So I’m laying in bed in my treehouse cabin listening to the rain pelt down outside. I’m cuddled up to two hot water bottles that were given to me by the lovely man at the reception area of my lodge.
I got back here at 3:30 this afternoon, drenched, chilled to the bone, full of mud and with every inch of my body aching. And I mean REALLY aching!
I peeled off my wet clothes, hopped in a very nice hot shower, pulled on my long Johns and walked back up from my treehouse cabin to the main lodge for some supper. With every step I took, pain shot all throughout my body. I remember my old trainer telling me “pain is weakness leaving your body”, but I feel very very tired and weary.
But let me back up a minute because this story actually begins, yesterday.
Our group arrived last night at trekker’s lodge. After checking in we all head to our various cabins. When I walked into mine there were very large hairy spiders on the walls. Now anyone who knows me well, knows I have a terrible phobia of spiders. It really is quite debilitating and without a doubt an irrational fear that I’ve never been able to overcome. It doesn’t stop me from trekking through a rainforest, but god forbid I can’t sleep if they’re in my room. And admittedly, I’m not even the best at doing anything in nature since bugs in general love me, mosquitoes eat me alive, I burn to a crisp in the sun, and well I even own a shirt (my favourite) that says “indoorsy” so what does that tell you?
So I told our guides Elton and Luke that there was no way I could stay in that room and I asked if I could just sleep in the van. Instead they encouraged me to move to another room and they said they’d have it cleaned and sprayed while we had dinner and our briefing. They assured me every nook and cranny would be sprayed and that no spider would be left.
After dinner and our briefing, I went to the new room. 5 spiders were looking at me with their millions of eyes – and they were all alive and well. So I was out of there.
Elton and Luke have the patience of Jobe! They found me a new lodge to stay at! So,in the middle of the night, the two of them took me and my luggage to a different place. They even came with me to check out the room and with their cell phone flashlights they were checking all over for me without me even asking. And they kept apologizing to ME! I said “no ’I’ am the one who needs to apologize for being such high maintenance but I truly can’t sleep in a place with spiders”. I was so grateful to them for being so patient and accommodating.
And I have to say I loved my new digs. First the view from my patio was breathtaking both day and night. Second it was spotless and best of all … no spiders!
I finally got to bed around 1am but couldn’t fall asleep immediately because I was too excited about our Gorilla trek the following day. Around 3am I finally drifted off, only to be up again for 6. Elton and Luke picked me up at 6:30 and I met the rest of our group for breakfast before we headed out on the trek.
My roommate this whole trip has been young woman from Ireland named Shawna. I couldn’t have asked for a better roommate. Shawna is 30 years old and she’s not only a very inspiring young woman who has had to overcome some huge challenges in her life, but she is also such a sweetheart. First thing she did this morning is ask how I was doing. She’s just such a lovely girl who genuinely cares about others in the group and she puts everyone else first. A couple of us older ladies were telling her that she needs to allow others to do things for her too because she deserves it. And she really does!
Anyways, after breakfast we all headed to Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest to meet our trekking guides, community porters (god bless those porters ) and gorilla trackers. While Elton and Luke prepared our papers and permits with the rangers, local community volunteers came to wish us well on our trek with tribal songs and dance. Little Shawna who I’ve knick named “fightin’ Irish” joined in the dance and was just going for it! It was St. Paddy’s Day afterall and it just wouldn’t be without our Irish friend doing a jig now would it? So that got everybody’s blood warmed up for the day.
The porters carry your backpacks and are there to help you during the trek. Thank god be carried my heavy pack because I could barely carry myself!
I can tell you without a doubt this was the most physically arduous thing I’ve ever done in my life. Once we got to the place where we had to climb down into the valley, there were no marked trails, it was our trek guide (a short and very pregnant woman aptly named ‘Morin’ with a machete) clearing some brush as we descended at a very steep slope. We were told to bring gardening gloves and thank god I had ordered some from Amazon.eg because they were life savers!!!
Finally we got to where the gorillas were. There were 8 of them in this family, one of which was a large Silverback Male and there was also a baby Gorilla!
The mountain gorillas are an endangered species that live in this rainforest which spans over 3 countries, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. Do to the joint efforts of these country’s conservationists the mountain gorilla population is slowly but surely increasing. This makes me very happy because these gentle giants are magnificent! It would be horrible to lose them.
