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UGANDA THE PEARL OF AFRICA 2001 PART 3 January 11, 2001, Bwindi Impenetrable forest, Uganda

Today I experienced a wonderful journey into the Bwindi Impenetrable forest to look for mountain gorilla. We drove the mile from our camp to the guard station in the park, and waited with about 7 other Europeans at the guide hut. Staff were busy processing our expensive permits for only 12 people were allowed to enter the park to see gorilla, 6 persons per group. We waited for our guides and trackers, and with amazement saw the assemblage of young park guards, soldiers in drab green fatigues, and AK-

47s with a separate belt of bullets crossing the shoulder in Poncho Villa style. This is the location where 9 tourists were captured and murdered last year by Hutu guerrilla extremists from Rwanda. We met our guide Silver Mutabazi of the local Bakyisa tribe, and trackers George Gachero and William Buregyeya. Our permits were turned in at the

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guardhouse, and we mingled with two Canadian travelers from Vancouver, Grant Matti and his friend Gary. They had just come from a failed climb on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, having tried the Muchouba route. They shared they had poor guides, porters, and weather conditions, encountering heavy rains, freezing rain, then snow to such an extent that their gortex leaked. Covered in ice Grant sighed “We became covered in ice and turned around 2000 below the summit, then headed down to high camp. An hour later it cleared, a huge disappointment”. Grant rafted the

upper Nile and said he almost died on a commercial trip down a Class V rapids, got knocked out of the boat on the first rapid, hit a rock and received a concussion, then a severe nose bleed. He said it was his first and last rafting trip. Our permits in place for visiting Group M, we moved over to a where there were

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gathered a large group of local high school students that the guides would choose porters to carry our packs. They were wonderful kids, in great need for

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money to pay for books or shoes, and the park was providing an opportunity for them. With our Canadian friends and two Germans, we left the clearing and began walking up a grown over road that pierced the forest. Our guide was in radio contact with the tracker, and there was an excited exchange on the two-way radio. The gorilla group we were to visit had not been contacted for two days, and the crackle of the radio indicated that the last nights bedding nests had been found. We learned that Group M was the habituated Mubare group, which consists of about 20 individuals, including a number of gorilla youths and a large, mostly docile silverback. Group H, the Habinyanja group is larger (about 22 individuals) ruled by two silverback brothers, and are usually found deeper into the remote areas of the park. Scientists debate whether the Bwindi gorillas are mountain gorillas or members of the eastern lowland species. However recent DNA tests prove them to be more related to the mountain subspecies than eastern lowland gorilla.

We began walking up a gentle wide trail into the valley with an armed guard in front, and one behind our group. We walked under a canopy of saplings whose stems were covered in moss. Ferns, a mint-like plant with blue flowers and a herb with balsam-like flowers dominated the understory, and the air was full of bird song, including the snowy-headed robin-chat that imitates so many calls, including at times the bark of a poachers dog. After a mile of walking up the well-worn trail, we followed the guide into a side trail that led into the forest and ascended up a steep slope for about 100 meters. Here I heard the bark of a gorilla, and within five minutes we stopped, laid down our gear, and quietly approached the group. I first saw a young female, then the magnificent silverback appeared from behind a tree, sat down, and stripped the bark off a vine with his

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teeth, and ate the pith inside. The large animal moved on downslope, but continued to watch another female lay down near us with her back and head leaning against a tree, occasionally staring at us. Another female (5 in the group) approached from the opposite side, with her young riding on her back, feet straddled like riding a horse. Two females finally settled downslope, and we set

