Gorillas In The Rather Lush Greenery

There are certain experiences that, as soon as you're lucky enough to have had them, you know will be with you for the rest of your life. Such was the hour (and a bit) that Jennie and I spent with the Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. I'm not sure I'll be able to do full justice to how it felt actually sharing a small patch of jungle with these wonderful creatures,but as I've signed on to write this blog I guess I have to give it a shot.

Having already enjoyed a day at beautiful Lake Bunyoni, we were well in the mood to go on the adventure that many people consider to be the highlight of a trip to Africa. Permits to track the gorillas are expensive and heavily regulated, with only one group of eight people per gorilla family per day allowed into the park - and then only one hour actually allowed with the primates - so as to preserve both the animals' habitat and the magic of the experience. The creatures move around from day to day and so the length of trekking time required to reach them can vary - we'd heard stories of five hours or more each way - meaning that an early start was required. I mean, really early. Like before the sun early. Which I don't deal well with - the looks on the faces of Dave and I when we arrived at the entrance to Bwindi sum it up pretty well.

The permit to track the gorillas cost us US$500. Each. It's one of the more pricey adventures one can undertake in this part of the world, and so we hoped to God it was going to be worth it. Our guide briefed us before we set off, explaining that if we didn't see gorillas we would only get $250 back, because we would still have had the pleasure of a trek in the mountains. My reaction to this news is not suitable for the contents of a family publication such as this one.

So off we went - the four of us from the truck, two British teachers who were volunteering at a nearby school, and two other women, one of whom had actually done it all before but loved it so much she was coming back for seconds. A good sign. The trek itself was indeed lovely, though hard work in parts - if Bwindi Impenetrable National Park doesn't quite live up to its name, it can at least take pride in the fact that calling it Bwindi Bloody-Difficult-To-Navigate-Through National Park would not be an exaggeration of the truth.

We didn't want a five hour trek each way, but by the same token we wanted to feel as though we'd earned the right to see the gorillas, and so would have been disappointed had they been hovering around the entrance to the park trying to sell us souvenirs. So when we got word from our guides that, about an hour-and-a-half in, the animals were nearby and it was showtime, we were both purring in anticipation and rather thankful that they'd not made it too difficult for us. Our intrepid octet was tracking the Bitukura family, which had once been a family of fourteen but - due to some internal power struggle or another between competing alpha males - had now split into a group of nine and a group of five, and it was the group of five that we came across. And by "came across" I mean there they were - these magnificent creatures, who share something like 98% of our DNA - sitting in their mountain kingdom just metres away from us. Looking like this.

It was, in the truest sense of the word, breathtaking. To begin with, it was so real that it almost felt too real to be true - if you take my meaning - like we were in a zoo, or that they were men in gorilla suits and that any moment one of them was about to beat the drum intro to In The Air Tonight whilst selling chocolate. But it was no zoo, and the dulcet tones of Phil Collins were nowhere to be heard, this was the real live thing in all its natural glory.

The rules for any people interacting with the gorillas is that we are to stay at least 7 metres away from them at all times. The gorillas have no such rule. We learnt this the exhilarating way, because several of them got up VERY close and personal with us and one in particular - a young male named Obia (translated meaning "trouble maker") decided that he wanted to personally welcome us to his domain by charging and flailing his mighty arms at whomever happened to be closest to him at the time. Which, in the first instance, were the two oldest women in our group, who both went tumbling to the floor with as little grace as they could muster under the force of his blows. He was just playing, of course - had he been serious then neither woman would ever have gotten up - but the action was enough to elicit a breathless gasp from the rest of us. Which was followed by a determination amongst all the boys in the group that we wanted to get hit by a gorilla too. Male pride and competitiveness rocks on sometimes.

Thankfully, Obia was only too happy to oblige as he cut a swathe of playful terror through the group for the ensuing few minutes. Jake got a nice firm shove straight after the ladies had hit the deck, and then Obia gave Dave a solid punch too. I was hoping desperately that he'd make one last pass and the big man didn't let me down, slamming his fist straight into my back and shoving me unceremoniously toward the ground. Thankfully, one of the women who'd been on the receiving end of Obia's first assault broke my fall. It really wasn't her day.

