Our travels to see chimps, gorillas and mountain villages in Uganda

On our travels, we are getting around eastern Africa and are currently in Uganda. Our last stop was the Murchison Falls National Park and the Nile River in western Uganda, where we saw many animals. Heading south from there, we saw chimpanzees, elephants, a leopard, mountain villages, and mountain gorillas.

Mountain gorilla, Bwindi National Park (UNESCO), Uganda

The gorillas were in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and it was a privilege to see them as they are endangered. But first we saw the chimpanzees (chimps). Science tells us that we share about 96% of our DNA with chimps, so they are our closest relatives. Yet thousands of chimps have died from habitat loss, poaching and disease caused by humans, and they are now also endangered. They can only be seen in the wild in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, and we were fortunate to see them at Budongo Forest Reserve, an unfenced but protected area in Uganda.

Chimpanzee crossing road sign, near Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda

Driving to Budongo, we knew we were close when we saw the ‘chimpanzee crossing’ road signs. We arrived at Budongo dressed for a forest trek in long pants tucked into our socks to protect our legs from nettles, vicious ants and other crawly creatures; long-sleeved shirts to protect us from mosquitos and branches; our hats to protect us from the sun, waterproof hiking shoes to protect us from the muddy areas, and our face masks to protect the chimps from us. It was hot work walking through the humid rain forest, but so worth it.

Chimpanzee up a tree, Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda

For the chimps’ sake, only 8 people are allowed on each trek. We had a guide and tracker allocated to us, and after a briefing about how to behave if we saw a chimp, we and six others went in search of these wonderful primates. After about 1-hour, we were lucky enough to spot one relaxing in the fork of a tree. He looked at us looking at him, and he was probably thinking … they don’t look like my relatives! He looked at us a while longer then proceeded to build a nest of boughs and leaves.

Chimpanzee, Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda

Further on, we saw a grumpy looking chimp high up in the treetops, but then he slid down a tree trunk using it like a fireman’s pole and it was very funny. Unfortunately, he scuttled off very quickly once he reached the forest floor, so we didn’t get a good look at him on the ground. All up, we had 8 separate sightings of the chimps over the 4-hours that we were in the forest. It was great.

Rural villages and spreading maize in western Uganda

Leaving the chimps and the northern parts of Uganda, we embarked upon a lengthy drive south along the country’s western edge. We passed through many villages, giving us a peek at rural life along that route. The shops were not as busy as we’d seen elsewhere, and were tidy and clean. On many occasions, we saw people using their feet to spread out piles of maize so it will dry ready for use or bagging. It will be left laid out along the roadside drying for up to 2 weeks. Maize is a food staple in Uganda.

Examples of housing in western Uganda

Housing was similar to what we’d seen in the northern parts of Uganda and ranged from quite rustic, to very rustic. The scenery was lovely, with the over 5-km-high Rwenzori Mountain range that divides Uganda and the Congo on our right, and lakes on our left. The roads were good, and lunch at a rural town along the way was very tasty. 

Tea planation in western Uganda

Driving along after lunch, we got a bit of a surprise at the scenery, as we could see acres and acres of tea being grown. We’d heard that Uganda had good coffee and we'd enjoyed several cups of that. However, we had no idea that tea was so big here. It’s grown mostly in southern Uganda and on the low, but high-altitude slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains. We learned that around 54% of it is grown by tea estates with the rest grown by local land owners, keeping around 1-million locals in employment. We also saw many banana plantations. Bananas are a big part of a Ugandan’s staple diet.

Our roadside elephant, western Uganda

We crossed the equator not long after that, then spotted a huge elephant by the side of the road. Unlike other elephants we’d seen on the roadside, this chap was walking like he was on a mission and did not stop or look threateningly at us …. but we gave him a wide berth anyway! By this time, we had entered Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), a protected but unfenced park in Uganda and its 2nd largest after Murchison. We drove through the park on a game drive, seeing buffalo, warthogs, kob antelopes, and other wildlife. 

Marg surprised by a surfacing hippo, Kazinga Channel, Queens Elizabeth Park, Uganda

While in QENP, we and another couple shared a boat ride on the Park’s Kazinga Channel, looking for wildlife along the shoreline. A highlight was a really up-close encounter with a hippopotamus that surfaced quite close to our small boat, giving us a very big surprise. These huge animals can travel underwater holding their breath for up to 5-minutes and are difficult to see in the murky water. We also saw Nile crocodiles (but not as big as those on our trip along the Nile), lots of birdlife, buffalo, warthogs, elephants, monkeys, and fishermen.

