Gorilla Trekking in Africa -part 1

Jenn and Skylar would be in Africa for a total of 19 days, which is a long time to be away from home, but not a long time to take in all the wonders and sights the continent has to offer. So the question became "what to do and where to go?". Three things stood out in my mind as I planned their trip. At very least- we had to visit the gorillas, visit our home in Bungoma, Kenya and do a safari. I think we could manage it all, with careful planning. We had heard that trekking the gorillas was nothing short of amazing, so the only question was in which country should we do the trek? Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo. The thought of going to the Congo was somewhat scary to me even though it would be the least expensive and the minimum age for participating was 12. If we went to Rwanda, it would mean doing a safari on the eastern side of Kenya so we probably wouldn't get to Bungoma. The last option was Uganda. The challenge in Uganda was that all the brochures indicated participants had to be a minimum of 15 years old and literature indicated the park rangers where extremely strict about the age restrictions. The problem was Skylar wouldn't be 15 for another 2 months. However, like most things in Africa where there is a will there is a way. Hopefully we could get him through. After hours of researching the internet (thank goodness for Google) I finally connected with Calah at Insight Safari Holidays. She was awesome answering all my questions within a 24 hour time frame, assuring me that Skylar would have no problem getting a trekking permit given his birthday was only a couple of months away, and provided us with details on the package options. We decided on a 3 day Gorilla Trek with "a moderate level" accommodation. While I didn't want to cheap out on anything I still wanted to keep costs somewhat reasonable. Our driver and guide for the next 3 days picked us up bright and early Sunday morning. OK, maybe not so bright since it was only 6:30am, but we were excited to get started on the first adventure of our trip. Today we would be heading to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The journey would take approximately 10 hours, so we were in for a very long drive, but there was lots to see along the way. The first stop was at the Equator, a great place to get out and stretch our legs and grab a refreshment. Small dukas (kiosks) and restaurants lined the highway providing tourists with lots of options to shop. However we decided to pass on the shopping so early into our trip and partook in a demonstration on the earth's magnetic impact on the spinning of water at the equator. If you pour water into a drain north of the equator the water will spin clockwise. At the equator the water just drops thru the spout and south of the equator the water spins counter-clockwise. So cool and a science lesson I will probably never forget. The countryside was hilly, green with grass and rich vegetation. Our next stop would be at the city of Mbarara for quick lunch and then onto Bwindi Impenetration Forest. Here was were Skylar got his first look at an African menu. Not everything on the menu is available so finally you ask "what do you have?". Usually the answer is chicken and chips. We were half way there. Our guide told us that they hadn't been able to get us permits in the area close to the lodge we had originally chosen so we had been upgraded to the Bwindi Jungle Lodge. This was an unexpected surprise and Bwindi Jungle Lodge definitely exceeded my expectations! t After a very long day in the car, it was time for a cool drink overlooking the lake, a hot shower and supper. Then off to bed. Tomorrow would start at 5:30 am.