I took another wonderful trip with a good friend, Tracy, who is about to move to Indonesia and is finishing her African bucket list- I have a wonderful husband who holds down fort while I have African adventures :)
First up Victoria Falls! Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world based on combination of height and width and lies between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We arrived in early June at the end of wet season so the falls were at max capacity! We flew into Livingstone in Zambia (after overnighting in Johannesburg) and then drove to the Zimbabwe border. You have to do a border check (and passport stamp) on both borders and change vehicles as tourist vehicles cannot cross borders. My visa stamp count for this trip alone is 15 stamps plus a full page visa! This is why my current passport is currently being renewed- first stamp in that passport was April 2107 and I only have 5 pages left!! We arrived at the Victoria Falls Hotel which was built in 1905 and has a partial view of the falls just in time for a late lunch. After checking out the grounds we headed for the Zambezi river (which feeds the falls) for a sunset cruise- we saw lots of crocodiles, some hippos and a gorgeous sunset.
Victoria Falls from the plane - it is the "smoke" on the ground
Zambezi River Sunset
Next morning we headed back to Zambia for a local market and village tour. First up Maramba market - which is the largest in Livingston. It is a place locals come to buy everything from groceries to furniture. We have seen similar in Angola and we were amazed at the cleanliness and calmness of this market. Then we headed to Mukuni village which is still very traditional in both living patterns and construction but solely relies on tourism. They still have a chief (and a female chief who is not married to the male chief) and he opened the village about 15 years ago for tourism as it was happening anyways so why not. They now do tours and create crafts to sell in the local area. The tour was interesting and then we were taken to the craft market which was overwhelming to say the least.
Groceries at Maramba Market
Fabric in the local market
Tiny fish- staple of local diet
Coloring for cement flooring
Mukuni Village
Village- she is cleaning fish
Traditional kitchen
These cuties were obsessed with the camera and selfies
That afternoon we crossed back to Zimbabwe and did a tour of the falls. The local name for the falls is Mosi-ao-Tunya which means the Smoke that Thunders and after seeing it in person I understand why! It basically "rains" the entire time you are in the park so you wear ponchos and prepare for the downpour. You can't see the bottom of the gorge and the spray is so intense you can barely see the falls at certain points. Interestingly during low water season the falls dry up considerable and you can see much of the rock face of the cliff and the bottom of the gorge. There is a famous "pool" on the top of the waterfall that you can swim out to and overlook the falls- called Devils Pool- thankfully this time of year it is not an option. The falls are awe inspiring - hard to really grasp their size and power from photos.
Bridge at the border - built in 1908 and only supports one car/truck at a time now- along with bungee jumping
Our hotel had evening entertainment which included local tribal dancing- many of the dances and costumes were things I had never seen in other areas of Africa. The hotel also had warthogs cruising the lawn which are so cute - in the wild they always run from the cars but here we could observe them.
After a restful night at the Silverback Lodge, where we were again the only guests (and treated like queens) we headed off to the Biwindi National Forest to track gorillas. We asked our guide to get us into a group with babies that didn't require a 5 hour hike. He delivered! Our group was the Rushegura and they have 15 members including 3 babies. Each tracking group has up to 8 tourists (ours had only 6), a head ranger and 2 armed rangers. The armed rangers are to protect against buffalo and bull elephants that frequent the forest. There is also a set of trackers that head out before you arrive to find the gorilla family and report back location for your hike. You can hire a porter to carry your bag and assist you along the way. The porters are former poachers and supporting them helps support the local community so we hired one each. We found them most helpful in muddy spots or in downhill areas where they helped us not fall! We hiked for about 25 minutes and got to our family- we handed everything but our cameras to the porter and hiked the last 100 meters into the forest where the family was. *If you are reading this via email please go to the website to view the embedded videos!*
On our way- crossing the bridge that only could handle one at a time
Andie and I with our porters
Our family was in the trees when we arrived which is supposed to be unique as they only go into the trees at one point during the day to get some extra food. They are hard to spot in the trees so we were worried we wouldn't get any good viewing as you only get 1 hour "in the presence" of the gorillas but luckily our hour didn't start until they came down. We viewed them in the trees for about and hour. They broke off branches, peed, pooped and finally slid down to the forest floor. The silverback comes down first and then "calls" to the others to join him. His calls, unlike those of the chimps, are low grunts that are pretty quiet. We got to watch babies slide down the trees and ride on mamas backs. They crossed an aqueduct that provides hydroelectric power for the local hospital and found a shady spot for their viewing (which is really their morning nap).
Silverback in the trees
Silverback stopping for a drink
They seemed very uninterested in us and mostly rested and did some grooming. Thankfully the babies (1 year, 8 months and 7 months) were a riot - they played, jumped, climbed and rolled around. Rules say we could get no closer then 7 meters (21 feet) but we were allowed to get much closer- easily 5 feet or so. One passed me so close I could have touched it. The silverback was about 19 years old so he was on the small side as silverbacks go. The rangers cut down small pieces of foliage so we could get good views of them. The gorillas are so human like in their mannerisms and facial features, very cool to experience up close and in the wild. After about an hour we said goodbye and met back up with our porters to hike back to the forest entrance.
See how close we are!
Silverback basking in the sun
Gorilla selfie
With our ranger Omax
We were back to the lodge by noon so after a quick lunch we decided to do a community tour. We were picked up by a local villager and transported to the heart of the village for the walking tour. We visited the local traditional healer. He is about 80 and still practises using local herbs and plants, he also consults at the local hospital on certain cases. Then we headed to a banana farm to learn about brewing banana beer. We learned that banana are ALWAYS picked unripe (for all purposes in all countries). Once they pick them they are quickly ripened by placing them in warm underground pits and then peeled and stomped on like grapes before being left to ferment. We tried the beer which had a faint banana flavor and was very carbonated. Then came the "gin" which had no hint of banana and tasted just like moonshine. We learned that they used the banana gin during war to provide soliders courage- it's name in Bantu translates to "war gin". Next we went back into the forest to see some ancestors of the local pygmy tribe. They were cast out of the forest years ago and lived with the local tribe but where persecuted. Over the years the tribe has become more ingrained in the local community. They have lost most of their dwarfism traits over the years. They have a few traditional huts and danced for us.
View back into the Biwindi Forest from our lodge
Traditional Healer
Banana juice, beer and gin
Pygmy hut
Pygmy ancestor
Then we toured the local hospital which is mostly funded by foreign donations. They have a small NICU which is pretty impressive for a small African village. We ended the day at the local women's cooperative which serves as both a domestic abuse shelter and education center teaching women crafts they can sell and functional skills like gardening and irrigation. We bought some beautiful items and were treated to some dancing. Our hearts were full after an amazing day.
NICU
The next day we took bush plane back to Entebbe (through some rain clouds that I was not a fan of!). We had a night in Entebbe so we headed to the Wildlife Education center run by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. We had a behind the scenes tour which was quite the adventure. We touched a cheetah (and entered their enclosure without any safety briefing), feed giraffes, saw rhinos up close, interacted with a prehistoric shoebill crane, meet the only known hermaphrodite chimpanzee, saw lion cubs up close (Andie was peed on by the large male lion!) and saw the shores of Lake Victoria.
Salt mining- check out those clouds
Us in said clouds- eek!
Ankole-Watusi cow- native to Africa
The Shoebill is a territorial bird that requires you to bow to it as you approach
Shoebill
Crown Crane- the national bird of Uganda
Uganda is a magically place that we both feel in love with. The countryside is beautiful and green and the people are warm, honest and kind. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to experience such a rich culture.
