Boarding Pass: EBB
Photo map of Uganda. Click on image for interactive map.
Why Uganda? Gorillas, darling. Mountain gorillas. I wanted to see them, and there are very few places to do that. You can’t see them in a zoo; unlike their lowland gorilla cousins, mountain gorillas can’t survive in captivity. They can only be encountered on their home turf. Said home turf is limited to three countries: Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. I started asking the real questions, and my choice made itself.
So why Uganda? Just a few minutes of reasearch drew back the curtain on this magnificent country’s staggering abundance of wildlife. Birds? 1100 species, including the rare shoebill stork. Chimpanzees? No problem, just put your boots on and follow your guides into a gorge. Elephants? Would you like them in the river, on the roadside, or roaming the national park? Leopards? Don’t even get me started. Enough questions, on with the plans.
One doesn’t just rock up in Uganda as a US citizen. Everyone who enters Uganda must be vaccinated against yellow fever, full stop. This must be done at least 10 days prior to the date of entry. Jay and I were vaccinated before our trip to the Brazilian Amazon a couple of years ago, so we were sorted, as the yellow fever vaccine is good for a lifetime. US citizens require a visa, which is obtained via an online application with a $50 USD fee per traveler. We received both of our visa approvals within 24 hours. I engaged the impeccable services of Nature Connect Safaris Uganda, who organized the necessary wildlife permits for our five-day itinerary, provided ground transport, and reserved our accommodations.
My first impression of Uganda was that it was so lush and green compared to other African countries we had visited. The trees came through with our first Ugandan bird sighting, a pair of great blue turacos, spotted from the window of our taxi on the way to the hotel. We took that first day easy at K Hotels Entebbe, conveniently located next to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens. We planned to visit the gardens the following day after we rested, but we did do a little light birding from the balcony of our room. Also on the next day’s agenda: a boat tour of the Mabamba Swamp to see the rare and elusive shoebill stork.
A male shoebill relaxes in his nest at Mabamba Swamp.
We rose early on Sunday and headed over to the swamp. It was a gloomy morning, but the birds were bright and active. On our ride across the swamp we saw dozens of species. Two boats later, we found the shoebill on its nest. We actually saw two of them; one was flying away as we pulled up, with the other standing in the nest. Just as we were leaving the shoebill, the rain started. Ever prepared, our guide and captain whipped out a tarp which they threw over the birding girl and her camera. Back at the dock, we jumped in a taxi to head back to the hotel. This was not just any taxi. It was a van that stopped and picked up any person walking beside the road who wanted to ride. There wasn’t a lot of certainty as to where we would end up, but at least we had plenty of company. A lady sat next to me and asked if I was going to Kampala. I replied, “No, ma’am,” secretly thinking “I hope not.” But as things often do when we travel, it just all worked out. We were dropped off in front of our hotel, Jay settled up with the conductor, and we headed in for a bite of lunch to fuel up for more birding.
We walked over to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens and got to peeping. Located on the shores of Lake Victoria, it is a habitat for many species of birds, as well as black-faced vervet and black-and-white colobus monkeys. I don’t think the family trying to have a barbecue was as excited about the marabou storks crashing their party and standing on top of their cars as I was. I got as many photos as I could, in hopes of identifying the birds we saw after I got back to the hotel. My life list was growing at an breakneck pace, and I couldn’t wait to see what the next few days would bring as we started our tour.
African grey parrots kiss and make up at Entebbe Botanical Gardens.
On Monday morning, we met our guide, Sam, to begin our tour. This kind, knowledgeable gentleman would be the reason our trip to Uganda was not only great, but the best we’ve ever taken. As we crossed the bridge to Kampala, he told us about his family and explained many facets of Ugandan culture. Sam also turned out to be an avid birder with amazing identification skills, to the delight of his bird nerd passengers. The drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park took about seven hours, with a stop at the Equator along the way (and a few stops for birds if we’re being honest). We checked in at Twin Lakes Safari Lodge, had lunch (let the record show, Susan loves a crispy Ugandan Rolex), and still had time for a game drive in the park before sunset. Jay and I were so excited to see elephants on the side of the road! Sam stopped so we could look at them, but gently advised us we’d be seeing plenty more in the park itself. I learned an important lesson in photographing elephants in tall grass: wait until they raise or curl their trunks, otherwise you’ll take a bunch of stumpy-snouted shots. As advertised, we saw many elephants in the park, as well as Ugandan kob and several species of birds. Our drive was capped off by a gorgeous sunset as we made our way back to the lodge.
