Mountains and monkeys
on Thea's Blog (Uganda), 12/Oct/2009 08:10, 34 days ago
Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}Having Duncs to stay for the last week has been a great excuse for some local sightseeing. The weekend before last, five of us with Edward and his friend Jo guiding us (minus Duncan who didn’t get out of bed in time), undertook a hardcore nine and a half hour march to the local Rwenzori peak (3012m). We began with a near-vertical stomp past hillside smallholdings before plunging in to the thick vegetation of theRwenzoriNational Park. Although we were armed to the hilt with waterproofs, it didn’t actually rain, although the lingering low-lying clouds irritatingly obscured the views.We mostly had to imagine the plains of Kabarole to the east andCongoto the west, while being tantalised by the occasional glimpse through the mist. The way down was almost as steep but much harder work on the knees and toes. Even our energetic guides were knackered by the time we go to the bottom, but we were all glowing with peak-conquering satisfaction.Thursday last, Duncs and I took a local‘taxi’ (11 people crammed in to an estate car designed for 7, including two on the driver’s seat no kidding) to Kibale forest to stay in a lodge stroking the border of the National Park. Our cosy banda looked out over miles of thick, ancient forest, humming with a squillion birds and insects,broken by the occasional spine-tingling roar from an unidentified jungle beast. We took a tour of a local swamp and saw 5 different species of monkey, the celebrated blue turacao, a crested eagle, a woodpecker and countless warblers and greenbuls and whatnot. I was more excited by the amazing vegetation and what might be lurking in the murky red-brown swamp water. Duncs was keen on snake stories, of which our guide had an alarming number. Three peaceful days in the soothing jungle, a huge quantity of food and drink and lots of sleep have been a great for restoring energy and enthusiasm.