Mt Mgahinga gorilla trek, uganda
post by allana
Our second gorilla trek started with another unexpected surprise—we were on our own again! I can’t believe that this happened again, we both just shook our heads in amazement. The Ugandan wildlife authority seem much more serious than their Rwandan counterparts, and this time we sat through a proper briefing and were given severe warnings about keeping a good distance and not provoking the silverback by engaging in a stare-challenge with him. Very good advice indeed, especially because there were FOUR silverbacks in this gorilla group!!! And a new born baby, only 2 weeks old. Again, we couldn’t believe our fortune.
The hike up Mt Gahinga was much tougher than our first experience, very steep and plenty of safari ants that like to climb up trousers and only bite when they reach the very top of your thighs. In the end we walked about 2 hours uphill to reach the trackers, just in time for the gorillas mid-morning snooze session.
This family’s lead silverback was Nyakagezi. He was in charge of three other silverbacks, one blackback, two adult females, two juveniles and the newborn, bringing his family to 10 in total. We didn’t catch a glimpse of the lead silverback until the very end, because he had been hiding away his female with the newborn baby. So we were content to watch the blackback (who at 12 years old was starting to become a bit silver) munch away contentedly on new bamboo shoots. He would rip out whole shoots with one hand as if he were pulling carrots and then carefully strip the outer layer with his teeth before crunchy down on the white heart. It really made me feel like eating some celery.
The hike up Mt Gahinga was much tougher than our first experience, very steep and plenty of safari ants that like to climb up trousers and only bite when they reach the very top of your thighs. In the end we walked about 2 hours uphill to reach the trackers, just in time for the gorillas mid-morning snooze session.
This family’s lead silverback was Nyakagezi. He was in charge of three other silverbacks, one blackback, two adult females, two juveniles and the newborn, bringing his family to 10 in total. We didn’t catch a glimpse of the lead silverback until the very end, because he had been hiding away his female with the newborn baby. So we were content to watch the blackback (who at 12 years old was starting to become a bit silver) munch away contentedly on new bamboo shoots. He would rip out whole shoots with one hand as if he were pulling carrots and then carefully strip the outer layer with his teeth before crunchy down on the white heart. It really made me feel like eating some celery.
Soon he moved downhill a bit to be with the other silverbacks and juveniles who were resting amid clumps of bamboo. It was peaceful and quiet, just us and the resting gorillas. Peaceful and quiet for the most part, until one of them would let rip with an enormous bout of flatulence that would settle in a cloud over us and leave us gagging. I whispered to Scott; “Man I hope the breath wasn’t as bad as that!” He informed me it had been more or less the same. Gorillas do have a strong smell, kind of like musky horse-sweat/ non-deodorised BO. I’ve read that their fear scent they let off when threatened is particularly powerful. Either way there was something in those new bamboo shoots cause we were really getting a whiff of them today!
Despite their stern warnings to us about not disturbing the gorillas, the rangers seemed to think we might be bored watching the family sleep. So they were rustling the foliage, banging their machetes on branches, making kissing and coughing noises just to try and stir the sleeping gorillas. We did not mind the sleepy a bunch one bit and were happy to sit quietly and watch them as they were. The gorillas simply ignored the rangers, one of the silverbacks would open one weary eye to gaze condescendingly at us, but that was it. Finally, we explained we were happy just sitting quietly and watching. So, to make sure we got our moneys worth the rangers let us increase our time with them to almost an hour and a half! (Usually the hour rule is very strictly enforced).
Turns out, having this extended time with the gorilla family was extremely lucky. Just towards the very end the trackers excitedly waved us over to the far side of the family and pointed down into the thickest bushes… There, just emerging into view between heavy foliage and thick black fur was the pinkish face of a tiny baby gorilla. The newborn! We hadn’t expected to see it at all due to the silverback and mother being extremely protective and keeping new babies well away from people. Also they are so tiny that pressed into Mum’s front it’s difficult to even pick them out at all. But there it was and we could just see the tiny face and waving arm, a little wrinkled nose protruding out, looking more like a chimp than a gorilla.
On the way out we backtracked the gorillas trail from that morning and got to see their nests from the previous night. I've always wanted to curl up in a gorilla nest, but the copious amount of dung made me decide it might be better just to crouch next to one.
On the way out we backtracked the gorillas trail from that morning and got to see their nests from the previous night. I've always wanted to curl up in a gorilla nest, but the copious amount of dung made me decide it might be better just to crouch next to one.
We made our way down the mountain and got our gorilla tracking certificates from the rangers at their base. We set up the camera on timer to take a selfie of the four of us (only afterwards noticing the position of the gun), said our sincere thankyous and headed off to our next destination… the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest! (Surely the coolest name for a National Park ever).