Uganda – The Road to Bwindi

It was time for the second leg of my journey to see the wild Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest. I was really getting excited for the adventures ahead but like I have said before I do love the adventure of getting to my destination too. Seeing a country as I travel through and seeing the culture and people.

After the first leg, the flight to Kihihi from Entebbe, there was still a 1 and half hours journey by road to get to the rainforest and the base for some amazing treks. A perfect time to lap up some amazing scenes as well as see a small glimpse into the culture and ways of life.

There are immediate scenes of wildlife too, especially birds.. so much so I shall cover this in a separate post of its own. I had only just got out the plane and was struck straight away by the… colours.

Vibrancy in every direction. Greens and browns of the trees, grass and earth were so vivid. Hard to describe and so much harder to give real appreciation to in photos!

One thing I can say about Uganda that I saw, the people are amazing. Friendly and always happy! Very happy. Nobody has cars in the area we were driving through so if a car is heard they rush out onto the street to say hello! A genuine hello! The children rush out to give you a song too…

I will talk more on this later but a car on this road means a tourist, and a tourist means money filtering into making their lives a little better. They walk miles for firewood to make dinner. They walk miles to get food for the day. Always seemingly with a smile. Something I remember from Tanzania too to an extent. In our world we get fed up if things become hard work. Maybe not having too much yet enough to start with keeps you happy and grounded? Another debate.

The dirt road was made for the few cars/SUVs that pass each day but there are plenty of people out there on foot always on the go. There is a special kind of wooden scooter that helps them to transport the wood and wares as they pass along.

And the toy of the moment definitely seems to be the running down the street with a wheel. Saw this many times on the short journey.

Oops… traffic jam ahead! 🙂

There was many a food stall set up along the way. Especially full of colourful fruits of all kinds. The most common food I saw was Jackfruit ripening on the trees everywhere!

Banana plantations appeared all over the place in and amongst the landscapes. Lots of varieties, for eating? For cooking? Or for making distilled alcohol. I tried Banana Gin.. Crikey it is damn strong!

Coffee is not a big drink in Uganda I have gathered on my trip. But the conditions are perfect for growing it. You could see the processing of the beans ongoing. Picked then dried in the sun to change their colour and taste to make them ready for market.

Tea! Good old tea. The British in yonder years started the tea growing over here and it is strong to this day still. Looked such hard work for those on the hillsides hand working the tea plants I must say. Filling their bags and then the long walk after to the tea factories.

Speaking of appreciation of hard work. Here at home we take bricks for granted. I saw this lad working hard in the sun making bricks for use in the locality by hand. They need to be made one by one, then dried in the sun and hardened ready for use. The rain season is here and that could spell absolute disaster and the loss of more than a little hard work… So many scenes cause pause for thought.

A beautiful drive, a beautiful journey. Not only was I yearning to see the wild Mountain Gorillas but was looking forward also to learning more about the local people around the Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest. Will be writing all this up for coming posts for sure.

And then, arrived at the rainforest itself. Time for more new adventures…