Fist Bump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsaKv0LkcAs

Last weeks article was about a portion of mine and my mothers adventure to Uganda. We had experienced our first few game drives, some on foot and some from the vehicle. We were full of breakfast and had enough coffee running through our veins to get us to the next rest break on our 6 hour journey. We were heading towards the national park called the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, one of a few habitats suitable for the 400 remaining Mountain Gorillas left on the planet.

We were steadily chugging upward in altitude, and noticing the terrain was changing every hour of the way. The sites along the way were generally of markets of beautiful produce piled high with hopeful people there selling their wears. The roads in Uganda are, I think, around 70% not paved roads and 30% somewhat paved roads. The going was a little slow but steady and we weren’t really in a hurry since our main goal was to make it to the next lodge, get checked in and have some lunch so that we could go for a walk on our own and see what we were surrounded by.

We would ultimately wind up at around 6,000 feet above sea level so the changes in vegetation were becoming a little more drastic and noticeable the farther we went. At about the halfway point we stopped and had some more of the world‘s best coffee, fueled up and bought some ground nuts, which in mine and yours language is peanuts. As we were heading up the steep Hills, we could see the terracing and hillside farming that was going on, it was hard to believe that people could come and go from these hills to work their gardens, gather their produce, probably some for their own use and some for sale for a little extra money. At one point, there was a little boy on the side of the road holding a long stick out for the people passing by to see. Emmanuel, our driver didn’t stop for much but this time he stopped and got out and let the little boy approach our window with his stick. On the end of the stick was a three horned chameleon that was the brightest color of any thing I’ve seen. It’s very obvious when tourists are coming up that hill because we stand out like a sore thumb in our safari jeeps so they know when there’s an opportunity to make a buck they will give it their all. He let us take some pictures of his prize, and in return made a few shillings. I have to hand it to him for his business prowess.

Once we had reached the lodge, we got out of our Jeep to stretch our legs and be greeted by the staff that was awaiting our arrival with warm hand towels and fresh juice. I introduced myself as Allen and introduced my mother as Mom. We found that introducing her as Mom everywhere we went seem to be well received and always got a laugh. She was well known as “Mom“ everywhere we went and people seem to give her the attention and care that a mom needed up in this hilly region. We also realized that the “fist bump” is a universal language that went over well at appropriate times everywhere we traveled. We unloaded our stuff into our beautiful rooms and headed down for some wonderful lunch and some of that magic black tea that kept us going the whole time. We decided it was time to go on a walk on our own right up next to the Impenetrable Forest. We were both looking into the deep jungle and curious as to whether that is what we will be heading into the next morning. Indeed it was! On that walk, we talked and chatted about our fun growing up in Madison County back in the day and all kinds of things that we hadn’t talked about before.

We were noticing the plant life and some little monkeys that were hanging around and I was able to practice some more with my new camera. I saw New Guinea impatients growing wild, all kinds of ferns and plenty plants that I didn’t recognize. We got back to the lodge in time for a little rest and some downloading of pictures and mom kept up with her journal even more out on our little deck that faced the beautiful but daunting Forest.

We had predetermined what our dinner would be that night right after we finished our lunch, that’s the way they like to do it so they could have dinner ready with what we wanted and at what time we wanted it. I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had that night, it had something to do with eggplant and I couldn’t describe the rest of it, it was absolutely wonderful! It was so good Mom had the chef come out and write the recipe down and describe the steps to her so we can try to recreate this dish some time.

We slept good under our mosquito nets that night. At all the lodges the staff would roll out the mosquito netting while we dined so when we got back to our rooms we were all set up. It has to be done correctly or it won’t work. It was so cool up at that altitude that the staff surprised us with hot water bags slipped under our covers so our beds stayed cozy all night, what a treat. We woke up early in order to have everything necessary for a gorilla trek. We knew to have our hiking boots, gators, long pants, long sleeve shirts, hats, and gloves because we would be walking through some thick stuff, including stinging nettles, and all kinds of things with thorns. Emmanuel brought us to a meeting area where other people interested in the same thing were meeting and getting briefed and broken down into groups set, I think, by fitness level.