A Ugandan kob gazes toward the setting sun at Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Tuesday started with a chimpanzee trek. We arrived at Kyambura Gorge and had a briefing with our guides, who then hopped into our trucks with us to go find the chimpanzee group. The tracker, who would normally precede us to locate the chimps, was unable to come to work that morning, so we were starting cold. We stopped on the road, got out of the trucks, and the guides listened. Each time they heard the chimps calling, they pinpointed their likely location by ear and we rode over to that spot to check again. It only took a couple of stops before they found the chimps, which was very impressive considering they were doing it by sound alone. As the sunlight filtered through the treetops, we hiked along the floor of the gorge for just a few minutes until we found the first individuals. Chimps being chimps, they didn’t stay in one place for long. This was a feature for a photographer like me; during the hour we tracked them, I had an incredible variety of scenes to shoot. There were even a few bonus hippos in the river. The morning sun combined with the misty forest gave a soft, surreal background to my photos. The real stars were the chimpanzees themselves. Their intense eye contact and outrageous personalities came through in every image.
A chimpanzee contemplates his existence in Kyambura Gorge.
Next up was an afternoon boat ride on the Kazinga Channel. This 20-mile-channel links Lake Edward and Lake George and is absolutely teeming with wildlife. I’m a kingfisher fangirl, and they love it here. My excitement to photograph hippos was tempered by the realization that they don’t do much when they are hanging out in the river. The most exciting thing they do is yawn, putting their huge teeth on display. They did do that, and they had a cute baby in their group resting his head on an adult. On the opposite bank, a group of elephants walked down to the water. They also had a little one in tow, and were teaching him their watery ways. There was also a tuskless elephant in this group, which we learned is an evolutionary response to poaching. These elephants do not lose their tusks, but are born without them. Sprinkle in a few crocodiles, and our boat ride was complete. As we arrived back at our truck, Sam received some intriguing intel: leopards had been spotted in the park. He asked if we wanted to head over there instead of going straight back to the lodge as planned. Say no more, Sam! Let’s find these cats!
A group of elephants cools off in Kazinga Channel.
I learned a bit about leopards on a trip to Namibia years ago. I learned they are dangerous, elusive, and extremely rare to spot. I thought I would live my whole life and never see a leopard in the wild; now I had my chance. It didn’t take long to see the telltale sign of an interesting sighting: a group of vehicles stopped on the side of the trail. Sam expertly snaked our whip into the mix, and there she was. A female leopard lounging in a tree. When we got the news about the leopards, I was slightly bummed that I didn’t have my longest lens with me, just my 70-300mm. I shouldn’t have worried. This lens was perfect. After a few minutes, attention turned to the grass behind us. Not one, but TWO of the mama leopard’s cubs were walking up from the back. All the vehicles repositioned for a better view of the young ones. Little did we all know that while we were concentrating on the cubs, Mama had given us the slip. As I photographed the leopard cubs to my right, I heard a commotion on my left. I swung around just in time to see Madame strolling up with a goat in her jaws. Dinner is served, kids. The huntress climbed up into a cactus with her kill, and her offspring followed suit. What an end to an already banner day in my wildlife photography saga. This trip was already over the top, and we hadn’t even seen the gorillas yet. Wow, Uganda. Just wow.
A leopard retuns with dinner for her cubs in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Wednesday would be a travel day, as we drove from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, site of the gorilla trek. On the way, we would pass through the Ishasha Sector, known for its tree-climbing lions. Unfortunately, the feline overlords dictated that the leopards we saw the day before fulfilled our cat quota for this trip. We were in the right place at what should have been the right time, but the lions weren’t. Sam even stopped to ask the ranger at the station, who confirmed that no one passing through had reported a lion sighting that day. Sam was concerned that we might be disappointed, but I refer you to the previous paragraph. How could we possibly be disappointed after the day we just had? Oh well, guess we’ll just have to come back to Africa to see lions then. Tough life. We stopped and had a delicious curry lunch at Simba Cafe, prepared by the young women of the local community, then continued on our way to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Life has been good to me. I’ve seen (and lived in) a lot of very beautiful places. Believe me when I tell you that the Bakiga Lodge is one of the most spectacularly gorgeous places I’ve ever seen. We arrived in the late afternoon to cool breezes, a relief from the hot day at lower altitudes. We checked into our mountainside cabin and walked out on our porch to be greeted by brilliantly colored sunbirds, so vibrant they didn’t even look real. Mist draped over the tea fields below us, and we watched the sun set behind the peaks. We had a wonderful dinner, then turned in early. We were hours away from the big show: the gorilla trek. For a detailed description of the planning and logistics of our gorilla trek, you can see my dedicated post here.
