queen-sized bed and a spacious balcony overlooking the Munyanga River. After washing off the bug spray in my walk-in shower, I relax in the resort’s high-ceilinged lobby with Nile beer and crunchy groundnuts, followed by a Ugandan dinner of rice, steamed vegetables, and bean sauce.
A rainbow graces the powerful Murchison Falls, made famous in The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart.
From the Kihihi airstrip, it’s about an hour to Entebbe, Uganda’s main airport, aboard an Aerolink Cessna Caravan. These turboprop planes limit passengers to 33 pounds of luggage in soft-sided bags.
It’s another hour’s flight to Murchison Falls National Park. Uganda’s largest nature reserve is named after the world’s most powerful waterfall. The 43-metre-high waterfall is famous for appearing in 1951’s The African Queen (starrign Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn). And is the source of the Nile, the world’s longest river at 6,700 km.
When I take an afternoon Nile cruise in an 11-passenger boat, an Oklahoma visitor who exclaims: “Water safari’s the way to go, man! This is incredible.”
I marvel at a group of eight elephants, fanning themselves with their Africa-shaped ears, splashing through the water, and ripping up grass to eat.
Hippos wallow in the Nile River in Murchison Falls National Park.
Hippos stare back like surly gang members.
Uganda is home to more than 1,000 bird species, and while I’m not normally a keen ornithologist, I gasp with glee when an African fish eagle, protecting its fishing territory, buzzes a riverside Goliath heron.
It’s an excellent excess of natural wonders, and our knowledgeable guide, sanctioned by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), gets us safely to the falls.
After a hike to the summit, we cruise back down the Nile with beers at sunset, as colobus monkeys gather in the trees.
At Chobe Safari Lodge, which will celebrate its 10thanniversary in 2020, we enjoy a sumptuous buffet, which includes carrot, coconut soup and goat stew.
The luxurious Chobe Safari Lodge in Uganda lies next to the Nile River.
The riverside resort, a favourite of long-time President Yoweri Museveni, offers an contoured outdoor pool, and before bedtime, I enjoy a quick dip.
Another quick flight south brings us to Kasese, the gateway to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Covering close to 2,000 square kilometres, the park is well-known for Kalinzu Central Forest Reserve, a mecca for chimpanzee trekking. But it is baboons, who clamber over roadside signs as we drive to Kyambura Gorge Lodge.
The staff at the recently-renovated luxury lodge, facing the Rwenzori Mountains, welcomes visitors with a traditional dance and a complimentary 30-minute massage. The lodge is operated by environmentally-minded Volcanoes Safaris, whose properties have hosted celebrities like Sarah, Duchess of York and Don Cheadle.
Spacious private villas include outdoor showers. While cooling off, I gaze over a coffee plantation and spot elephants in the distance.
Queen Elizabeth National Park also boasts rare tree-climbing lions. They do it to avoid tsetse flies and to spot potential prey.
Accompanied by armed UWA rangers, we take an early-morning drive on the savannah and soon come across four lions feasting on a warthog carcass. The cubs wait their turn.
In the afternoon, we take a guided chimpanzee tour, and soon find the group of 60 habituated chimps. Their eerie cries echo overhead as they swing through the Kalinzu forest canopy. Fruit is hurled at us.
They urinate, procreate, and self-stimulate. Sneezing and grooming – that’s the mild stuff.
IF YOU GO
A tour permit for gorilla trekking costs $600 US per person.
KLM (via Amsterdam) and Ethiopian Airlines (via Toronto and Addis Ababa) offer regular service to Entebbe.
For more information on Uganda, see visituganda.com.
To learn about Gorilla Conservation Coffee, a social enterprise that supports coffee farmers around Bwindi.