Gorillas In The Mist

October 16, 2016

As I landed in Uganda, I began to get a feel of the gorillas and their habitat. Uganda is lush, green, fertile and gets lots of rain. My primary objective was to track down mountain gorillas who stay in game parks on the border of Uganda and Congo. These reserves consisted of a dense rain forest covered by charming mountains with mists flowing out of them all the time.

i_mountainmist — The mists racing through the mountains.

Geoffrey decided to drive me to the Congo border to see the gorillas. We took a Land Cruiser which belonged to my friend, Alok Bansal, who had invited me to his house. We started our journey from Kampala and passed Mpigi town meandering through Masaka, Lyantande town and Kabale town. We drove through the Bwindi forest and then to our lodge called ‘Gorillas In The Mist’. For 100 dollars a night, it was a steal. I witnessed the most spectacular sunset from the window of my room.

i_mountainsun — From the window of my room, the most spectacular sunset!

Next morning was the briefing session in which we were told how to behave in front of a gorilla. We were advised to keep a distance of 7 meters specifically from the male silverback gorilla. This was because the male silverback gorillas are some of the most powerful and aggressive gorillas in the region.

After the session, I was followed by forest guards with guns. One had a cutlass to cut the bushes and banana trees as we had to make our own tracks to reach the gorilla family. We climbed up the rainforest slowly but steadily. We reached the top by cutting the trees and branches that came in our way as we gradually created a path for ourselves. It started to rain all of a sudden and ants began to climb up into my socks. It was then I realized what gorilla tracking really was. It was getting more and more difficult as I started to slip and fall on the leaves and plants under my feet. Thankfully, our forest rangers came to my rescue and kept pulling me up by the hand. I was panting and exhausted by then with the rain pouring down on my head, ants up my socks and the slippery ground. I understood that this was going to be even more fun than I anticipated.

An hour into the trek and I was ready to give up. “I can’t go anymore. I just want to sit down here.” With a thud, I sat on the muddy mountain to catch my breath. The forest guards kept motivating me and I trigged forward with all my might. Soon, we reached a high ground and the forest guard lifted the banana leaf to show me the most astounding sight. It was a male silverback gorilla.

i_gorillaeating — A Gorilla munching on a leaf.

The 140 kg beast was nibbling away and munching on a leaf. It was like I was in Jurassic Park and I just got the first glimpse of a dinosaur. Suddenly, the gorilla saw me and moved away. This was a cue for the forest ranger to pull me by the hand and take me to the other side. There I saw the whole gorilla family. There was a mother gorilla with a baby on her back.

I took out my camera and clicked away. Instantly, I was told not to use the flash as it would scare the gorilla and they may attack as they will feel threatened. We circled around the family of gorillas and then I sat down to observe them. They enjoyed eating banana leaves and climbing trees. One of them farted away to glory and even defecated from the tree top. Fortunately, I was at a distance and was saved from getting shat on.

I loved the daring experience. The grinding trek was worth it. After some time, we decided to defend and come back to the ground as it was pouring cats and dogs. With a song in my heart and a smile on my face, I moved back to the lodge courtesy of Geoffrey who was there to drive me back to the lodge.

By adminin others

Hail Uganda

October 6, 2016

The journey from Victoria Falls to Harare took almost 12 hours long. We started at 5 AM and reached in the evening. On road, I had an opportunity to see the Bata Factory. Bata, as I noticed, is quite popular in Africa. They have huge showrooms in Kenya as well as a huge factory on route to Harare. I was very keen to take a tour of the factory compound as Bata was my father’s favourite brand. The HR person for Bata did not give me permission to go inside the factory but allowed me to take photos from the outside. Here is my two-bit knowledge about Bata. “Bata is one of the oldest brands in India and old people wear Bata as they feel it to be strong, durable and at the same time, good value for money. However, the modern and younger generation do not wear Bata and them to be boring and not trendy or hip enough.” The stop did me good as at least I got a flavour of the plant and the people working there.

x_sunset_1 — A beautiful sunset in Africa.