A regal sunbird welcomes us to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Thursday dawned crisp and beautiful. Hiking boots laced, photography gear loaded, and sack lunches packed, we pulled up to the park station. As we enjoyed a welcome song and dance performance followed by a trek briefing, Sam was outside maintaining his MVP status by negotiating to have us assigned to the premier gorilla group at Bwindi: the Mukiza family. This family is highly coveted by trekkers as all age groups are represented, from silverback to infants. After the briefing, we assembled with our trekking group which included guides, guards, and porters. Trackers had gone ahead about half an hour before to start locating the group. We would begin hiking in the general direction of their last known location from the day before, and our guide would receive updates via radio as the trackers zeroed in on our gorilla family. The guards carried machine guns, not for that, but to fire in the air in case any aggressive forest elephants showed up to crash the party. Our head guide, Expedito, tested each of our bags for weight and assigned porters accordingly.
Paired up with our porters and so excited we couldn’t stand still, we took our first muddy steps gorillaward. How long would we hike before we found them? We didn’t know, that’s what the lunches were for. We took a quick break about half an hour in, where our guide Alice demonstrated various vocalizations to us. This was not only to help us understand what the gorillas were telling us, but so that we could communicate with them in their language if some interaction made it necessary. Spoiler alert: it was necessary. For me.
A mountain gorilla silverback takes a time-out in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
After about an hour of hiking, we found them. They were sitting on the side of the mountian, munching on plants. Front and center was the man himself: the silverback, undisputed leader of the group. Off to my left, a mother gorilla carried her baby on her back. This was a holy grail moment to witness. She started to move, so I stood stone-still. She was coming right toward me. My mind raced back to Alice and her vocalization instructions to us. I made soft low-pitched grunts to let her know I was there, and she passed about two feet in front of me. As she turned to move up the hillside, I was able to take one of my most treasured photographs of all time. I’m pretty sure my heart rate exceeded my focal length on that one.
A mountain gorilla gives her little one a lift.
We spent an hour with the gorillas, following them at a respectful distance as they moved up the hillside. The adults spent a lot of time eating. The young gorillas were much more animated, climbing trees and wrestling with each other. Just little kids being little kids. The smiles on their faces as they played will stay with me forever.
A young mountain gorilla has fun playing with his buddies.
When our time was up, we began our hike out to the road to meet our vehicles. We had a graduation ceremony, where Jay was honored as the silverback of our group. That’s why I married him, y’all. That silverback swagger. Muddy, tired, and ecstatic, we piled into the truck with Sam and headed down the mountain toward our final stop, Lake Bunyonyi.
Sunset over Lake Bunyonyi.
Nothing in the world feels better than a hot shower when you’re filthy, a hearty meal when you’re starving, and a comfortable bed when you’re exhausted. We were all three, and BirdNest Resort was up to every challenge, even throwing in two otters playing in the lake for our viewing delight as we ate dinner. As I watched yet another spectacular sunset, this time from the balcony of our room, I reflected on the past hours and days as if they were a dream. But I wasn’t dreaming, and I had the photographs to prove it. My heart was filled with gratitude that my fellow earthlings in the park, the gorge, the channel, and the mountains had welcomed me into their homes for a while.
On Friday, Sam delivered us safely back to Entebbe. En route, he had one last trick up his sleeve. As we cruised along the highway, he suddenly pulled over. Surprise, there were three shoebills in a field beside the road! We were in shock. Less than 5000 of these birds remain in the wild, and Sam just happened to spot three of them hanging out as an encore. We stopped at the Equator for lunch a meter or so on the north side, then finished the last leg of our road trip. We said our heartfelt goodbyes to Sam, but words could not express our appreciation for the lifelong memories he had given us.
Black-faced vervet monkeys live the family life at Entebbe Botanical Gardens.
Our flight didn’t leave until late afternoon on Saturday, so of course we made another trip to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens to flex our newfound bird identification skills, imparted to us by Professor Sam. We saw more monkeys this time, which we took as a fond farewell as we headed back west. We settled in for the long flight home with the wild, colorful, unforgettable images of Uganda flying, climbing, and knuckle-walking through the half-dreaming haze of our long-haul catnaps.
If you told me I would see this number and variety of animals in a year, I would think I was the luckiest person in the world. Uganda gave them all to me in a week. The beauty and abundance of this country are at once humbling and thrilling to behold. I always thought Uganda was mysterious, but that’s not really it. Uganda is very generous in sharing its secrets; you just have to show up.