It wasn't all about Obia's brief reign of terror though. Just being there, so close, and observing all of the gorillas in their natural environment - eating, climbing, interacting (and I mean REALLY interacting, nudge nudge wink wink etc...) - was absolutely magical, and truly one for the books. The guides gave us a little more than our allocated hour with the animals, as even they said that they'd rarely seen the group so playful and extroverted. All I can say is that if you ever get the chance to trek with the gorillas in the mountains of Uganda (or Rwanda, or DR Congo for that matter), take it with both hands. It will be one of the experiences of your life. I got punched by a wild mountain gorilla. And it was awesome.

Things Jennie will Remember:

1) Jake's approach to 5am alarm clock - "FUCK OFF!" being shouted as what later appeared to be two dogs playfully "jumping up" at him (but in the dark that early was like he was being attacked by monsters from the lake).

2) Schnitzel's Revenge - the remains of our curry from last night that we had for lunch. It turns out Schnitzel didn't hate any one of us for he sought no revenge. ;)

3) That women need to talk less and watch more. Whilst on our '1 hour' with the gorillas is NOT the time to ask me where I bought my top.

4) Getting our lovely certificates at the end of the day and being told that the trackers had enjoyed today due to Obia's playfulness - all by the amusing Ben, our lead guide with a very dry sense of humour.

5) That I have never been so scared in my life as when a Black Back charges you. I most certainly did NOT want to have contact made.

Here are the photos:

BT48_Bwindi National Park 26 Feb 2011

Sipi Ki Yay

Leaving Nairobi we stopped at the local 'Nakumatt' for a few last minute essentials and then headed west to a town called Eldoret. We passed the viewpoint for the Great Rift Valley and looked out across this vast plain in awe. Chris pointed out all the places we were going to visit later on (Maasai Mara, Longonot Crater etc) and I spent the day staring out of the window admiring the expansive views of Africa. Please excuse the hanky-hair look in this photo, it's a necessity when travelling with open windows on dusty roads, I just have to deal with looking like Nora Batty.

At Eldoret we set up camp for the first time at a place called Naiberi Campsite. Dave was a pro already, having travelled up from South Africa with African Trails with his girlfriend Dervla (who unfortunately had to head home to go back to work from Nairobi). So being a pro, Dave introduced Sean and I to our tent - a pretty nice affair with ample room for two and decent thick and spongy camping mats. We headed down to the pool for a quick dip (which turned out to be very quick 'cause the water was freezing!), then headed down to the bar. Blimey, what a site! It was like stepping into a adventure theme park. There was a stream running through it with frogs in it, a campfire and statues of animals everywhere, it even had its own bridge. Team that with about 15 dogs and a cold 'Tusker' beer and we were very pleased. It didn't even matter that the campsite showers had no water, 'cause that just meant we were allowed to use the lovely posh ones in the spa!

So I was already enjoying myself after day one.

On day two we drove across the border into Uganda at the Busia/Malaba crossing.

We turned right in Tororo and headed up towards our first 'attraction' - Sipi Falls. The scenery was visibly greener in Uganda and when Chris took a wrong turn in the truck we were met with the most fantastic drive through Uganda villages with children almost waving their arms off at us in delight at seeing 'Muzungus' in this massive 30 tonne truck rattle by. At one point Chris stopped to ask directions and was told that we'd gone the wrong way, so he cleverly turned this massive vehicle around on their narrow village dirt road, only to then be told by someone else that we should continue the way we were going. This was hysterical! We were pretty sure at this point the locals were just having a laugh with us! So turn around we did and on we carried as we had been. Oh how they laughed at us! When we reached the gateway to the National Park area we knew that we'd done something wrong, so Chris managed to find the park rangers office and after he bought a 'Friend A Gorilla' charity cap from him and offered to give a lift to one of the rangers who happened to be on his way up to Sipi we set off back down the road only slightly to the last village we'd been through where we had taken the wrong road (seems the previous village was right after all).

