Hi everyone,
Robyn and I have been away for 2 weeks now and so far have been having a ball. The tour doesn’t allow for many Internet opportunities and when we do get on, it’s about as fast as you would expect it to be in Africa.
The trip so far has been amazing, even though it has required us to be driving in the truck most days. When we have been able to get out, we have been blessed with some amazing activities and scenery.
We started in Nairobi and headed straight for Uganda with the Mountain Gorillas firmly in our sights. On route we crossed the equator twice, camped by the Nile and waved at hundreds of smiling kids who seemed to love the Mouzunga’s (white people) driving past. We finally arrived at Bwindi Impenetrable Forrest for our trek into see the gorillas and spent an hour walking through dense vegetation with our guides literally trailblazing through with machetes. Our first glimpse of the gorillas is something that neither of us will ever forget. They are such amazing and graceful creatures who we could have stayed with for hours. Unfortunately we only had an hour to allow them enough privacy through the rest of the day.
During the hour we were lucky enough to see 3 silverbacks (including one that charged us), 2 young twins, a 2 month old and around 10 other gorillas from the 20 strong family group. After saying goodbye, we headed back out of the forest only to have to run away from a swarm of angry black wasps. Six stings to Robyn and 5 to me later and we were safely away only for the heavens to open up and belt us with a 30 minute torrential hail storm while we climbed out of the forset back to the car. All these events aside we had an amazing day and would not have changed any of it.
After a few relaxing days by lake Bunyonyi recovering (Robyn’s wrist eventually reduced by half back to normal size after the stings) and we were on our way back east. We enjoyed a brilliant day on White water rafting on the Nile, and just yesterday met our first hippos and we are now in Nakuru, Kenya waiting for 3 more member to join our tour. The tour group of 14 has been great and is made up of 6 English, 3 Finnish, 1 French, 1 American, 1 Romanian and Me and Robyn making the Australian contingent.
Tomorrow we do our first Safari in Nakura National Park where a lake full of Pink Flamingos await among other animals we have yet to see.
Unfortunately we can’t include photos at this time as it would probably take a week to upload, but as soon as we get some decent internet (and time) we will get them up.
We hope everyone is well and that we hear from some of you soon.
All the best, Glen and Robyn