We were put together with a great group of people from all over the place. There was a mother, father, daughter trio and there was a couple from England and two Ugandans, who had never had the opportunity to do a gorilla treck as the permits are expensive. The money gained from the cost of the permits is what keeps the conservation program going. We also had two trackers and we hired a Porter just to hold onto mom and make sure she didn’t twist an ankle on some of the very difficult trails that we would take to get to this gorilla group. This guy did a great job of helping her along and they became besties as he helped her get up there and back with no injuries.

We were the only people that were headed towards this particular group, there are several groups of Gorillas in this area so they were able to split the groups up so we didn’t crowd the Gorillas. We walked at first for about an hour until we came to a fork in the trail. The tracker told us to chill out, drink some water and wait until we got word from someone who had gotten ahead of us earlier that morning.

That group of trackers was trying to figure out which way the gorillas were feeding into the jungle once they came down from where they nested the previous night. They nest somewhere different every night much like our wild Turkeys. We wanted to head them off and try to be at a certain point as they arrived at that place. We walked for about another hour straight up hill and some really thick stuff and mom was hanging tough. We took another fork in the trail and in about another hour the tracker veered into the thicker stuff and suddenly said everybody stop and stay quiet. I was looking around to see what this was all about and didn’t see anything but inpenetrable forest in front of me.

Suddenly, a little black head, and some little black eyes started popping up above the foliage all around us. The tracker said we are in the middle of a group of Gorillas right now. As our eyes began to focus we could see and hear all kinds of activity around us on the ground. Some of the sounds were very close, like 10 feet away and some of the sounds and crunching of leaves as they moved through the thicket were all around us. The Gorillas were curious and began coming around to where they could see us to make sure we were no threat to their babies. Luckily I had taken my long lens off of my camera at the last minute as I was taking cues from someone else in the group that seemed to know what they were doing. We had to leave all of our bags and water and everything behind at the trail so there was no second chances on that.

Some of the mothers came very close to us to make sure that we understood that they were way bigger and stronger than we were. It didn’t take anyone any time to understand that as they would actually brush up against us from time to time as if saying that’s close enough. Some of the babies rode on the mothers backs and some of the babies walked around and acted as if they were giant silverbacks.

Speaking of silverbacks each group has one that is in charge of their movements and everything else they do. The silverback that was the leader of this one made himself visible soon after we got there, it was nerve-racking to see such a big animal at eye level so close, like 20 feet away sometimes. I was able to get some pictures that I’m really proud of. When we got into the Gorillas, the tracker said everyone put your masks on as they don’t want us to pass anything we may have on to the animals as the conservation of these groups are everything to the Ugandans. They understand the importance of the income that comes from people coming to Uganda just for gorilla treking.

It was so important to the Ugandan economy that they decided that the indigenous people, pygmies, that were living amongst the Gorillas would have to go from there and live away from there with everyone else. Those indigenous people were accustomed to moving with the animals and literally living caveman style in the bush. It was a tough move for them, and they’re still learning to adjust in their regular society.

One hour is all the time that is allowed for people to be around Gorillas in order to prevent too much habituation. They want to keep them as wild as they can while the exploitation for money is a necessity to keep the conservation alive. It’s a double edged sword for sure and with the push out of the indigenous people maybe even a triple edge sword if that’s a thing. The Gorillas would often come out and stare a hole through us that was very interesting and a little disturbing at the same time. They would look as if they didn’t quite understand and as if they understood everything all at the same time. Those looks will reflect in my photos that I hope to soon post on our website or some other way. We have someone way smarter than me at Garden Works that’s gonna help me get these pictures posted so you can see them.