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up the cameras to watch. We heard belch grunts, a single note sound or contact call between scattered members of this group. The silverback had already accepted us. Two youngsters were playing, each about one year old near their mothers, and it was comical to watch. One played by hanging on to a sapling with one hand, and swinging around in a circle while still hanging on to the sapling. Its sibling then came over and began to bothers the swinging youngster, and they both wrestled for over 15 minutes together until the silverback walked up and placed his massive head by the female, extending his huge forearm and hand out in front of him. One of the youngsters immediately ran over to him, then returned to play. A third, smaller youngster came over and walked right up to us to check us out, and the guard clapped his hands to keep it away. We can transmit viruses to them and our diseases. It seemed the time passed so quickly, and before we knew it we had to leave. It was such an amazing experience, with the addition of hearing chimpanzees hooting over on the other side of the narrow valley on the opposite side of the trail, and seeing a black-fronted duiker close to us. The frustration was photographing the gorilla. The lighting was terrible and difficult to set up with the other pushy German tourists. Even the 400 ASA Fujichrome wasn’t enough of a high-speed film to document what I saw, and I was disappointed to have to leave so soon. Descending through the open understory, I had time to relax and process the disappointment, give it to the Lord, and begin to enjoy this beautiful forest. Moss draped trees, large and thick vines, and tree ferns. Several great blue turacos were calling ‘caw, caw, cawwwww’. And we saw a barbet with a bright red feathered head. There were also antbirds that fed on insects in mixed flocks. While walking back on the main trail, I conversed with the guards, and learned that much of the money generated from the permits is placed back into the surrounding community. Orphans are helped out with their schoolbooks and supplies, and secondary education students earn money by becoming porters for tourists. Once back at park headquarters, we met with the tourists who had visited Group H, and they had tracked them some distance before they made contact with them. But they noted that the silverback was shy. They saw him eating large red ants dug up from an underground nest. The silverback of Group

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M was estimated to be 40 years old. According to the guides, he was challenged last wee by another, younger silverback who grabbed one of the females in his group and took off. Apparently they fight often with this kind of competition. It was good to see them again after nearly twenty years since I had visited Rwanda. I explored more of the forest after our walk, and found the Bwindi forest to be amazing, with over 350 species of birds, 324 species of trees, and 120 species of mammals including 10 primate species. Some of the primates are found only in the highlands of SW Uganda, eastern Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, the Albertine Rift area. The Kigezi highlands of Bwindi were thought to have been formed before the rift valley was. The Bantu tribes 2,000 years ago migrated south from Northern Nigeria and Cameroon, and brought with them iron smelting into the Kigezi highlands. The forests of the Virungas and Bwindi are thought to have been cleared through slash and burn agriculture about 500 years ago. That evening I listened to the beautiful imitating calls of the robin-chat, and the lovely calls of the red-chested cuckoo and grey-capped warbler. January 12, 2001, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. What an incredible day. I was disappointed in yesterday’s gorilla viewing and lighting conditions, and gave this day to the Lord, asking for His will to be done, His way, whatever happens I will accept. And this turned out to be the best gorilla viewing day yet. Group H had nested overnight quite a way up the valley, and access was to then cross over one steep ridge, then halfway up another. However the group was moving closer today. This was not a scheduled day for me, as Paul and I were registered to skip a day, then hit it tomorrow on Saturday. So Paul and I left early to hopefully pay for an extra day and visit Group H. It turned out we were able to slip in today with our permits, and were rewarded. We joined a group of two women from Australia, one of whom was very slow in walking, and a couple from England, also overweight and slow. This would be a stretch on my patience. But actually this became a blessing because we were so slow, the day progressed and sunlight eventually pierced through the mountain fog later in the early afternoon. We had again picked up our high school student porters, Saddius Twinamaisiko, Isaiah Mugigneyi, Jeskah Akankwasa, Immaculate Kyomugisha, and Jovile Akampurira. We were introduced to our guides Hersi Rwamuhanda, a young man only five feet four inches tall, with a huge smile, fine features, and a very affable disposition. The trackers were also young and I learned their names: Amos Mwesigna and Doud Muheirwe, and Richard Nduhukire, and Joran Manaku. Our soldier escorts were Simon and Enoch, who both carried Russian automatic rifles, cheap ones at that, to protect our group. Their presence was appreciated since the kidnapping and murder of 8 people last year by Hutu rebels. The area was well manned with soldiers, with a hidden military communications outpost above the guide building and Park headquarters. The

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buildings were surrounded by trenches lined with sandbag walls. A Russian tank positioned at the entrance to the park with gun pointing up the valley.