When they look at you, you’re not supposed to look into their eyes directly because they may see this as a challenge, but it’s hard not to do this. They have such beautiful eyes. We spent time with all of them, the last one being the Silverback. We knew the general area where he was but we couldn’t quite see him because he was deep in the bushes. Our group unintentionally got a bit too close and the silverback growled at us which was absolutely terrifying. The trek guide told us to step back slowly. Then the silverback passed by us. He then went to lay down in the hidden comfort of another bush.
One of the trek guides started using his machete to bring down some of the brush so we could see him better. Just at that moment, my porter was pushing me closer in so I could get a better look at the silverback. As the machete brought down another chunk of brush, the silverback got really mad and charged toward me. The good old limbic system kicked in, but it wasn’t in fight mode! Instead I started to run but the guides grabbed me and told me not to move. Apparently silverbacks love a good chase. My heart was pounding and ‘Morin’ put her hand on my heart while someone else rubbed my back to keep me calm while the silverback backed down. Although it was frightening, it was also extremely exhilarating just to be there and to be so close to these creatures who have allowed us into their space, but on their terms of course.
Because these conservationists respect the gorilla families, they limit the number of people in the park and they limit the group sizes as well as the amount of time we can spend in the gorillas specific territory. So we had exactly one hour to observe and move with the family.
Once our time was up, we had to climb back up the mountain side, again with no marked trail, and I mean straight up!
On our hike back it started to pour (it is a rainforest after all) and now the dirt and vines and shrubs and trees where mud and all things slippery. I lost my footing and did the splits through the mud as I fell, and I fell really hard. The trek guide suggested they get a stretcher in to carry me out, but I really wanted to keep going on my own. I wanted to prove to myself I could do this. But without a doubt, I was by now (if not always) the weakest link in the group. I’m so out of shape and I don’t even typically do this kind of stuff. I’m an easy scenic hike kind of girl on a well established path with rails like in Johnson’s canyon. I like the easy road, not the road less travelled (sorry Robert Frost). And here I was already facing the physical challenge of this trek, but now with my back out from my fall lol.
The rest of the group went ahead. Myself, Morin the pregnant lady, my porter Dao, and Maurice with his machine gun stayed behind long enough for me to catch my breath and keep going. Morin assured me that the group wasn’t waiting for me, when I was worried about holding everyone up. At times I didn’t even think I was going to make it. But then I noticed this teeny inch worm, slowly making its way up the back of Dao’s jacket. Dao’s jacket was slippery with rain and like a mountain to the inch worm. Still that inchworm kept kinking up his back and pushing on despite the challenge. Ironically my favourite toy as a kid was my inchworm. So I felt I needed to follow its example and keep forging ahead. After all this was just weakness leaving my body, right?
After another 50 minutes of constant climbing, I finally reached the top where the regular path now was. I turned to look at the rainforest and the huge challenge I just conquered. Every inch of me ached but I felt soooo good and so proud that in that moment I had raised my hands in the air and screamed as loud as I could into the rainforest valley a big “yeeeeesssss!”
Then I hugged Morin, Maurice and Dao and thanked them all for staying behind with me and encouraging me. They all laughed at me when I had screamed out. But then I laughed because I could here my group further up the path yell back. They all waited for me and gave me celebratory fist bumps. I couldnt believe these awesome people that were absolute strangers just a few days ago had waited and gave me such a great welcome. And Shawna of course came up to me and asked if I was okay – to which I replied in between breaths, I’m great!
We were on the easier trail now, not as steep but still nonetheless challenging in its own right, but at least there was a marked path that wasn’t as slippery as the vertical mudslide with water flowing down it. After another 45 minutes of hiking and we were finally back at the entrance.
Elton was there to pick us up. The rain and the mud were so thick, Elton couldn’t get up the hill in his truck. So the group had to be dropped off just down the hill from the lodge, and then Elton took me back to the treehouse lodge. He was going to wait for me to shower and change and bring me back to the lodge with the group for dinner, but I opted to just stay at my lodge and have a nice solo dinner there. The receptionist met me in the parking lot with a smile and an umbrella with a little puppy named Simba who also seemed happy to see me!
I went to my treehouse cabin, took a nice hot shower, and well you know the rest.
This 5 hour trek was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Being so close to those Gorillas was absolutely surreal. Being in that rainforest was breathtakingly beautiful. Completing the trek was absolutely epic and a physical challenge like none other. I’m so proud of myself for persevering.
Today I not only took that road less travelled, but I completed it with my own primal scream into that impenetrable rainforest…and that has made all the difference!