We dropped off our 'guide' near the Sipi town and headed to our next camp, Crows Nest. It was a bit cloudy and spitting with rain when we arrived, but this didn't stop us all gasping at the wonderful views out over the valley and the waterfall. We promptly opened a beer and sat on the terrace watching this view. Since it was now pretty dark, Chris treated us to food from the bar - and this was real local stuff. And by george it was blooming marvellous! We ate Poshi (or Ugali as it's known in Kenya - a kind of maize porridge that looks like mash potato), goat stew, ground nut sauce, chappati, sumake (a green spinach type veg), spicy bean something or other which we loved and loads more. We were so full and so satisfied! By far the best local African meal we'd had to date! By this time we were all in the swing of getting to know one another and so it was only when the storm knocked over our gas lamp and it smashed to the floor that we realised how much the storm was picking up and that we'd probably best get snuggled up in our tents.

The next day was bright and sunny and we headed off early with our guide towards Sipi Falls.

We worked our way down a long set of 'steps' and then across some small tracks along the edge of the valley. Our guide stopped to tell us about the different types of plants and how they are used (coffee, something they boil to settle upset tummies and another with leaves that are rather good as toilet paper).

We soon reached the first pool of the waterfall. This has a 95m drop and was really something to behold. All the boys stripped off and went for a swim (I'm sorry but it was far too cold for me to contemplate so I acted as cameraman). The looks on their faces kinda made me happy with my decision!

We made our way over rocks to the other side of the river and then started our flipping steep climb up to the second level of the falls. My goodness gracious this was hard work. This was so steep that at one point they had built a ladder for us to climb (as our guide of course nimbly ran up the cliff face at the side of it). Then across the main road at the top, through a posh lodging's garden and a little into the forest again and you come across the second tier. You approached this one from under the rock so there were lots of 'showers' of falls to stand under (we were all so sweaty that the boys just stayed clothed this time and got in).

Then we headed back to the main road and followed it back to the campsite where we scoffed down our pre-ordered lunch and got ready to head off.

Sipi was delightful. And if anyone happens to be in that area, I highly recommend it - and you have to eat at Crows Nest. It really was that good.

We continued our westward journey, camping by the Nile at Jinja the next night. The sunset over the Nile at Jinja was stunning but we were told we return here later in the trip, so I won't blog about it too much for now.

We headed through the capital, Kampala the following day. The local elections had just been held and you could notice the police presence. That and all the millions (literally millions) of campaign posters. If a dog sat still for too long I'm pretty sure someone would have stuck one on him. They were everywhere.

Museveni had won for the third term and political parties were organizing celebration parties. At one roundabout we pulled over to let a police van and his wailing siren go by. Not hearing more sirens Chris pulled back to continue round the roundabout only to scrap along a second police van. Oh dear. We were rather caught side by side. This of course meant that everyone had to come and have a look. People in the cars behind got out, everyone on the street stopped and looked. And of course EVERYONE has something to add about how to separate the two vehicles. Fortunately for us this van was in a hurry to something far more important so after 10 minutes of decoupling, checking that neither vehicle had any major damage they sped off. However, Chris had of course taken off his seat-belt as part of this venture so just past the roundabout another police car stopped him about that misdemeanour and so the age-old bribe was offered - $10 for his 'lunch'. This chap was smart and quickly replied "But there are 6 of us in the car". So 60 bucks lighter of wallet, Chris was able to continue our journey. And low and behold - just outside of Kampala after ages in a traffic queue who should drive past our truck but Museveni himself in policy convoy!

After that our journey onwards was uneventful (except for a comedy moment when we stopped for petrol and the attendant had to hand pump in the petrol because there wasn't any power (poor sod, this is a big truck with a big tank!) and we spent the next night at Mbarara University Inn where we were treated with some hot rod racing cars revving until the early hours in the car park a few feet from our tents. Nice.

The next day we headed to Lake Bunyonyi near Kimbale. We stopped in Kimbale before heading to our campsite to pick up some stuff for dinner from the local markets. Dave and I got given our allowance and headed off into the throngs. I'm pretty sure that in the vegetable market we bought stuff just because it was thrown into our baskets and everything we bought was '1 kilo's' worth cause asking for anything less was just too complicated.

