Deepest Darkest Almost the Congo Africa

Our long weekend in January got pushed back a few days due to the opening of Bushara’s new Conference Centre. It was a fun day, many distinguished guests attended including a representative of the British High Commission, who was repeatedly referred to as “His Majesty”. The day was complete with the cutting of the tape, dancing, many speeches and a delicious lunch.

Straight from the ceremony we raced the sun as we drove to Mbarara…our last time in our truck as it has been moved to a different “more important” project site. Apparently driving construction crews and materials every day warrants a truck more than two trips to town a week. Sigh. Unfortunately the sun won, and we discovered why we are not supposed to drive at night. Basically, Ugandans don’t know how to drive at night. Headlights? Optional. Highbeams?? Always. And hey…what’s that one headlighted thing driving down the middle of the road right towards us….AHHH! Don’t worry…we’re writing this blog entry aren’t we??

We reunited with the other interns, most of who were spending a quiet off at Canada House. Five days in Mbarara?? Tempting, but no. We, along with John and Joël hopped in a truck the next morning (which required push starting), and headed West.

Not too long into the drive, we reached Queen Elizabeth Park, where we were lucky enough to spot many animals by the road. Our first entertainment was a bunch of baboons who were enjoying bananas which had been thrown out of the tanker in front of us. We then spotted an elephant conveniently posed next to an acacia tree – just like you see in the documentaries. There were a few more elephants just down the road so John and Joël ran into the bush after them for the photo op. The photos of them running after the elephants were better than the photos that they got. Next we saw a herd of gazelle, a water buffalo and a waterbuck. We were quite pleased about this free safari. Too bad there weren’t any lions. We had lunch while on “Operation Detour”. Tasty.

We reached Kasese and our final destination was in sight – the Rwenzori Mountains, Africa’s tallest mountain range. Not much is open in Kasese on a Sunday afternoon, so guides would have to be found the next day.

So, it was off to find a place to camp. We had visions of ourselves camped in the middle of the African savannah, so we turned down a dirt road hoping to find a good spot past the agricultural land. Unfortunately for us this road led to a small village where we encountered a ditch crossing the road with a giant pipe in it. We took some photos to make it look like we meant to end up there…and then awkwardly turned the truck around as we were being gawked at by several villagers and what John specified to be a ‘fine specimen of a goat’.

Our second attempt at finding the perfect camping spot in the savannah turned out to be more successful. We hid our white truck behind some cactuses and set up camp. We enjoyed a camp fire under a full moon with gazelles prancing in the distance….and locals making animal noises. The sunrise the following morning was beautiful. Joël thought that he spotted some ostrich…which turned out to be locals on bicycles. Oops! We packed up and were on our way…well, not exactly – first we had to push start the truck. Tricky finding a slope in the savannah. Not so inconspicuous pushing a truck in circles. We finally got it started, but not before all entertaining visions of us pushing the truck all the way to Kasese… In Kasese we hired guides and porters and bought food – then headed to the mountains. Somehow we missed the trekking office and ended up at the park entrance, where we were told we needed to come back when we had porters and guides. So, we pushed started the truck again (with the help of the park official, who was suitably amused) and headed back to the trekking office. There we met our guides, Rauben and Johnson and had our packs weighed. And we were off for three days in the mountains!

The entire circuit is a seven day trek – too long for our off, but we were thankful for the three days we had. We got good weather, with just a bit of rain while we were hiking on the first day.

Day One
Started with a relatively relaxing hike through forests similar to Savegre Valley for those of you who have been there. Apparently elephants frequent the mountains – didn’t see any elephants, but saw some other rather convincing evidence. Elephant poo is gigantic!! Along the way, our guides inquired about our ages. They were shocked to find out that John was not 42, and even more shocked to find out that em was older than him. We’re pretty sure they thought we were a family of four.

Had an awkward lunch stop…we hadn’t packed a lunch or raingear in our day packs – not sure what the guides thought of us…Following lunch we started a steep climb in the rain up to the first ridge. Our guides wanted us to stay dry under a tree – we wanted to get to the first hut. So we pushed on…stunning views at the top, and soon we arrived at the first hut. Unfortunately our porters were not there, along with every article of warm dry clothing. So, we sat shivering fighting over the privilege of hogging the hot Nalgene full of tea. Our guides oriented us to the hut, pointing our where the chicken and toy were. Translation? Kitchen and latrine. We were getting pretty excited about the chicken – we thought we had to provide our own food. Eventually the porters arrived. We then tried to start cooking dinner. Too bad the people we spoke to about packing dishes, pots, and stove for us didn’t communicate with the porters. Oh dear. Our guides, “you don’t have plates?? a pot? do you need utensils too?”, they were probably thinking, “What did they bring? yahoos”. Anyways, thankfully our guides and porters shared what we needed. After a good meal of mashed potatoes and stew we headed to our sleeping bags to escape the cold. John retired to his book – an epic journey…about moles. Yes, we mocked him thoroughly. Night visits to the latrine turned out to be less of a nuisance due to the nearly full moon, silhouetting the peaks.

Day Two
We descended into a valley, crossed the river on a swinging wooden bridge and started up again. The terrain started to change as we got higher. Rocks covered in orange lichen, old man’s beard drooping from every tree and our first glimpse of snow covered mountains.

We enjoyed lunch beside a frigid mountain stream.

After lunch, the mud began. It was quite the game – jumping from one slippery log to another, thinking you were jumping onto solid ground, a rock or a log, only to discover yourself mid-calf in mud. Our guides did the whole thing in gumboots. Crazy. We reached the John Matte Hut early afternoon. Perfect timing for a quick dip in the river? Yes please. It was…refreshing…in a submerging yourself in ice water kind of way! John posed with his local Camrose, Alberta newspaper, hoping to win a photo contest. The Africans thought we were crazy. Joël went exploring while the rest of us attempted to warm up and passed a rainy afternoon watching the clouds roll through the mountains, sipping tea, reading and journaling.

It was a beautiful spot, and we were thankful to be the only ones at the hut. Just before dinner, our guides joined us for a trip up the path to the bog, where the vegetation changed again. Giant grass tussocks, and lobelias grew out of…waterlogged grasses. Beautiful.

Dinner was a three course meal – mainly because we only had one pot to cook with. It was even colder at John Matte, so straight to our sleeping bags once again! John with his mole book.

Day Three
Morning greeted us with frost on the grass. It was a cold night. Freezing if you will. Breakfast was hot porridge and the mother of all pineapples. Too bad the pineapple, nutella and peanut butter were all frozen. We shared the pineapple with the guides and porters, who were probably thinking, “we carried this pineapple all the way up here?!??!” Delicious.

And then began the long descent. Nice weather and speedier. We encountered several people (62 altogether) who were carrying lumber and supplies to build a new hut. Wow, what a job. We were sad to leave the National Park that afternoon, but hoped to return someday to do the whole circuit. Returned to the trekking office, sore knees, mud covered legs, blisters…ready to push start the truck once again. Apparently our guides were still in disbelief about em’s age, since they asked “this one drives?” Our whole team loaded into the back of the truck for a lift into town. The drive back through Queen Elizabeth Park was less eventful – just a warthog and a few gazelle. Boring. Kidding!

And now, back to work! February and March will be busy months. Hard to believe there are only two months remaining of our internships. Lots to do before we go. More on that later.