More elephants on the road, Uganda

After a night just near QENP, we carried on south, seeing more tea and banana plantations. Then, at around 9 am we were stopped by an elephant crossing the track right in front of us. He happily moved on into the bush on the other side, and we drove on. Around an hour later, we were stopped by another elephant. This one lumbered along the tarmac for some time, stopping all traffic. Wow, what a morning. As we drove on, we also saw birds, warthogs, and variety of monkeys. It was a very scenic drive. A few hours further on we had another stop for a roadside animal.

Leopard by the side of the road in Queen Elizbeth National Park, Uganda

This was a very special stop but it caused us to suddenly swerve to the right side of the road. In Uganda, they drive on the left side of the road as in New Zealand, but after our sudden swerve, our driver stopped and pointed to the left. There, lying in the long grass and watching us with interest, was a handsome-looking leopard. He looked right at us, and we stared at each other for at least 5 minutes.

Leopard by the side of the road in Queen Elizbeth National Park, Uganda

Then he casually stood up, flicked his very long tail as cats do … and disappeared into the bush. But WOW, what a beautiful animal. We felt very, very lucky to see this big cat, because we had needed a bush toilet stop around 10 minutes beforehand, and had we not stopped when we did, we could have missed him. A gazillion photos later, we drove on.

Cultivation along the valley sides in the hills of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

We passed more monkeys, deer, and tea plantations as we continued south to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, on the western edge of the Rift Valley. The Park sits at an elevation of between 1,160 to 2,607 metres, and as we drove a spiral route upwards through the mountains, we saw a pretty patchwork of cultivated land on the valley walls. Covering 321 square kilometres of primeval forest and mountains, Bwindi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for the biodiversity of animal species, and endangered animals such as mountain gorillas which we were hoping to see.

Batwa people dancing about the importance of protecting the gorillas, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (UNESCO), Uganda

Very, very early the next morning, all togged up as we were for our chimp trek, we drove to Bwindi’s Ranger office which is gorilla headquarters, for a gorilla trek. As we arrived, we saw the local Batwa people dancing and singing about the importance of protecting the gorillas. Batwa are pygmies who are seen as the forest keepers due to the many years that they lived in the forest with animals. After that, we were briefed on how to behave around the gorillas, and then we set off in search of them.

Marg close to the silverback male of our family of gorillas, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (UNESCO), Uganda

There are 20 gorilla families that live in this forest and roam between Uganda, the Congo, and Rwanda. Due to their endangered state, only 8 people are allowed to track each family, and we had booked months ago for this privilege. After about 2-hours of hard trekking through the forest, our tracker warned us that a gorilla family was ahead. We had to leave our packs, and water behind, don masks, and creep very quietly to where they had been spotted. And oh, what a surprise …. a whole family with a silverback male, a pregnant female, juveniles and babies. What a special moment.

Mother and baby gorilla, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (UNESCO), Uganda

These gorillas are habituated, meaning that they don’t find it unusual to see humans in the forest, so we were able to get within a few metres of them. We were allowed to follow the family for strictly 1-hour before leaving them alone. They stopped to sit down and eat for a while, then they moved across a stream and played around a little. They drank the water with their hands, like we do, not as other animals do, then foraged a little more.

Mountain gorilla, Bwindi National Park (UNESCO), Uganda

It was magical. Eventually, they moved deeper into the forest where we could not follow. We were all in awe and quite subdued as we walked back to where we’d left our bags. But once we started to make the long trek back to the park entrance, everyone was bubbling over with delight. What a fantastic day we’d had.

Typical road conditions for an African massage in the Bwindi mountain roads, Uganda

Leaving gorilla headquarters, we made the long drive down the other side of the mountain of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The road going down this side of the mountains was worse than the rough, sandy, steep mountainous road driving up. The joke about this in the safari-guide community is that this kind of road gives us some “African make-up” (the dust – which was diabolical!), and an “African massage” (the bumps in the road).

Beautiful views down into the valley, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (UNESCO), Uganda

However, the scenery made up for the terrible road, as the valley views on the way down were as spectacular as those going up. Our next stop was to be our accommodation lower down the mountain at the high altitude of 1200 metres, and we had a long way to go before getting there.

Mountain villages driving down from Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (UNESCO), Uganda

We saw lots more villages on the way, and it was so interesting to see how the mountain people go about their daily activities. Sometime later, very tired but super-satisfied with our day, we eventually reached our accommodation. Tomorrow, our travels take us across the border into Rwanda, but you can read about that in the next blog.

This blog is part of a series on our travels in eastern Africa. The first in this series is called Johannesburg, South Africa