East Africa – Day 20

Uganda 7 August 2015

I have not been able to upload photographs to my, blog without wifi or decent band width but will add photographs to my blog post as soon as I can.

We are having the most brilliant time in Uganda with ever great. Our trip was organised by our local ground agents Avian Watch Uganda. Everything is going really well with Robert, our fantastic guide (who knows all the sites and calls and can whistle birds in) and Paul, our driver and fixer, for who nothing was too much.

Today we’re staying at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and had a late breakfast with Paul, before walking to the meeting point, only 3 minutes walk away. Robert then came to meet us and went off to chat with some people. I was quite hopeful that I could save Mum from a long and steep trek, but it was Robert.

Sometime later, we were all going into our groups. Paul came over and spoke to Dad, saying that Robert had to argue for us to go in the closest group as Mum finds it hard getting up and down steep inclines, especially as there had been heavy rain last night and it would be slippy and treacherous. But the guide for the two other birders who we had been bumping into wanted Dad and I to go in a further away group, which Robert said would not be fair. Fortunately, it was Robert’s uncle who made the decision for us to stay together.

We ended up only walking an hour and a half before getting to the group of Mountain Gorilla. We spend a house seeing all 15 members of the group including a 5 day old baby. The gorillas came very close to us and it was an experience that I will never forget. I will write about the experience separately when I get home.

We were back by lunchtime, so ate our packed lunch back at the lodge.

After some birding on the balcony, we met with Robert to go birding along the road in Buhoma and some of the accessible areas. A young trainee bird guide came out with us and I thought that his binoculars need replacing with something better.