Gorillas Day Two

Our day started similarly to yesterday with a pre-dawn awakening followed by the briefing at the Bwindi park offices. Then, we took a car ride to the territory of the H group of gorillas. We walked through some local fields growing yams and tea before reaching the boundary of the Impenetrable Forest. Today’s hike was longer and as before some of it seems to be straight uphill. This is definitely the most difficult hike I have ever taken. Again, thankfully, the porters and the guides were great.

We caught our first glimpse of the gorillas while they were way up in the treetops feeding on leaves and fruit. It is amazing how these strong huge animals are so agile on seemingly small branches. This group has two mature males who are silverbacks, who are brothers, several females and juveniles including some very small babies. After feeding for a while, they came down from the trees. Some of the females and several juveniles settled in a clearing to rest under the watchful eye of the more senior silverback. The expressions are amazingly human and the silverback was resting his face on his hands with such a serious pensive face. The young ones were wrestling and playing. We had the opportunity to sit and watch for a while and see the interactions. After a short while, the silverback decided it was time to move on and the entire group moved off into the forest. Again, the experience was amazing. The interaction between the young gorillas is like young children, tumbling on the ground, bothering the adults, wrestling and generally being silly. The mothers snuggling the babies and the silverback supervising was incredible.

Of course, we then hiked back… and we are now resting at the lodge. This afternoon we are going to visit the local clinic.
-Karen

Part II
This afternoon, we went to the local hospital. You can see their website at www.BCHC.ug. The visit was amazing. They serve a community of approximately 40,000 people and do an amazing amount with very little. They have approximately sixty beds, including a pediatric ward, a small neonatal area, inpatient men and women’s wards and a maternity center. They tackle problems like malnutrition, malaria, AIDS, and intestinal parasites daily. The amount of outreach they do is extraordinary. It was re-inforced to Jon and I how wasteful we are in Western medicine. I am sure that Jonathan and I will be trying to drum up some support and supplies for this little hospital. Tomorrow, we are off to Queen Elizabeth National Park…. At the Jacona Lodge. We will not have internet for a few more days but we will update more when we do.
-Karen