The butcher was a Sweeney Todd-esque delight of flying knives and whacking thuds. I dare not ask for anything less than what we bought here for fear of my life. This guy was seriously talented! Then Chris joined up with us again and he told us we needed to buy chicken. An actual chicken. A live chicken. Dave and I weren't exactly sure what to say when Chris told us to pick one, so Chris took charge, choose a 'plump' specimen and we headed back to the truck with the chicken (which became affectionately known as Schnitzel) under his arm.

We upturned the library book box, threw in some newspaper and Schnitzel got settled into his last home on board the truck. Jake took a shine to Schnitzel and calmed him down by covering his eyes. I'm pretty sure by the time we reached the camp this chicken was the happiest it had probably ever been.

We gave it a few more hours of relative happy life with food, water and lack of millions of other chickens climbing on it and then sent it off to the kitchen for slaughtering. Schnitzel returned to us like any other chicken from Sainsburys and Sean and I set about cooking 'Schnitzel's Demise' - a rather delicious Thai Green Chicken Curry.

The poor chicken's final few hours of freedom thereafter became known as 'Schnitzel's Last Stand'.

The beautiful camp at Lake Bunyoni would be our home for a few days as it's the jumping off point for our first 'big deal' attraction - the Mountain Gorillas.

Here are the photos:

BT47_Sipi Falls 23 - 24 Feb 2011

An Introduction to African Trails

After our jaunt to the Kenya coast, we decided to join an 'overland tour'. Sean in particular likes to stay away from 'organized fun' when he can. However, we weighed up the pros and cons as follows:

PROS

• National parks here are hard to reach unless you pay taxis or hire cars (both of which come at a price we can't afford)
• Some parks have hefty conservation fees per vehicle which split between more than two people helps with cost
• With overland tours you can get into camp sites outside of tour more easily so save on accommodation costs
• I was getting a bit bored of Sean and so the new people to talk too would be welcome (hee hee - only kidding!!!!)

CONS

• We have to go where we're told
• You have to pitch in and cook and wash up, so no room for laziness... (I'm starting to see why Sean dislikes tours so much)

We found a company called 'African Trails'. They are by far the best value company on the market right now and they do this by only including your accommodation (by way of a tent), breakfast (cornflakes, wheetabix, pancakes or omlettes) and dinner (eaten off the back of the truck using a two stove gas hob and local produce purchased that day) and some of the attractions in the price. They leave other attractions as 'optional extras' allowing you to stretch your budget as you see fit. They also don't include a chef which means that the group takes it in turn to do the cooking and washing up is always to be done. So given that you're still vaguely in charge of your own destiny when it comes to what to do and what to eat, this company suited our needs to a tee and we signed on the doted line for a 28 day trip from Nairobi, into Uganda, back to Nairobi and then down to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.

We arrived at our starting point at Karen Camp in Nairobi (a rather dishevled camp but with a kind of charm - plus it had three lovely Alsatians). We were invited to join some locals for a drink and immediately wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. It seemed they were the second/third generation of (mainly) white locals - basically all the ones with money... and they were smashed. It all got rather racuous as Sean and I watched on sipping our one and only afforded beer. I kinda gave up after one of them slowly spat on another's head. Fortunately more overlanders (this is the term given to one on an overland tour) arrived and we managed to mingle with them. Here's the link to the Karen Camp photos:

BT45_Karen 20 Feb 2011

We joined our fellow African Trails travellers in Nairobi - Dave (an inbetween jobs Pharmacist from Scotland) and Jake (a sabbatical Nuclear Medicine Technologist from Australia). Yes, it was just the four of us - how bloody fantastic was that! Our driver's name was Chris (another Aussie). Chris would be our driver all the way to Dar. Jake and Dave informed us they would be leaving the truck shortly before we got back to Nairobi after week two (Dave had already been truck-bound for several weeks, having come up from South Africa). The truck itself is awesome with onboard library, stacks of space and roll up windows.

I don't want to jinx things, but I'm pretty confident that we're going to have a blast.

