Our journey started in Kampala, a colorful andmesmerizingly chaotic city filled with commerce and motorbikes and the deeplyspiritual Kasubi tombs.
From there, we drove across the country with our wonderful guides John and Wilson to the crater lakes outside of Fort Portal to stay with Aubrey and Claire Price at Ndali. Their home, set atop a hill overlooking tea and vanilla plantations, served as the perfect welcome to Uganda. We explored Kibale National Park, tracked chimps and learned the intricacies of harvesting vanilla.
Then it was off to Queen Elizabeth National Park where the rivers were filled with hippos, but the trees had lost their lions. We camped by the river, throwing stones into the Congo and hearing stories of a Ugandan youth by the fireside. We witnesses the birth of a kob and fleeting forest hogs.
We then climbed into the mountains, staying in the aptly named Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. While we were graced with a visit at the lodge by a beautiful family of mountain gorillas, we also hiked into their environment to commune with the Bitukuru Group on the vine covered hillsides - a veritable salad bar for gorillas.
We journeyed south, across the boarder, into Rwanda. This country, so recently devastated by unimaginable genocide, has risen above and is working to rebuild itself. The mass burial graves, and ubiquitous signs “Never Forget,” are silent reminders. But the people work hard - everyone is in the streets, carrying a heavy load. There are new schools and houses and roads. Their prosperity seems to have surpassed their Ugandan neighbors.
Our next gorilla adventure is in the Virunga mountains, with Francois, once a porter to Dian Fossey and the elder statesman of Volcanoes National Park. He has been with these gentle giants for 29 years, and has adapted their language and mannerisms.
We are treated to a morning with the Sabinyo group, calmed by the presence of Francois, and oblivious to our fascination.
We made friends with the children of the Home Sainte Famille orphanage in Ruhengeri, so endearing that we had to return the next day after a quick trip to Lake Kivu.
Our final stop was Kigali, an incredibly vibrant city. We were humbled by the Genocide Memorial, burial sight of 250,000 victims, then bolstered by the inimitable spirit of people like Joy Ndunguste at Gahaya Links and Nicole Pageau at Centre Caesar, working to improve the lives of many survivors by giving them skills and a trade.
I take away a beautiful visual memory of these two countries – a patchwork of colorful, happy, hardworking people, lush green tea covered hillsides and dense forests, and the intense gaze of the majestic mountain gorillas quietly trying to keep their species alive.
If you have been to Africa, but not yet to Uganda or Rwanda, then you have at least one more safari in your future.
