Africa.Jungle and veldt by Caravan and Sedan chair.

[drron]

After lunch we went for a walk into buhoma village at the National Park entrance.Our lodge is inside the National Park.They are building a new Visitor centre for the park.Some of the machinery is not that new-

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My craft shop-

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In every village there were places where they were crushing rock by hand for roadworks etc.Lots of small businesses selling food-

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We found that about two thirds of the locals didn't object to having their photo taken.Indeed actually wanted it taken.the other third would run away or cover their faces when they saw you had a camera.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

"When you arrive there are 91 steps up to the main building of the lodge.Most places have lots of steps as this is in the mountains.."

He forgot to mention these steps are STEEP, UNEVEN, and have NO HANDRAIL. And a daily challenge !!!

 

[love_the_life]

"When you arrive there are 91 steps up to the main building of the lodge.Most places have lots of steps as this is in the mountains.."

He forgot to mention these steps are STEEP, UNEVEN, and have NO HANDRAIL. And a daily challenge !!!

Nothing like glossing over the details :shock:

 

[drron]

I had no problems with the stairs.But to go on,more of the village-

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The birds are eating the clay to get essential nutrients.

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How do you tell an eco child from a run of the mill kid?

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I was going to have some pork but a couple of locals reckoned there were much better places.

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[JohnM]

Late aboard, but I have a good excuse...

 

[drron]

For some reason most of the crafts here feature gorillas.Mainly made of wood so not practical for an Australian.

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and these fellows say they are the gorilla nursery-

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Now back to our lodge and a nanny nap before dinner-

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So dinner.salads to start and mrsdrron went for the vegetarian option again whilst I had the steak.There is a local mushroom project to give employment and more income for vthe village.They are really good.So mushroom sauce was fantastic.Dessert was a low calorie chocolate cake.

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So it was straight to bed after dinner as we had a date with a gorilla in the morning

 

[love_the_life]

The cake looks very low calorie....not

 

[drron]

So it was up at 0600 brekkie by 0700.But whilst having brekkie a large troop of colobus monkeys went across the lodge in front of the restaurant.

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Then down to the visitor centre to watch a film and get a talk about the dos and don'ts.Taken outside and divided into 4 groups.Our group was 7-maximum 8.A young German couple.A slightly older US woman and an American fellow who lives in Thailand with his Thai wife.He is a school Principal.Introduced to our Parks guide-

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I decided to hire 2 porters-one to carry my stuff the other to pull or push me uphill.Though the woman carried my pack and she was also pushing me uphill and providing balance.She was great.

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And now the sedan chair makes an appearance.Mrsdrron fractured both ankles 3 weeks after I had my knee replacement.She has 2 plates and 12 screws in her right ankle and basically it doesn't bend hence her difficulty with stairs and going uphill.Our trip to the gorillas turned out to be a 12Km round trip-the 2 Americans had fitbit type appliances.So Mrsdrron wouldn't have made it without help.Still she was very apprehensive and felt embarrassed as she would hold up the group.

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All strapped in and ready to go.But she didn't have to worry about slowing the group up.there were 4 porters carrying the chair.12 porters altogether rotating the load.This was the last photo I got of them in action as basically they ran and they had to stop periodically for the rest of us to catch up-

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Up ahead in that last picture is an armed guard.There is another bringing up the rear.It is said to protect against wild animals but it started in 1999 when several tourists were kidnapped by Hutu rebels.They murdered the US and UK tourists letting the others go including a New Zealander.

 

[love_the_life]

So all has now been revealed. A question for mrs.dr.ron, how confident were you in the chair? Worried at all about being dropped or tipped out? You certainly know how to travel in style

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

The sedan chair I was strapped into had a 5 point harness seat belt

like this - so I knew I wasn't going to tip out ! The trouble was my 12 boys that carried me
were of all different heights - so it wasn't a smooth ride !! The ride felt like I was in a dune buggy with no suspension especially when they got the speed up to run. Basically we walked/jogged/ran along a dirt road until it was time to really get into the jungle. Then it was a hairy ride through the trees up and down very slippery dense wet vegetation. At one point we started sliding down the hill and all 12 boys grabbed the chair and we all slid together until they got their footing - lucky I cant speak Ugandan - so I don't know what they were saying to one and other ! but I was saying to myself .... holy cough , we are ending up at the bottom of the ravine ! - lucky that didn't happen, but the next day I had some bruises on my arms and legs where the boys held me tight. So Joseph ( my head porter) and his boys looked after me very well. Joseph who spoke excellent English, would ask me did I want a drink of water, was I OK, about every 500 metres ! So I can recommend the sedan chair - I certainly wouldn't have seen the gorillas without it.

 

[drron]

There was also an armed guard bringing up the rear.He was a friendly guy-

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The path narrows.it is actually a pathway to the other side of the National park and locals use it to bring their products to the village to sell.This day it was mainly passionfruit-

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We then went off the track and cut our way up and then across the mountain.Going across was scary as it was hard to get a footing.At one stage mrsdrron thought she would end up at the bottom of the slope with 12 porters.They all pitched in at this time.I was very grateful to my female porter who grabbed me around the waist and kept me on the straight and narrow.my legs were like jelly.Then the discomfort was forgotten-

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A gorilla.We soon joined up with the 3 trackers-

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The trackers know where the gorillas have made their nests.They go out at 0600 to that spot then track them and let the guide know.The first experience was with a mother and her 2 month old offspring-

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As well as leaves and fruit they eat the bark of this tree.Bub is being taught how to do it.

 

[drron]

All of us were enchanted so for quite some time we were all looking at this scene.Really touching some of the facial expressions-

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Bub was now suckling.

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[drron]

When you see a gorilla looking up they are checking on the silverback who was up a very tall tree eating fruit.I am sure he was aiming the seeds at us.As well we found out he has a quite large bladder but fortunately his aim was off.

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[drron]

Still a few more of mum and child-

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A lot more of the group arrived including the ranking female who was leading.So 2 adult females with juveniles,2 blackbacks and a couple of subadults.our mum then moved a distance away.Our group then split up and followed the various gorillas.So for now the following are all mrsdrron's pictures.

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One young male caught out.Look carefully-

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Who me?

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[drron]

The rest now get their fill of bark with the alpha female going first-

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[drron]

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[craven morehead]

Wow! Just spent quite some time catching up on this fantastic report

Were the armed guards Army or security employed by National Parks?

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Wow...... Were the armed guards Army or security employed by National Parks?

I am fairly sure our guide Moses referred to them as ARMY, there was an army camp at the entrance to the park.

 

[drron]

I presume the National Park is supplied guards by the Army.Certainly on one day an Army truck pulled up at the entrance to the National park and soldiers got out.Our guide said they were there to do their time in the Park.The armed guides we had had different uniforms to the Army and Uganda Parks and Wildlife service logos on the uniform.

 

[drron]

One of the subadult males had great patience and let the juveniles have a good play-

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The alpha female didn't like her offspring playing with the other so would walk over and drag him back often throwing the other aside-

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