Our group headed out with the trackers now considerable ahead of us, and walked up the now familiar trail up the valley for a quarter mile before turning of a very scenic side trail that meandered along a stream. The forest setting reminded me of the Olympic rainforest, with moss most trees and boulders. There were sapling trees that looked like our native Pacific Northwest vine maple, and alder. And there were tree ferns, orchids, vines, and a huge mahogany tree with limbs loaded with staghorn ferns and other epiphytes. The stream we followed was very clear, and descended in mild rapids and a series of step pools. We walked along the trail that became a boardwalk when it crossed the stream at two locations, then entered a riparian wetland. I could hear the calls of the bulbul, tinker bird, cuckoo, and the black and white hornbill, and a distant turaco. We also heard the calls of blue monkeys, which sounded similar to the grey-cheeked

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mangabey. Our group followed by high school aged porters ascended a ridge after we left the stream, and we followed the steep trail along its pine. The forest

here looked so similar to Kibale: open understory with heavy leaf litter, and lots of emerging saplings. We passed under interesting trees with fruit, especially near the stream. One tree species Myrianthus hofstii had large cecropia-like leaves

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branching pinnately compound like a horse chestnut, with a fleshy fruit that had large kernals that mildly tasted like grapefruit. A saw a similar species in CAR. On the way out after tracking gorillas, saw Carapa grandfrole, a huge fruit that dropped next to us on the way out. The orange fruit tasted like a cross between mango and raspberry. The trackers were ahead of us following yesterday’s sign. Lots of feces along the trail, filled with the seeds of Cassine ethiopica. Once at the peak of the ridge, we then descended into anther, smaller tributary stream, then crossed it into a riparian wetland of tree ferns, and cross country up an incredibly steep slope, literally almost straight up. After a tough ascent grabbing roots and fistfuls of grass, we found the nests made last night, composed of fresh leaves packed together into a bed. The gorillas defecate at the edge of their nests. The trackers finally spotted the group, and Paul and I ascended to where the guide was positioned. Heard belching-grunts, and finally saw one young gorilla that had briefly ascended a tree. We stopped in an overstory of tree ferns, then found several females, and one of the two silverbacks. Group H apparently has about 25-30 members. Two silverbacks are currently in the group, brothers of a common father that had died. The older silverback has been named Rwansigazi,

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a 30+ years old, and Mwirima is the younger brother. The guide Levi said there was probably 10-15 females in the group, and the rest young of varying ages.

I had difficulty setting up the tripod and camera on such a steep slope, and when the group moved around. I finally set up on the second and younger male silverback that moved to a medium-sized buttressed tree and rested. There were gorillas all around us. Levi called me over to the dominant silverback and several females feeding nearby where I again set up my camera and

tripod. The build of this huge male was massive with his silver colored saddle showing. But a cluster of ferns hid his huge head from the camera. Two females were feeding on leaves next to him, with youngsters playing. One subadult ascended a tree, then grabbed a vine to swing over to a second nearby vine. The other two youngsters played and wrestled, occasionally slapping their chests with their hands, as they stood up on their hind legs in mock display. Another female ascended a cluster of vines hanging from 90 feet above in the canopy of a large tree. She was feeding on the leaves of the vine when the dominant silverback got up from his prone position, turned on his back feet and moved to another large tree and laid down again. The Beta male moved off to another location. I set up the camera again to follow him on a very steep slope, and this time had a great view of his massive head, which he lay down on his huge forearms. Two older youngsters ambled over to him, played a little, and then sat. A female also wandered next to him. The most comical part of the day was watching a very small, wobbly youngster play next to its mother, then attempted to chest pound, afterwards looking puzzled when it didn’t succeed in making the hollow popping sounds of his older adolescent kin. It was a wonderful time with these marvelous creatures, and I thanked the Lord so many times for this experience. Above blue headed sunbird Our hour and a half was over too quickly, and as we left, we walked downslope through a very steep, open understory slope where some unknown plant 8 feet high dominated. It had soft stems that I could at least grab on to, unlike the sharp-spined tree ferns. Found our way back to the rushing stream and exhilarated by our encounter, made it back to park headquarters by 5:15 PM.

