Uganda is on many a bucket list – seeing endangered mountain gorillas in the wild before it’s too late. Helen Farmer packed her hiking boots and loaded up on malaria meds for a trip of a lifetime
Holidays mean different things to different people. Maybe it’s a digital detox, a week of yoga, all-inclusive drinks by a turquoise pool, or heading off the beaten track. All sound great to me, and I’m definitely partial to an over-water villa in the Maldives, but once a year I try to have an adventure, too.
No husband, no kids, just a country I’ve never visited before and a bit of a challenge.
In the past I’ve summited Kilimanjaro and scaled the glacial Mount Kazbek in Georgia, but this year it was the jungle that was calling. And specifically, the wildlife. Lions, hippos and monkeys? Oh my!
I travelled with Dubai-based mountaineering company Summit Expeditions run by Sean and Caroline, who have broken world records and scaled some of the most imposing peaks in the world. This trip, however, was going to be more exploration than altitude, but I appreciated their Ugandan contacts in putting the itinerary together and the chance to travel with like-minded people.
Seven days to pack it in? Challenge accepted.
Day 1
FlyDubai operates flights to Entebbe and I’d advise getting your shillings and dollars ahead of time. The time difference is only an hour and we were greeted by the local partners, Wildlife Adventure Uganda – and the grinning faces of Peter, James and Audence, who would be driving us around in kitted out longwheel base Land Cruisers. After a stop for lunch, it was time to head across the lush landscape to our first lodge, nestled on a mountainside.
Day 2
Chimpanzee time in Kibale National Park. After a briefing (wear a face mask, leave food in the car…) we trekked up and down through dense jungle to find a family of chimps, who were soaring and screeching above our heads. Mating season, it seems. Some were rambunctious. Others were content to lie back on a branch and observe us, curious why we’d find them so enchanting.
Smiles on our faces, we moved on to a community walk through a nearby village where we watched coffee being harvested and roasted (delicious, potent stuff), met a medicine man who had some creative cures for common ailments (I politely declined) and visited Dennis The Banana Man who has gone viral on TikTok for unpeeling bananas, as well as turning them into some pretty powerful drinks. We enthusiastically sampled.
Day 3
Aching legs from yesterday, this was the day to be driven. And what a drive! Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo, vultures, water buck, warthogs and more. Within minutes we’d spotted a pair of male lions, leisurely strolling across the savannah before stopping in front of our cars to drink some water. Elephants followed soon after, and after a few hours, even the most seasoned travellers were wowed by the sheer abundance of animals.
That afternoon we took to the water on a boat called The Hippo and were able to see crocodiles, families of hippos, elephants splashing around and were welcomed back ashore by a mob of mongoose (got to love a collective animal noun).
Day 4
Another day driving with the chance to take in more of the countryside, which includes tea plantations, vertiginous roads and Tolkien-esque valleys. Six hours on the road, but worth it to reach a part of the world called The Impenetrable Forest. This is the abode of mountain gorillas.
Day 5
Waking up at 5.30am, eating in the dark (power outages are common) and filling our packs with electrolytes, the energy in the camp was nervous. Would we be lucky? How big was a silverback?
The rangers prep you that it can take a long time to track down one of the habituated gorilla troops, up to five or six hours of trekking through the jungle, and you’re split into groups according to ability. The group I was in was moderate/advanced and matched with a family that had nested close by the night before, but had moved on. We found them in… nine minutes! Truly lucky indeed. And were able to spend an hour close by, watching them interact, feed each other, groom, bicker and nap. It was beyond incredible. A few tears were shed, and we hiked out, beyond grateful for the chance to see these magnificent creatures up close.
Day 6
The next day the group split, some needing a rest day at the lodge, others deciding to find some rare golden monkeys and others tackling Mount Sabyinyo. The 3,669m peak straddles Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A few of us decided to take on the mountain, but more for a stroll than the summit, keeping an eye out for jungle elephants (not too friendly) and enjoying the views. Then it was back in the cars to head to Lake Bunyonyi.
Day 7
This lake has a depth of 900m (that’s about the same as the Burj Khalifa!) and while there aren’t any big guys like hippos around, there’s plenty of history, including Leprosy Island where back in the day sufferers were sent there for treatment.
And then onto our final destination, Mbaru National Park for a walking safari at sunset. Giraffes meandered by, zebras ran past us and our ranger pointed out behavioural patterns of some of the most beautiful animals I’ve ever seen.
A celebratory dinner, certificates and souvenir t-shirts rounded off our trip, before some reluctant goodbyes, as we bade farewell to each other and this amazing country, taking home dusty boots, full hearts and a few thousand photos! Just one of the best weeks of my life.
DON’T MISS
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