Chris slept in as she was not going Gorilla Tracking on this trip. She had done this on her previous visit with her old hip. Christie, Janis and Steve were at breakfast at 5:30 at the Bahoma Lodge and left shortly after in order to drive to the start of Mountain Gorilla Tracking. It seems that we were headed to Ruhiga to start. The ride to Ruhiga was over an hour and a half long over the worst road any of us had ever traveled. The most beautiful scenery one could imagine accompanied this spectacularly bad road. The villagers who live in the Ruhiga area live in an almost vertical world. They are either going up or down, because there is no flat in this mountainous region. We were thinking that perhaps The Impenetrable Forest was referring to the road, but that was before we got to see the forest itself.
After the very formal briefing by the Park Ranger we were off to find a family of 13 Mountain Gorillas. These are among the most endangered species in the world with only a little over 600 of them know to still be alive. A little more than half of those 600 live in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, and we were going to view these animals in their natural habitat for slightly over an hour today.
We started out walking almost straight down into a Rainforest canyon that was at least 150 feet below from the road. Each of us hired a local porter to carry our bag and to help us with the terrain. Hiring these men is an important way to provide employment to the local population, and for them to understand that protecting these Gorillas brings economic benefit to the community. Besides that we would all end up needing the important help these men would provide.
About halfway down to the bottom of this canyon (which ended up in a swamp) we met the Gorilla Trackers who had been locating this family earlier that morning. Leaving our hiking sticks, helpers and bags behind we went forward. We went a few feet when we noticed a young black back about 30 feet above us in a tree looking for food. This particular black back is known as a troublemaker by the rangers and he would prove to live up to that name before the day was over. We continued down the trail toward the valley floor and met a couple of silver backs. Silver backs are the older males and one of them is always the dominant male of the group. This family is unusual in that there are four silver backs in this group, a dominant male and older male, a younger silver back and a less dominant male. We saw all four of them and we were able to get within 20 feet of these beautiful animals in what is seemingly a magical rainforest.
As we moved to follow the silver backs, the young black back started down the slope towards us. I was trying to take pictures of him when he started to charge us. As I had been briefed I averted my eyes away from him as he charged the Ranger to my left and gave him a very strong push out of his way as he continued his way down the slope towards the rest of his family.
After the excitement subsided we continued to follow the group. The rest of the Gorillas seemed very relaxed to have us around. They were lounging, napping and feeding with little concern for us being there. Viewing these animals in that environment for the hour we had with them was a remarkable experience. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a place that is extremely remote and to which you can go only with a great deal of hard work. When you are there with the Mountain Gorillas you are transported to their world for just an hour, but it’s worth all the time and effort to get that one hour in that mystical place.
Today was my last official day as Principal at Country School. I’ve been taking vacation days since the 25th of June to finish out the remainder of my contract. I cannot think of a better way to have spent that day than with the Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Off to Ishasha. Joseph tells us that the lions have not been spotted recently. We are hoping to change that when we arrive there tomorrow.
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