The other amazing thing that happened on the way was a bushfire. We managed to cross a huge bushfire which, I think, had been set off naturally. I clicked away as the huge flame lapped up the yellow straw like grass in the fields giving out crackling sound as it swallowed the savannah grass.

x_sunset_2_3_4 — The well-placed mountains make everything beautiful.

We moved on and at Harare, another fiasco happened. When I went to take out dollars from The Barclays Bank ATM, my travel card was gobbled up by the machine. It was no fault of mine, I assure you. The bank was closed and I was told to come back the next day to collect my card. With a midnight flight to Uganda, this was impossible. Fortunately, I had my spare travel card but it needed to be topped up before I could use it. I was making do with my credit card so far.

x_anuj_1 — A selfie-like shot with a gorilla in the background!

The other thing to note about Zimbabwe is that as they don’t have a currency of their own, Echo Cash is something that is popular in this part of the world. Basically, Echo Cash is the usage of mobile technology to pay your bills. Therefore, only select ATMs spit out cash and one have to make a lot of effort to find them.

x_gorilla_11 — Looking forward to meet some gorillas.

I am at Nairobi currently, ready to take off to Entebbe and that will be another journey. I am looking forward to exploring the Gorillas and of course, I am staying in the house of my dear friend, Alok Basal, who along with his lovely wife, Ankita, have invited me over. So my accommodation is taken care of at least. The rest I will post as I get to Uganda.

x_gorilla_10_12_6_7 — A sneak peek of the Gorillas in the next post.

By adminin others

The Town of Jinja and The Mouth of The Nile

October 3, 2016

Godfrey, my driver, and I were all set for an adventure. He had figured out that it will cost me 150 dollars for a day’s travel around Uganda to see wonders such as the game reserves, Lake Victoria, gorillas and much more. After a quick hair cut at the local mall, we headed for the town of Jinja to see the point where the river Nile enters into Lake Victoria, which is also popular for being the largest lake in the region. We drove through the dense traffic of Kampala and into the misty woods of the largest forest in Uganda known as the Mabela forest. The scene really reminded me of the film ‘Gorillas in The Mist (1988)’. Uganda is so green and lush with tea plantations, sugar plantations and banana trees. It is a fertile region with dark reddish brown clay soil. The flowing Nile and the great Lake Victoria has made the region a very fertile and prosperous land.

It got hot in the afternoon, but then it rained in the evening and again in the morning. It felt a bit like the weather in Bangalore. We strolled down to the Bujagali Falls which have two dams built around it. These are the biggest dams of the country and supply electricity to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya as well. I and Godfrey came to a decision to take a motor boat around the Nile and the dams.

What amazed me the most was the astonishing variety of birds that have made this region their home. The beautiful birds really enjoyed taking dips in the river as well as the lake. I managed to capture a lot of great shots of these birds up close in their natural habitat. Colourful kingfishers, eagles, cranes and birds of all kinds were dancing away at the sound of the flowing Nile.

I sailed past boats, boatmen and even urchins who were swimming and playing in the river stark naked like they were blessed by nature. The women were picking wood from the banks and the eagles were diving into the lake to catch a snake or two. Our boat meandered towards the dams where the current was a bit heavy, but we managed to hold on till the waters calmed down. We also laid eyes on elegant well-cut rock caves yawning at me from afar.

A crane dancing in the middle of the lake.

After the boat trip and on our way back up the hill, I saw a kind of dance performed by a local tribal dance group. The dance, coupled with beer and fish, was how we enjoyed the evening after our trip around the mouth of the river Nile. Truly a wonder of nature and man’s will to carve his own destiny, a constant battle between Man and Nature, not to miss the birds and other animals that thrive in this bountiful land.

Lake Victoria – Named by John Hanning Speke after Queen Victoria

The next day, I was invited over to dinner by an old friend, Mohit Dhondiyal, from Welham Boys’ who has been living in Uganda for over fifteen years. We sipped away Single Malt whiskey as we talked about the old times when we were naughty little kids.