A rumble in the jungle

Well-known Nelson Mandela Bay couple Mkhuseli and Karen Jack travelled to Uganda with their children last month to experience the thrill of standing just metres away from majestic mountain gorillas, of which only 300 still exist. Karen told Lauren Cohen all about their adventure.

IMBUED with a spirit of adventure, Mkhuseli and Karen Jack and their children, Themba, 12, and Cayla-Rose, 10, landed at Entebbe Airport in Uganda last month. There they were met by the Wild Frontier touring company guides Martin and Lameck, who would become their key to unlocking the life and people of the country.

Joining them from Cape Town were Karen�s brother, Mike Evans, his wife Bridget and their daughters, Joanna, 16, and Lara, 11.

Packed in their luggage were a number of unusual items � the list of things to bring included gardening gloves (for rough trekking in gorilla land), wet wipes (for toilet ablutions along the road) and raincoats (for walking in tropical forests).

The next day, an eight-hour car journey took the family to the south of the country to a game reserve at Lake Mboro.

�About 98 per cent of Uganda�s population live in rural areas and all along the road were stalls, schools, clinics, banana plantations and markets,� Karen said.

The Jacks were amazed at the lushness of the country and were told everyone had a bit of land where they can grow bananas, mangoes, pineapples, tea or coffee.

Visitors to Lake Mboro became almost blase about spotting fish eagles, kingfishers and hippos, so abundant were these creatures.

�Our next stop was the reason for coming. High up in the mountains is a patch of equatorial rainforest, 331 square kilometres in size, where the mountain gorillas live.�

Surrounded by tea and banana plantations, the forests which are home to gorillas are now a Ugandan wildlife reserve.

At the foot of the mountains of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest lies the town of Bwindi, where the families stayed in cottages.

The gorilla visiting programme is strictly controlled with only three groups of eight going each day.

�There is a long list of instructions on how to act around them, including not eating near them. And if you have a cold, do not come at all as you could infect the gorillas,� Karen said. Only people over the age of 16 are allowed to visit the gorillas, which meant that only Joanna could go up with the adults.

Australian tourists and an Italian primatologist were in the Jacks� group.

�It took us three hours to find the gorillas, then we spent one hour with them, had lunch and walked back. In total, the trip was seven hours.

�Everyone was sweating and out of breath but we all managed.

�Our guide, Augustine, knew the gorilla families like his own. All the gorillas have names.�

Visitors are encouraged to make use of the porters available locally to carry their backpacks, as it creates employment.

Accompanying the group were �tracking support team members� and two guards with AK47s � not to defend people from animals, but as a result of an attack by 100 Congolese bandits, who in 1999 killed eight foreigners and flattened the town.

�The Ugandan government has since put an army base there and soldiers accompany the visitors on all walks. Although the soldiers are highly trained, they are relaxed and we felt completely safe,� said Karen.

After a rest at the mountain�s peak, the climbers descended into gorilla-friendly vegetation.

�The sounds of the forest reminded me of video-arcade games. Loud jungle sounds of birds and monkeys echoing. Excitement mounted when we saw two gorilla nests.� Gorillas make nests on the ground at night and never use the same spot twice.

Three hours later, the group was told to drop their walking sticks as the guide heard the gorillas.

�We moved forward with our guide and a hacker who slashed the plants for us, so we could get closer. What they don�t tell you in the TV programmes is that you will stand in clouds of flies. This is how we knew there were gorillas in our midst!�

The Jacks described the gorillas as magnificent.

�The silverback was absolutely huge � they can weigh 200kg. There were three babies pushing and falling over each other and a mother with a two-week-old baby clinging to her hair. A teenager, lounging around on a branch in the tree, was chased down by a blackback male.

�The noise of his screeching filled the air as he ran off. Their faces amazed me � they looked so human.�

The guide communicated with them in �gorilla language� and they responded. �They know him and sometimes touch him. If we had to try and see the gorillas without a guide, they would attack us.� Visitors had to stand five metres away from the animals so as not to infect them. After lunch, the group walked back down the mountain and was presented with certificates.

The next day, the family toured the Bwindi community to see how tea is grown, how bananas are made into wine, �with a 40-60% alcohol level�, and met a herbal healer. �We also met a group of pygmies who had to leave the forest where they lived maybe for thousands of years, because the forest became protected.�

Then it was on to the Queen Elizabeth Park and the Mweya Lodge hotel, which overlooks the Kazinga Channel and has views of the Ruwenzori Mountains.

�The lake was beautiful and the animals were glorious. We also saw volcanic craters and lakes, being on the Rift Valley, but were bitten many times by tsetse flies,� Karen said.

The final stop was Ngamba Island on Lake Victoria � home to 39 rescued chimpanzees and part of the Jane Goodall Institute Programme.

�We stayed in tented camps on the island and never missed a minute of the feeding times, as it was riveting to watch these primates who share 98,7% DNA with us.�

The island receives visitors daily and runs education programme as well as volunteer programmes.

After a 10-day visit, the families were sad to leave Uganda.

�We learnt such a lot, experienced such beauty and met such warm and friendly people,� Karen said.

Getting there:

� Current airfares to Uganda, departing from Port Elizabeth and including airport taxes, are about R5 900 per person.

� The Wild Frontiers packages, including flights, airport transfers, all meals, accommodation and expert guides cost about R20 000 per person. The only extra money needed is for tips � R260 per person per day � and about R1 000 per person for the gorilla trek.

Some interesting facts:

� About 52% of Uganda�s Gross Domestic Product comes from eco-tourism.

� About 40% of profits from national parks and game reserves are given to the surrounding communities.

� Only about 300 mountain gorillas have survived and live in the Virunga mountains spread across Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

� There are 175 000 surviving chimpanzees left in Africa. They have been killed off for meat and died out due to loss of environment.

� There are 17 chimp sanctuaries in Africa and they have formed the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance.

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