Walking, walking, walking

Jambo les amis

Hope you're good :-).

I'm fine. The bustrip was a blast by the way. It was really good, I was sooo lucky. I had a front seat and could stretch my legs during the whole trip. I didn't have to go to the toilet once and my seatbuddies were cool. Yes, for some people a bustrip might be something awful but I was lucky and it wasn't too bad. It was long though and I was reeeaaallyyy happy when I arrive at Butogota. From there I took a car to Buhoma which was my home for the last 3 days.

I arrived late on Sunday and all I wanted was my bed and my book. I got a bed in the dorm, unfortunatelly there was no light so no reading for me. I slept perfect and got up early on Monday.

On Monday I went for the forestwalk to see some more waterfalls. Once again the waterfalls weren't spectacular but the walk was nice and my guide was good. The only problem was my knee. Tricia, Tamara and me Mom can sing you a song about my knee. It starts to hurt after some walkingtime and it hurts the most when I walk down. On Monday it wasn't really bad, but it hurt. The pain is as if someone injected acid in your joints and whenever you move your knee, the pain gets worse. So after 2 1/2 hours walking I was pretty glad to be back at the camp again. I was a bit scared about the gorilla tracking because what would I do if the pain starts while tracking. However, I decided to rest my knee a little bit and spent an easy afternoon at the camp, had early dinner and went to bed early.

On Tuesday I got up at 6 a.m. and prepared my knee for the walk. I was convinced I wouldn't have to walk for a long time but this turned out to be wrong. I met my group, the people I was tracking with, at the park gate at 8 a.m. we were all very excited and just wanted to leave. What I didn't know was, we had to go by car to the beginning of the tracking and of course I didn't organise a car. Two guys in my group offered to give me a lift. Lucky me. We had to drive for 45 min to the beginning. From there the hikking started and it started going up. So good natured we started. It turned out to be something good I hired a porter for my bag full of water bottles. The way wasn't easy it went up and down, up and down and we walked straight through the forest, no real path just forest floor. The forest was amasing I loved it. After two hours of walking some people in my group started to complain. 'Where are the gorillas? How far is it?' etc. etc. The guides couldn't tell us because the gorillas were moving and we were following. After 3 hours our guides decided to take a break and wait until the gorillas found a spot where they would rest and eat. So we waited for 30 min. and walked on. After 4 hours the guides decided to take another break and wait some more time. After 5 hours we finally got to the gorillas.

It was incredible, stunning, overwhelming and one of the best things I've ever done. We were reaallyyy close the gorillas and could watch them eat. And they ate and ate. Once I almost fell and was scared the gorillas wouldn't like the noise but they didn't care at all. They were happy eating. We saw the silverback, 2 females, 2 babies and a blackback. It was great and the hour was over much too fast. I didn't want to leave I felt so comfortable being around these calm animals. They weren't aggressive or anything, they were just there minding their own business sometimes looking at us as if they wanted to ask 'What are you doing here? Are you hungry?' The guides said, they wouldn't hurt anyone as long as people are no thread to them and that's what I could feel from them. Just warmth and calmness and happyness somehow. We learned that in Congo these wonderful animals get killed because the rebels don't want the government to earn money from the gorilla permits. When you look at these creatures, it gave me the creeps to think somebody could kill them. It's just unbelievable.

After the hour was over we made our way back to the beginning. The guide said he'd know a shortcut and it will take us about 2 hours to go back. The 2 hours became 4 hours. I kept up really good with the walking, I was surprised. I haven't done any exercise since 6 months and still could hold up with the guides. And what surprised me the most was my knee was holding, no pain. It was great :-). Unfortunatelly, we had a French woman in our group and she wasn't well at all. After one hour walking back, she started to complain. 'I can't walk anymore, I'm tired, I'm not used to this. I work in a office, I cannot walk this far' Therefore, we had to take break after break. After walking 5 meters up, she took a break of 2 min. and it went on and on. After 2 hours of walking the rest of the group was annoyed. We didn't want to wait anymore, it was nearly 6 p.m. and we all wanted to go home and especially leave the forest before it got dark. So we overtook her and walked on. We made it back to the cars before 7 p.m. which means before dark. When the French lady got back I don't know. We left her behind with some of the guides, we just needed a shower and a rest. I drank 3 litres of water and was still thirsty as hell, I sweated a hell of a lot during yesterday.

Anyway, I got back to the camp in one piece and even got dinner and a hot shower. I talked to some people at the camp who've done the tracking the same day but went to see another group. They had to walk for 1 hour and were back at the camp at 1.30 p.m. They were scared I wouldn't make it back. But I made it. We had a laugh about my tracking and the French lady. It was good to laugh. My group wasn't really funny and I just kept on smiling because things are always much better if you smile. After dinner I went straight to bed.

Today I got up at 6 a.m. again, had a devine breakfast and came to Kabale by car. It was bloody expensive but there was no choice except for going back to Kampala and take the bus from there to Kabale. Which would've been stupid. So, I think it was well invested money.

And now I'm here in Kabale at Erisa and it is beautifull. Soon I'll get some lunch and then I'll go explore the town. It's a nice town, it doesn't look big and I like that.

So, stay tuned and take care.