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Once back, Paul bought the school kids that were our porters and the guards a round of pop, and we were thankful for this tremendous opportunity. It is evening now, and an owl is calling outside our tent. I am debating whether to go again tomorrow and shell out $250.00. I have come so far and wanted to try and photograph them in better light. January 13, 2001 Saturday, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest I woke up early this morning, and kept thinking I should go to see group H one more time. I assembled enough travelers’ checks to pay the $250.00 fee, and I was ready. I prayed for God’s guidance on this, and had no reservations, but fortunately there was an opening. I met my guide Stephen Migyisha, a short, lightly built and slender man who was 34 years old. The two trackers were named Christopher Magoba, single and 25years old with a happy disposition, and Silver Tumwesigye. Rt Ross Turaco, Bwindi Today we encountered Group H much closer location, only ½ mile from the main trail across the stream and on a ridge that was fairly open. Sunlight filtered through the canopy to the forest floor, and before I knew it, the guide asked us to get our cameras ready. Within a minute, we saw the second younger silverback of group H posed with his side to us, and his triceps muscles of the arm flexed. Again it was a wonderful opportunity to see him, but difficult to photograph is forest light. We encountered more females and young. The dominant silverback was downslope of the crest of the ridge and fed in a huge open areas where there were large vines hanging from huge trees. Some of these huge trees included the giant mahogany Entandraphragma sp. (Omyoye), a softwood with red color, or the hardwood and buttressed Newtonia of Bucanani (Omuteyo). We observed this group in a spectacular setting where there was a partial view of the steep mountain across, listening to the descending cascade of notes of the dusky long-tailed cuckoo, and the ‘ tink, tink, tink, tink’ of the yellow-rumped tinker bird. Rt Olive woodpecker

The younger silverback got up and moved to a new spot, staring at a female below him on a steep slope, that had bent over a sapling and was eating the leaves. The silverback paused a few seconds, then moved downslope and he too

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grabbed a sapling and fed on the leaves. A youngster climbed a sapling next to him, and then managed to play just above his massive head as he was feeding. The youngster finally left after several minutes of play, and I watched the silverback spread out on his stomach and rest a while. A very young gorilla, very small, approached a female, and slapped both of his small hands on the ground simultaneously in play. Couldn’t beat his chest so the ground was the next best thing? I observed one female lying on her back, feet up in the air, playing with her young on her chest. Amazing. We kept following the silverback, and I was less than 10 feet away from a large female, who simply ignored me as she continued feeding on leaves of some kind of herb. We moved and descended down the steep slope to watch the older silverback, which was now feeding in the large open area. Another female was feeding on a vine with large heart-shaped leaves growing from its base, suspended by a long 80 high thick stem that led to the top of a huge tree. I couldn’t believe what I saw as the older silverback rushed downslope and grabbed the large vine the female was feeding from and snapped it away from her, still traveling with great momentum and swinging downslope, sending another shower of leaves down from the canopy. He then began to feed on the part she had, having literally stolen her food. Within a few minutes, the entire family then moved downslope and out of sight before I knew the time was up. This was my most incredible time yet with the mountain gorilla of Bwindi. One author considers the Virunga gorilla population the ‘true’ mountain gorilla population, consisting of about 350 animals. The Bwindi population of 352+ or _ member have longer arms and legs, and climb trees for fruit. I personally didn’t see these populations as separate species. The Virunga population is stuck within a higher altitude refuge of bamboo, nettle, and Hagenia trees that don’t bear an edible fruit for gorilla, thus no fruit trees to climb. The Kahuzi-Biega population of eastern Zaire is larger in size, with longer faces. The author noted the black skin of gorillas absorbs heat, and they love to sunbathe. Magnificent animals, God’s incredible design.

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We hiked back to the spine of the ridge and found a beautiful setting in the open slope to eat lunch, a lovely spot with a great view of the steep, forested slope of the mountain on the opposite side of the tributary we had crossed earlier in the day. I have grown to love Bwindi; the moss draped forest full of epiphytes, orchid, ferns and moss, and the wonderful company of the Bwindi/Ugandan guides, trackers, and kids who carried our gear. This was an awesome climax to my time with gorillas, and I hope to bring home a part of God’s creation little known in the US. Thankyou Lord for this wonderful opportunity. At the end of lunch, we descended hand and foot down the steep slope until we picked up the trail again. Followed the stream and I remained back with one of the guards, to just reflect, then headed back to camp, a full day. The Bwindi community is one filled with both grief and joy. Back at camp, I learned that a park guard lost it mentally the day we had arrived and just an hour before we got to camp, fired his machine gun with a burst of rounds through the roof of his house, then placed the barrel to his throat and pulled the trigger, killing himself. And talking with Emmanuel, the men of this village really don’t seem to have a commitment to Christ, but rather to the bar. The women here are more prone to practice and walk out their faith. Sad contrast. Yet the funds generated for the guide fees pay for 80% of the park and administration, and some is given to the community, which in turn sponsors an orphanage. They don’t have a building yet, but the children stay in homes with funds paid for their food and schoolbooks. Paul had a chance to hear the children sing while he remained back in camp, and drove them around in our land rover. The Ugandan people are dear, and I will hold them in prayer. Thankyou Lord for your word. Read the book of Philippians, Colossians, and Genesis 20-25 in the late afternoon. I reflected on the conversation I had with Christopher and Silver on the way out along the trail that wound next to a peaceful stream. I talked to them about the gorilla and chimpanzee population crash in Gabon in the Minkebe Forest Track due to Ebola, and the outbreak in the Ivindo River. They feared Ebola more than any other disease, including HIV. They both accepted Aids as a disease that is prevalent in Uganda, and that is just the way it is. They also supported their president Musevini, the incumbent seeking reelection. January 14, 2001, Sunday We left Bwindi in the late morning under clear skies, and drove for what seemed like too long of a day to the Lake Mburu Camp. We drove through steep hills for hours, observing a rich agricultural area cleared of forest and now planted with plantain, millet, corn, manioc, and bananas. Eucalyptus dominated the streambeds and roadsides and was spreading. Its Sunday today and I could hear the drums calling people to church. So may villagers dressed up in their best clothes, men with clean shirts and ties, women with their best dresses, young girls with clean dresses too. They all waved at us with smiles as we passed. Markets were all open, and vendors sold clothes, and food including tomatoes,