Here are the photos from our first few days travelling through the rift valley:

BT46_African Trails Introduction 21 -22 Feb 2011

Getting Giddy About Gede

Sometimes I wish I was an archaeologist. If that were the case, so my reasoning goes, I could indulge my passion for ancient ruins by actually being paid to travel all over the world to examine them in detail and get into all kinds of cool adventures with mystical forces and thousand-year-old legends. Then I realise several things:

a) I'm not Indiana Jones.

b) Neither, for that matter, is anyone else.

c) Most archaeologists spend all their time in a library or academic institution.

d) The ones that are actually out "on-site" wish they weren't because they're getting paid absolute peanuts to spend interminable months running a tiny brush over four square feet of dirt that may or may not reveal the last resting place of a small clay pot.

So with these reassuring thoughts in my mind, I was more than happy for Jen and I to tackle the latest in our long list of ancient ruins as independent travellers. We were aware on our way up to Lamu of the ruins of Gede, nearby to Malindi, and so were determined to take a look at them on our way back to Nairobi. Our return to Malindi was far more successful than our first entry last week, by which I mean that this time we could actually find our guesthouse. The local wildlife clearly could too, because this very green snake was winding its way around our room balcony to welcome us...

It was nice to be back in Malindi for a couple of days, if for no other reason than the culinary standards. Malindi is a town with a huge Italian expat community and, homely sods that they are, they've brought their food with them. Knowing that the quality and variety of food is highly likely to decline as we get deeper into Africa, Jen and I therefore availed ourselves of woodfired pizza at every conceivable opportunity. As I see it, these Italians have brought the food of their homeland to the east African coast, and it would be downright rude of us not to show our appreciation by eating as much of it as possible. That's our story, anyway, and by God we're sticking to it.

As previously mentioned though dear friends, our main reason for making a second stop in Malindi was to use it as a staging point for exploring the nearby ruins of Gede. Not a site that I'd been previously familiar with, the ancient ruined city is very famous in these parts - and its story is made all the more intriguing by the fact that, as far as anyone can tell, no record exists of it in any historical text. Spooky.

And so, curiosity suitably aroused, we hired a tuk-tuk and made the journey out to the ruins themselves. Having been unfamiliar with the place and spoilt by the ruins we'd just encountered in Asia, I have to admit that my hopes weren't particularly high. However, Gede comfortably exceeded my expectations - it was impressive both in terms of its size and the buildings' quality of preservation.

So we passed a good couple of hours traversing the ruins, though were understandably still none the wiser as to the real history of the place by the end of it. It seems the archaeologists who've worked at Gede have been very good identifying what individual buildings and structures must have been used for, but no one can tell us exactly what Gede itself was all about. It remains a mystery. Maybe I will become an archaeologist after all, just to unravel that one.

Or maybe I'll just invent a story about the place, complete with associated myths, rituals and symbolism, and then write about it in a novel. I'd have to change my name though. Don Green perhaps, or maybe Dave Black...something like that anyway.

So now it's back to Nairobi for the start of a - shudder - organised tour for a while. I might have to let Jen talk about that, as it makes me feel all dirty.

And I apologise for a second consecutive blog entry with an alliterative title. I promise that it will be the last one. Until I do it again.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) That deciding to hire a tuk-tuk turned out to be the best decision ever! No more wondering around Malindi for us!

2) The bees! So many bees!

3) All the cute resident monkeys!

4) KiWi (Kind Wind) and their amazing pizzas - ooo, to have a proper pizza was lovely. Well, Malindi is full of Italians after all!

Here are the photos:

BT44_Malindi 17 - 19 Feb 2011

Living It Large In Lamu

Jen has written something like the past seven entries in this blog so I figured it was long overdue that I rejoined the party, and so what better place to do it than with an entry on the Kenyan coast's most celebrated destination - Lamu. The oldest inhabited town in East Africa, Lamu had been the final goal of our Kenyan coastal exploration and we arrived via ferry to the island town full of expectation. I find that anywhere you approach by boat invariably has a tinge of the exotic about it and Lamu, steeped in history as it is, certainly upheld its end of that particular bargain.