When our time was up, we began our hike back down the muddy trail that was full of roots and rocks. We felt great as we reached the bottom, but we were tick tock tuckered out. On our way back to the lodge Emmanuel asked if we would like to see where the pygmies were living now and how they were living. We had a cup of that magic black tea and decided that it would be worth having a look into something so interesting. As in most countries, we realize that it was rude to take people pictures, but in this case we were told as we entered their community that it would be OK to take pictures in order for us to go home and show people and post on social media about the conditions that these folks were forced into.

The community seemed glad to see us as we walked through. They were kind and respectful. Some of the ladies showed us how to make the baskets and weavings and even let us give it a try ourselves. This is where we bought some of our few souvenirs and trinkets to bring home to our people. We saw and partook in some traditional dancing and went into some of the places where they live as they used to live. Mom and I walked around in this area for about two hours and saw everything they wanted us to see and took some great pictures since it was our opportunity to do that.

On the way back to the lodge we decided this would be a great day to take the lodge up on their offer for massages. I went down to the lobby and downloaded some pictures and messed around with my camera while mom had a massage then I had my turn. It was heavenly after such a day. That night over dinner we had another birthday surprise. This time four guys came in and dressed in old-time African garb playing drums and beating with wooden sticks and had a cake that had my name spelled correctly. I offered my cake up to all the other travelers they were eating at the same time and they were more than happy to take me up on my offer.

We slept good that night with our hot water sacks down by our feet. The next morning we would be up and at them for an early start as we had a long drive to the Queen Elizabeth national Park where we would have another game drive on the way to our next nights Lodge.

This national park is one of the larger parks and this is where we began to see herds of elephants, lots of zebras and the chances to spot a leopard or a lion was increasing as this was the region where those sightings were more likely. These were our first elephants of the trip and it was truly amazing to watch these Giants walk around and scratch themselves on anything that would help them scratch and itch.

Emmanuel was very knowledgeable about the animals that we were seeing but some of the information about the elephants were the most interesting to me. The saying goes that elephants never forget and now I understand why. Like when we get born, we have to touch a thing that’s hot and learn not to do that again. Elephants apparently can genetically pass that information on to future generations. Information such as predators or even a bad person will be blazed into the mind of that elephant and the babies yet to come. It’s a concept that is hard for me to grasp. It was wonderful watching the families of elephants take care of each other and toss and wrestle with one another. There were lots of little babies, teenagers and full grown bulls that were a little threatening looking but as long as we were in our jeep, we felt safe. I took so many pictures of elephants I had to erase literally hundreds of pictures and keep the very best.

We arrived at our lodge that evening to find out that this is where the Internet came back on and I was able to get a call home to Mimi. It was so good to hear her voice and she was having a successful trip at market in Atlanta. Our daughter Mia who lives two hours from Atlanta had come down and spent a night and had some dinner with Mimi to keep her company, they had a great visit and all was well.

The lodge we stayed at that nigh had a very interesting offer that I took them up on. The bed that I was going to sleep in had two French doors in front of it that led to a ledge overlooking the riff valley and in the distance is where the border of the Congo was. They rolled my bed outside on the ledge and wrapped it in mosquito netting, and that is where I slept (not much) that night.

The stars were so bright as you can imagine with no light pollution down there and the sounds of hyenas hunting and all kinds of crazy noises were happening, I decided to not sleep and just stay up and experience this. In the Congo, there was a huge fire that went on all night that I sat up and watched the blaze and listened to the noises and let myself realize and let it sink in that I was way out there. I did the same thing the next night and it was another interesting evening as well.

I believe I will stop here since the next days Safari brought one of our more interesting days so far so I want to save that up for next week. Until then, I hope your damage from the ice storm has begun to recover and we can see what got hurt and what didn’t by now.

Mimi and I have been honored with being chosen to be on the MRA Garden Tour this coming May so we are getting prepared for opening our yard up to the public so we are getting our ideas flowing and in action. We are revving up at the nursery, planting up in the greenhouses and getting the dandelion ready for visitors.

Come by and see what’s happening. It’s all looking really great!