Bonjour! We have had an action packed 2 weeks overlanding through Uganda and Rwanda, before concluding our Dragoman trip in Nairobi. Our favourite activities and places have been tracking chimpanzees in the Kibale National Park (Uganda), mingling with Gorillas in Parc National Des Volcans (Rwanda), chilling at Lake Bunyonyi (Uganda) and taming the Nile in Jinja (Uganda).
CHARMING CHIMPS: We all know a person who has that extra bit of charisma, charm and vanity (no names mentioned of course). After tracking chimpanzees through the Kibale National Park, we have decided that the group of chimps which we saw on the ground and high up in the trees would take the cake. We were fortunate to find chimps within about 30 minutes of walking into the jungle area and what a sight we saw. You would definitely think that they are all practising for auditions on Next Top Model, Miss New Zealand or similar. The similarities to humans are immediately evident, with the chimps striking poses which would make Rachel Hunter proud, having conversations with each other and grooming those tiresome ticks out of each other’s fur. The male chimps unfortunately have not been blessed with “big machines” (as our guide nicely pointed out to us), so it was not a surprise when we were all the sudden surrounded by a group of male chimps who had been sent down from the trees by the female chimps, who simply had had enough of the boys for the time being. Believe it or not, chimpanzees were not the sole focus of our stay at Kibale, our campsite situated in the middle of a large tea plantation with a fantastic view providing an ideal background for Rodney to run through the forest and Kirsty to engage in yoga, courtesy of a fellow New Zealander needing to stretch out those tight muscles incurred when sleeping on a thin mat each night.
TOUCHED BY A GORILLA: “Jiggi jiggi, the Gorillas love jiggi jiggi” and “there is a big one coming, get back get back get back” were amongst a handful of the colourful language and phrases used by our guide Mr D while mingling with the Amahoro group of gorillas (20 in total) in Parc National Des Volcans in Rwanda. We trekked up to 3000 metres above sea level, before nearly running into our first lot of gorillas who were descending into the crater for their daily pre-lunch nap. The rule to maintain a distance of 7 metres between ourselves and the gorillas soon became a bit of a joke, with the gorillas themselves actually breaching that distance in order to have a closer look at the group of humans who had come to visit. The Amahoro group consisted of 1 silverback (the “elderly” alpha male of the group), a handful of blackbacks (fully grown younger males), females, adolescents and baby gorillas. We spent a very memorable hour with the gorillas, some of our favourite moments including: Posing for a photo with gorillas in the background, not realising until it was too late that they were very interested in Rodney (can’t imagine why), with one of them coming up and stroking his back (Rodney thought that it was Kirsty until he realised that her arm was on the other side of him); Watching the interaction between our guides and the gorillas themselves and in particular the throat clearing noises which we all make regularly in our lives, which in the gorilla world mean something along the lines of ‘it’s ok, you can come closer’; Hoping that our guides would know what to do when different gorillas at various times charged at us while beating their chests (yes, it does look exactly like it does on the gorilla thriller movies); Watching a one year old gorilla play a game of roley poley down the hill and then get told off by the silverback for doing so; Trying to leave the crater up a narrow path and then been forced back into the crater as a blackback was coming towards us and not looking to happy about the fact. Absolutely impossible to stay calm when your trained professional guide is screaming “get back get back” in a very panicky sounding voice; and Being a fair way out of the crater on another narrow path and thinking that we had seen the last of the gorillas, when all of the sudden a large blackback appeared out of nowhere. We were literally frozen still as the blackback brushed against us in order to get to the bamboo he was trying to eat. On a more serious note, Rwanda is a country trying to recover from the devastating effects of the 1994 genocide, among other things. Despite this fact, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. The people are extremely friendly and eager to impress a good image of their country on foreigners, while the landscape of green pastures and mountainous terrain is truly beautiful.
TAMING THE NILE: During the time leading up to our departure, many of you would have
heard Rodney talking about how he was looking forward to taming the Nile’s grade 5 rapids in a raft at Jinja and Kirsty’s absolute refusal “to do anything that stupid”. Peer pressure won the day (everyone on our truck decided to go rafting) and both Rodney and Kirsty ended up in a raft. While Rodney did offer very encouraging support to Kirsty before the rafting commenced, his support was only ever going to go so far. The only way that Kirsty was going to go rafting was if she was in a “mild” boat – essentially, the guide will not tip the boat deliberately. Rodney was not too keen for such a “tame” experience, instead electing to go in the “extreme” boat – a smaller raft which tips on a regular basis. Both Rodney and Kirsty thoroughly enjoyed the 35km ride with 10 grade 5 rapids in between, although Kirsty was not too happy during her raft’s practice tip over, when she was the only person to end up stuck under the raft. Fortunately, there was a kiwi guide on hand ready to save the day. The day ended on a positive note, with beer and kebabs overlooking the Nile, followed by a party back at the campsite where both Rodney and Kirsty somehow ended up upside down drinking their drinks from a kayak hanging in the ceiling.
CARD SHARKS: Many travelling days since Capetown have seen many card challenges with 500 and Hearts among the favourite games. Without doubt the highlight was a “card marathon” between Kibale, Uganda and Parc National Des Volcans in Rwanda where we played cards for 13 hours straight. This did nothing to obliterate Rodney’s belief that he is a card shark, as he may have been on a few of the winning teams. We were also fortunate enough to have a few Australians on board in the past month; each and every one of them convinced that the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations would be going across the Tasman. As history would tell, they didn’t and we scored a few rounds of free drinks as a result.
THE END OF AN ERA: We have been travelling with Dragoman on our truck Helena for 2 months since departing Capetown and it was therefore with some sadness that we said our goodbyes in Kenya. Kim, Will and Arthur (our crew) did an amazing job throughout and we will definitely miss Arthur’s pancakes in the morning (although potentially our waistlines will not). We have made many lifelong friends and would recommend Dragoman to anyone thinking about overlanding it through Africa.
We are now in Arusha, Tanzania about to attempt to conquer Mt Kilimanjaro. We will update you all in a week as to how we get on.
Till next time, take care,
Love Rodney and Kirsty.