Having settled into our lovely little guesthouse, an old stone house affair with more than its share of charm, there were a few specific attractions that we were definitely keen to see to start things off. Firstly, Lamu was historically a major Swahili trading centre and so one of our obligatory stops was the Lamu Museum. Set in a grand old building right on the waterfront, this museum gave us both an introduction into the history of the island and the town and also a very useful beginners guide to Swahili culture, which we'd been surrounded by on our journey so far but had to date learned only a little about.

Second was the dominant building of the town, Lamu Fort - a big, imposing structure dominating the main square with views out over the waterfront and the harbour beyond. The fort has been restored in a way that most other old buildings in Lamu haven't been, and as such it looks considerably newer and more modern than the rest of the town. This effect was a little jarring on first viewing, but as we were walking past the huge structure several times a day, it eventually just became part of the scenery. And it was certainly impressive, never more so than standing on the ramparts taking in the commanding views.

And we even had a view of it from out the window of our guesthouse.

Finally, there was the walk down south to the village and beach at Shela - a smaller, more upmarket Lamu which has been gentrified and upscaled for the "richers" who like to come to this part of the world but don't want to slum it in the cheap seats like the rest of us. Looking at Shela and the beach it sits on, it was pretty difficult to really hold their choice against them.

The main draw of Lamu, however, isn't in any particular building, beach or attraction but rather just in wandering the narrow, cobblestone streets, soaking up the quiet medieval atmosphere and getting out of the way of the literally hundreds (possibly thousands, it was hard to tell) of donkeys plodding their way up and down alleyways all over town, some carrying supplies, some carrying people, and some simply taking what seemed to be their daily constitutional. Make no mistake, donkeys rule the streets of Lamu and you need to be respectful of their turf.

And finally, of course, there was no better way to finish off each day in Lamu than with some of the delicious local food. The seafood here is predictably sensational - the fish curries, which I didn't initially have the highest hopes for, are divine, and on our last night Jen and I decided to splash out on a wonderfully romantic little local restaurant where the red snapper was to die for.

It was a little harder to find a cold beer - Islam is the dominant religion out in these parts - but a couple of sister hotels sold beer and so we went to one of them (the more downmarket one, obviously) each night to sit in their roof terrace, look down over the water and knock back a couple of cold ones while noticing just how many local girls frequented the place "befriending" solo male travellers who just happened to stumble in there. I don't want to go throwing accusations around saying they were all hookers or anything but, well, they were clearly all hookers. None of them troubled us, of course, being the respectable looking couple that we were.

The five days we've spent in Lamu seem to have kind of melted together - somehow we managed to fill the time effortlessly without really "doing" anything in particular, which I have no doubt is part of the town's considerable charm. Like so many destinations over the course of this odyssey, it's a shame to leave - but the mysterious ancient ruins of Gede await us back down the coast as we turn around and begin our return journey toward the hustle and bustle of Nairobi over the next few days.

And you know how much we like our ancient ruins...

Things Jennie will remember

1) The 'boy' who basically ran the guesthouse on behalf of his father/uncle?? - he not only made our breakfasts (which he tailored to our tastes as the days went on) but he cleaned, did our laundry and let us in at night

2) Our great local restaurant where we ate for pennies every night except our final splash out night - it helped us afford beers and was very tasty and filling! Thanks to the waiter who kindly read out (literally) every menu item and explained what it was to us because they didn't have the menu in English

3) The fisherman warding off the many cats who sat patiently waiting to devour whatever part of the fish he was gutting that was leftover

4) Walking to Shela at high tide and passing the lovely old Muslim lady who shrugged off 'propriety' and "hitched up her skirts" over her knees to stop it getting wet in the sea - her cheeky smile was fantastic!

5) The children outside at school learning a song whilst we were in the museum - well done to the ones who were tone deaf but still belted their solo out with gusto!

6) The donkeys - ah bless (the sanctuary there was started by someone from Sidmouth in Devon up the road from where my Aunty Kate used to live!)

7) John who sold us our postcards - what a lovely man! Must remember to buy a t-shirt from him when we get home...

Here are the photos:

BT43_Lamu 12 - 16 Feb 2011