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potatoes. Passed steep hills with pastures where goats and Ankole cattle grazed. We continued our descent out of the mountains and reached a paved road after almost 4.5 hours of head jarring road and came to the town of Mobara, only 20 miles as the crow flies from Rwanda. We had lunch there in a local restaurant, goat stew with ugale and plantain. We reached Mburu National Park by 4:00PM, and area shared with the Bahima tribesman who are nomadic herders, keepers of Ankole cattle, a bovine with enormous horns. This was an acacia tree bush landscape, where here the elephants are gone that once cleared the Savannah and kept tree growth in check. Saw herds of zebra, impala, and a few topi. Lion have been poisoned in the reserve by tribesman. The Mantana camp here is set on a granite outcrop, a small Kopje. It is a nice location, where I could watch a large anvil approaching from the south, threatening rain as thunder rolled across the plains in the distance. A flock of weavers squabbled in a nearby tree. I’m ready to go home. I could smell fried Tilapia being prepared for our dinner, and watched the herdsman drive their cattle through a trail in the grasslands in front of us. They whistled a melodious tune, and sang as they drove their cattle back to a thornbush corral meant to keep out lion or leopard. They utilize the milk of their cattle and make cheese, but rarely slaughter their animals. There is obviously conflict between park use, overgrazing, and cattle. One of the servers ended up in a great conversation with us this evening, and talked about where he came from, an area about 800 kilometers north of Kampala near Sudan. He said it was a very fertile area where they grow rice, cotton, and ‘sim sim’ a small-fruited legume like peanuts? He also talked about the LRA, the Lord’s Liberation Army that has resisted President Musevini since the late 1980’s. Apparently the leader had a vision, and started an army, killing people in village, abducting women, terrorizing northern Uganda. They are almost under control now, but his whole family is staying with him in Kampala. His sister was abducted, had a child, a young boy now, he escaped. Uganda is a land of contrasts: a gentle people and those groups that loose it mentally, attempting to control others. Idi Amin, an uneducated but brave military man literally eliminated and murdered the educated people of his country. Now he resides in Saudi Arabia with a wealthy bank account, stolen from the people of Uganda. But the country is now healing. Mburu Lake, January 15, 2001 Hyenas visited our camp last night, whooping their weird communication calls. The impala are in rut, snorting as though trying to blow out flies. We found leopard tracks close to camp that were a week old, the same leopard that was seen around camp the week before. We left Mburu camp in a light rain, and saw eland, zebra, impala and warthogs driving the way out. We then endured the long road trip back to Kampala and Entebbe. Paul sat in the back seat and had been complaining about pain in his nose, then gave this awful grotesque sound as he

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blew a huge tick out of his nose. I asked him what was the matter and he held in his hand, this huge green bugger, a tick that had been feeding in his nasal passage. It had been lodged in his sinuses for several days. Extremely gross…right out of alien’s movie. Our last night at the Victoria Hotel in East Africa, watching a beautiful evening sunset unfold rich in crimson colored clouds. Long flight to London, and we arrived at dawn in extremely cold temperatures with only one hour sleep. I now have to wait all day here, then board for the six hour flight to Vancouver BC. I am so excited about seeing my children. Thankyou for safety, and the chance to see my precious children again.