Bwindi - The Impenetrable Forest - abode of the Gorillas

 Post for the 29th of July

The resort we stayed at in Bwindi was called Traveller's Tavern in a village called Ruhija. This resort had huts well spaced out. Each hut had an attached toilet. Our hut was the furthest from the reception and dining area. It was about 15 minutes flow of water away. Know this as that was the time it took for hot water to reach us when we wanted a shower.

Food was basic, but good. Menus were fixed, and we could choose our dishes for the meal. Coffee was excellent.

Had to be up and ready post breakfast by 0730. And, at the Gorilla briefing point by 0800.

There were at least 50 people at the briefing. The local community women did a few song and dance routines. Very energetic performances.

Then one of the guides came in to talk to us. Was extremely impressed with what he said, the way he spoke, the construct of the subject.

He covered history of the Bwindi Impenetrable Gorilla reserve. Believe by the 1990s the population had dwindled to 350 individuals. The decline was basically due to poaching and the demand for baby gorillas as pets. The poaching was for the gorilla paws. The kidnapping was for the Americans who wanted pets. Another reason for the poaching was that the local populace was into hunting for food, and would kill gorillas that attacked them.

A stop was put to this by the 2000s. The local community was involved in creating walking tracks, participating in conservation and given alternate means of livelihood.

Today, the population is around 1500 individuals.

Gorillas live in communities of 20 to 30 individuals.  All communities are not exposed to humans. Before a community is exposed to humans, either for tourism or research, the forest staff habituate the community. A habitation program lasts anywhere between 5 to 10 years.

At the end of the briefing, the tourists were split into groups of 8 to 10, to be accompanied by a guide, 2 gun carrying guards, and porters to help with any backpacks and any required physical support, as the terrain had steep gradients.

Our group was assigned to the Gorilla community called Mukiza, which had 30 individuals. 

The first part of the Gorilla Tracking exercise was by vehicles to the start point. We were assigned a walking pole each, made of bamboo. Believe me, it was a necessity.

The next six hours were exhilarating. It sucked out the last bit of energy from our systems, taxed our knees and legs to the maximum, had us carefully avoiding nettles, gave us some anxious moments on the slopes down and up, but most important, allowed us to get up and close to the Gorilla.

The distance covered according to digital devices was 6 kilometers. 4 kilometers was the distance to an from the actual Gorilla patch. 2 kilometers was amongst the gorillas. The statistics will not be complete if I do not state that the same device claims we climbed 75 flights.

The walk started with a steep down slope. Fortunately, it was dry season. I shudder to think what the slope would be like if it were wet. 

 It took us about 45 minutes to reach the wooden bridge across the swamp. There was a brief halt as our guide connected with the trackers, who had been out since the moring trying to find the Mukiza group. 

Gorillas like fresh green plants. So they move constantly, feeding, till they rest around mid day.

Our trackers were out since early morning, looking for signs of the Gorillas passing - bent grass, chewed plants. Their tracking started at the point they had seen that particular group of gorillas the previous evening. They went in widening circles from that point till they saw clear sights of movement.

We also saw signs of recent Elephant crossing, in the form of very fresh elephant dung.

And, crossed a army of ants, carefully avoiding any contact.

Soon we reached a point where we were all called together, from the spaced out single file we had been walking in. This was a final briefing on our expected behavior before we interacted with the Gorillas. I use the word interacted because we were inside the group, amongst them. But before that, we had to wear face masks. This was to ensure no human disease was passed on.
 

And, just like that, we were amongst the gorilla group. We initially saw two on a tree. And thought, that was that.

But, we were led forward by the four trackers whom we had joined up with.  And, the Gorillas were all over. Leave you with the pictures as there is no explaining our feelings.

 You will note that in most cases there is foliage in the pictures. This is because this is the natural habitat of the Gorilla, the dense forest green. And, this is the dry season. Added fact, they love nettles. You need to be careful. Which we forgot as soon as we sighted the primates.

We were winding our way up and down the gradient of the hillside, in and out of bushes, plants , weeds, trees and nettles, trying to get a good photo look at the Gorillas, while they were constantly feeding and moving. 

It was absolutely glorious.

The last is a picture of the Silverback, the alpha male of the group. 

As our time of one hour tracking and mingling with these beautiful animals got over, we had to move away.

Fortunately, our group of 9 people, all who loved wildlife. The group behaved well.

The walk back started much faster than the walk to the gorillas. 

And then, we stopped for lunch - a ham and cheese sandwich, fruit and juice.
 

And then, it started. The climb back. We stopped every 10 minutes, to catch our breath and ease the aching legs. Let it be noted that I was nowhere near the worst of the lot. All the others were aged below 45. It felt good that the system was able to keep up.

We finally made it to the road where the vehicles were waiting. 

The guide gave a speech commending us on completing the Gorilla tracking exercise. According to him, a majority give up, or need physical support to climb back.

As you can see, we were given participation certificates for Gorilla Tracking.

Got back to our resort for a well earned shower.

Early evening we went for a long walk to see the community outreach programs. Saw the ethnic residents of the Bwindi forest area who were resettled outside the forest, all but wiped out. 

Post that was a shopping spree, which I participated in. The Gorilla tshirts were a must.

Finally, drank to the awesome Gorillas.