Uganda - Mountain Gorilla's

I manged to get the picture post working, it also includes a Gorilla picture!!!!

Wow, where again do I start, so far each new thing seems more amazing than the next.

I am currently in Kampala, Uganda overnighting before I fly back to Tanzania (Zanzibar) tomorrow. I just finished a 3 day tour specifically to see the mountain Gorilla's.

Firstly I got to play at the equator, playing with the water flowing one way, flowing the other and flowing straight down.... amazing now simple things can occupy ones mind ;) Felt like a little kid being amazing by a box ;).

After driving for 10hrs from Kampala me and my guide (The super awesome Peter Freeman) arrived at a very night bed and breakfest type of small accomidation, it was a very nice play run by a great couple, there was another large group from Holland there which was also partly joining the Gorilla ttracking the next day, I inadvertly sat down in thier table thinking the hotel wanted everyone at a giant table to socialize not realizing it was a group of 11 ppl all together, a quick way to make friends for sure ;)

The next morning we awoke for like 4:45am, had breakfest and headed out for the 1.5hr drive to the Bwindi Impenitrible National Park......... how cool is that "Impenitrible", you'd want to go just for the name alone!!

Arriving at the park I was a bit worried as I still had a mild cough (from when I left Vancouver) and if your sick at all you cannot go, so I've been downing cough medication etc to try and remove the last remints..... alas I made it past the guards without coughing and only a bit on the walk so I didn't arrise an sick suspicions, I wasn't sick sick, just this dry cough won't go away, its been here for weeks, well past any contagious, potentially harm the gorilla's stage.

Once arriving at the park we are briefed on our tracking and out we go.... One decision point was hiring a porter, which I thought was silly I was prepared to carry my pack and figured I'd stick to it, but everyone else got a porter so I didn't want to be the only stupid one ;). We start by walking down what seemed like about half the grouse grind, just less steep and more spread out. At the bottom we arrived at what I beleive was a ranger camp/abondoned local village (evicted due to the creation of the park). The rangers quickly said to prepare our camera's at the Gorilla's where near by (you leave your bags with the porters), we walked 10 ft or less around a building and BAM there we right there, no walking for upwards of 4hrs (some trackers have to walk very very long distances)... we got some amazing shots of the gorilla's right there in the open, including a SILVERBACK (2nd in command for that group).

After 10 mins or so the Gorilla's up and left and went into the nearby brush, with guides in tow they took us into the bush to follow them making holes and areas for us to see them in the bush eating and doing their thing. During this stage as we walked and hacked at bushes and got wet and dirty one gorilla walked towards us to go down the path coming within 2ft or so of myself and like 1ft of the older lady beside me (she nearly died).

They are amazing beats, huge huge huge beasts........ You can see in my photo I was only like 5ft away from a giant beast to get my personal photo, it was amazing....

Well time is almost up on the internet, I've got to run.

I'll email again from Zanzibar on the beach or perhaps after my dives ;)

Dapper