Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and QENP

Last weekend, Jake and I had an epic Ugandan weekend filled with beautiful mountain drives, gorillas, lions, and luxury…..

The weekend started at dawn on Friday as we (Jake, myself, and another medical student) piled into the car at Makerere and started our journey westward towards Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. About three hours outside of Kampala, I began to worry….we were climbing north and although the drive to Fort Portal is quite beautiful, it seemed very much out of the way….(we were supposed to be heading to the southwestern corner of Uganda near the Rwandan/Congolese border). I brought up my concern, but we continued on (there are not that many roads in Uganda and it is quite difficult to change routes). Six hours later, we arrived in Fort Portal and prepared ourselves for another seven-hour drive south on a bumpy dirt road through Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is hard to complain about long drives through stunning landscapes, but the last 30 km of bone breaking rough riding through Bwindi to the lodge was painfully never-ending…..

We arrived at the Buhoma Homestead at the foot of the forest and were greeted by tall glasses of delicious juice and an incredible treehouse suite with a huge verandah overlooking Bwindi. It was very exciting—I have never stayed in any place quite like it. I sat down, finally still and took in the forest world around me. It was overcast, the dense dark green mountains seeming to be both erupting from the earth and suspended in misty clouds at the same time. It had recently rained and the forest world was dripping, screaming with the noise of life. To be honest, I found the forest scary….a world unknown to me, a world that held life that I both wanted to know and run away from. After a perfect hot shower and a delicious four course meal complete with a bottle of wine, I went to bed happy and anxious for what I hoped was a challenging but leisurely hike to see one of the world’s most endangered species, the mountain gorilla.

The morning started out well enough with orientation—until we were separated into our respective permitted trekking groups. We had permits for the “R” group, a group that is notorious for residing close to camp (i.e. a short trek). However, we were immediately informed that the group was last seen yesterday about 12 km from camp (the rangers use GPS to locate and trek the different gorilla groups). The ranger went on to explain that we should expect at least a 20km hike and encouraged us all to employ porters to help with carrying bags and water. I was thinking….hmmmm…20km is not too bad and my bag is not too heavy…..but I am out of shape and I don’t know what the terrain is like…..We decided to hire a porter just in case and we set off. Our trekking group was funny…..we had 3 wildly hairy Croatians and an awesome couple from Canada. The group leader was Ranger David and the team was bookmarked by two guards armed with AK-47s. For some reason, I still felt unsafe as we entered (or as Jake would say penetrated) the impenetrable forest. We immediately started to climb….yes, climb at about an 80 degree angle in dense jungle with no trails. After 10 minutes, I felt like my heart was going to explode, my lungs were going to collapse, and my knees were going to give out. The intensity of the exercise and the density of the forest was suffocating. There were sounds everywhere—the forest breathing on us as we scrambled, using thorny branches to pull ourselves up the mountain. The accomplishment and relief I felt when we arrived at the top was overwhelming—until Ranger David congratulated us on finishing the first 4 km and hurried us along….down another mountain and then up again…it was brutal and neverending, but we had the goal in site (well, the gorillas were on the move and we were moving fast to try to reach them in time—if you do not reach the gorillas by 3pm, the ranger forces you back to camp—being in Bwindi in the dark is not an option…).

The gorillas were finally sighted at around 2pm (we started our hike at 8:30pm). Humans are allowed one hour maximum with the gorillas and time started ticking…They continued to move once we found them and we scrambled through thick vines and trees to catch glimpses of them. It was hard…they moved quickly through the dark forest and although they were all around us (in the trees and on the ground), they were elusive…until they stopped. When they stopped, we finally stopped and sat and watched and it was undescribable. The “R” group had several babies and young adults and I observed for an hour as they played, explored, and experimented with each other. They are so human in their interactions and I was overwhelmed by the extraordinary opportunity to view these majestic yet ecologically fragile creatures in their natural environment. I could have observed them for hours.

An hour passed quickly and I snapped back into reality—we were at least 12 km away from camp, the afternoon was fading into evening quickly and every part of my body was shaky and angry. For all of those who know my “feeling as if I can’t go on”—this was the feeling that I had (times 200). I could probably write a whole short story about the trek back to camp, but for now I will just say that it was much, much harder than hiking up the mountains. Legs like jello, ankles unsupported, slippery alive earth beneath my feet, dodging large colonies of biting ants, grabbing onto thorny branches that get stuck in clothing, hair (and Jake’s eyelid)……I basically stumbled down the mountain, too tired to be aware of the creepy surroundings, pushing ahead without looking back, running out of water, running out of energy. We are all drenched in sweat, encouraging each other to continue moving as we tried to avoid dangerous mountain elephants. Part of me thought that I just wasn’t going to make it back to camp—the gorilla viewing seemed like a dream, an afterthought to the intensity of hiking through Bwindi. I was cold and hot and shaky and then it was over. It was 5:30pm, the sky was heavy with rain, and Jake and I survived without any major injuries (only a thorn in an eyelid, a handful of thorns, and stronger hearts and only about 10 usable pictures of the gorillas). When Ranger David handed me a certificate of completion, I actually felt proud and thought—this was fucking harder than medical school. I deserve this. Apparently, it is not unusual that tourists have to be carried back down during treks like ours……I felt like I conquered Bwindi and some of my own fears and it was an amazing feeling. That said, I don’t think I ever want to do that again…..the images of the gorillas are burned into my memory and that is enough….

And so the weekend continued…..we started out the next morning for Lake Bunyonyi and Queen Elizabeth National Park. Another long day of driving, but certainly this is one of the most beautiful drives in the world. The road winds through mountains that stretch for hundreds of miles, through rainforests and small mountain villages. Butterflies surrounded the car and the air smelled like rain and dirt and sun and smoke and life……It smelled like Africa. On this road, Uganda and Congo and Rwanda stretch out in the distance and volcanoes climb towards to sky. It is incredibly lush and Ugandans have managed to harness the rich soil of the rainforest and cultivate the land so that the rolling hills beneath the mountains look like patchwork quilts—alternating square patches of floating matoke plantations, brilliant, glowing green tea plantations, and deep red earth. The fields are dotted with people—bright flashes of color (reds and purples and blues) that peak out through a verdant sea of controlled vegetation. This drive is Uganda for me. Here the poverty and injustice and cruelty in the world of human development is silenced by the forces of natural beauty. It is spectacular.

We raced against the sun to arrive at Katara Lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) before dark and just barely succeeded. As we pulled up, the earth was exhaling its last breath of day but we had enough light to appreciate the incredible expansion of savannah beneath the Rwenzori mountains, the mountains of the moon. Katara Lodge is a new ecolodge perched on a cliff near the entrance to QENP. It only has 5 cottages that are all equipped with spectacular facilities—a bathroom (shower and tub) overlooking the savannah and a verandah made especially for sleeping outside under the stars. Settling into a hot bath at the Lodge, I felt like the luckiest person in the world…..and I felt very much like the almost 30 year old adult that I am. I have been to QENP several times before and have stayed at some great places with my family but that was a very long time ago….This was my first adult trip and I was experiencing it with a little bit (no a lot) of luxury. Part of me feels a little guilty traveling in luxury…but I have experienced this part of the world as most young travelers do (24 hour dusty, unsafe bus rides, squat toilets, and basic accommodations) and I feel I have reached the point in life when in which being comfortable is important. In any case, I loved every minute of our time at Katara and QENP. I was even happy when it rained for half of our one day in the park—the cold rainy weather was a license to curl up, take a hot bath, and fall asleep to the sound of rain. It was the best nap I have had in Uganda. On Sunday night, we were essentially the only guests at the lodge (with the exception of a very strange pediatrician from Texas who works 3 months out of the year doing medical mission work, a young student from the Netherlands who is doing a case study on Katara as part of her dissertation on international tourism, and a pushy wannabe Julia Childs ex-pat from Rwanda). I love the diversity of people one meets when traveling…..

Our last night at Katara was spent camped outside beneath the stars. We watched in awe as the Cheshire-shaped moon sank behind the Rwenzori peaks, revealing a glowing sky. I have never seen so many stars. I tried to ignore all of the strange sounds and potential insects and ended up sleeping well, waking only to the alarm calls of the morning birds. It was the perfect ending to an amazing weekend.