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Feb 12, 2011

Hiking the Virungas

Virungas in the light of the rising sun
The birds are chirping and Marlene’s watch alarm was telling us to get up but our bodies and minds were telling us otherwise.  This seems inhumane to be up before the sun on a “vacation”.  It’s quite cool and foggy this morning as we make our way to the dinner for breakfast.  We thought we had left with plenty of time but it was clear the second we got off the main road that our driver didn’t really know where to go.  Fork in the road (driver mutters to himself) another fork in the road (more muttering) yet another fork in the road…hmmm maybe we should ask someone for directions our driver says.  Well maybe if there was somebody to ask in this foggy, desolate, base-camp of a town.  After much cursing, and lots of guess we did finally arrive at our destination and our driver seemed as surprised as us that we ended up in the right place.  We arrived just in time to get our briefing.  There were 3 couples 1 guide and 2 guards in all (the guards were in case we happened upon some elephants, or at least that’s what they said, who knows, we were heading in the direction of the congo).


The Bamboo Forests
The first two hours of the hike were fairly easy and quite fast paced as we made our way to the edge of the bamboo forests.  We stopped for a water break and were told this is where the challenge begins.  It was interesting to see the change in biodiversity, first through a massive bamboo forest, then through a mossy tree forest.  Once into the moss, things really started to get steep and I began to breath very heavily, my body had been here a few times before; it’s the feeling that your heart if trying to jump out of your throat, it quickly goes away once you stop walking.  However, the pace being set was not one which was conducive to much stopping.  By the time we neared the first summit I was sweating profusely, my legs were getting heavy and I began to feel light headed.  Again, I knew this feeling from hiking the Inca trail; it’s not a good sign as it’s the first step (pun intended) to altitude sickness.  I was very much relieved to arrive at the first peak and admire the incredible view, the trouble was I could also see the next two peaks we had to climb and they didn’t look too friendly.  Our guide chose now to tell us this is the point that most hikers turn back.  But troopers that we are, after a quick break and a snack we were set to climb the second peak…but first we had to climb down the first peak.  The climb down was only partially relieving because we knew we would only have to climb back up on the way back. 

Atop the First Peak
The second peak is where the ladder ascent began.  Marlene seemed to be doing quite well on these, maybe she had more practice on the jungle gyms in her earlier years, or maybe she had something to prove, all I know is the increase in elevation was starting to make me very noxious.  Once up top of the second peak I really started contemplating staying back while the others carried on.  Although this was my idea, and I love hiking in the mountains, for some reason the altitude was really hitting me hard and I contemplated for a second on being like most hikers before me who had attempted this trek.  But of course I’m too stubborn and determined to reach the 3rd peak that I continued on.  We could see that the third peak was just a cliff of a peak and we must’ve asked our guide 3 times if that was really where we were going.  The movie cliff-hangers ran through my mind as I got a closer look at the dilapidated state of the ladders we were about to entrust.


Staring at the third peak


between peak 2 and 3



Ladder up Peak 3

At one point on the climb there was a series of ladders which were straight up the crevice of a cliff, some 40M straight up.  We couldn’t believe we were doing this, we were literally a hundred feet up the side of a cliff with drops of several hundred meters on both sides.  Although looking around made me even dizzier, I just couldn’t help it, I seemed to be drawn to picturing myself in that moment, on the side of a cliff with nowhere to go but up. The odd thing is that I never once thought to myself “I’m going to fall” as most people do from these heights.  I wasn’t sure if I was experiencing vertigo or if this was the onset of altitude sickness, either way I was not feeling well at all.  For some reason I still felt safe enough to carry on.  Once at the top Marlene admitted she could not focus on anything but the next rung, I thought she was missing out on the best experience…but then again I was probably a little delusional at that point.  The views from atop the third peak were nothing short of spectacular.  On one side we could see the peaks we had just hiked, on the other we could see into the flats of Rwanda and on the other, the lush tropical jungles of the Congo.  These views reminded me very much of Peru with the jagged but very lush peaks.  The clouds were beginning to settle in and it was time to start heading back.  I was not looking forward to climbing back down those old rickety ladders with broken rungs and bent nails.  I was hopeful after lunch and lots of water I’d start to feel better, unfortunately it had to opposite effect and by the time I had climbed back up peak #2 I felt I was very close to barfing, so I stayed well back from everyone else.  Up to this point I hadn’t made it known that I was feeling this way as not to worry Marlene.  However what did worry Marlene was at one point on the final descent my legs just went completely numb and buckled, sending me face first into the turf.  This really was straight out of the cartoons as I scrambled to grab onto a clump of grass to prevent me from falling even further.  Thankfully that clump was very well rooted otherwise I would’ve been in for a very long fall.  After that little episode, I got the attention of the guide and guards who took my bag and followed close behind me.

Feeling pretty good atop the 3rd peak
styling on top a mountain
All in all the trip took us 10 hours to complete and we couldn’t have been more then happy to see our driver waiting for us.  It took all of our strength, endurance and will to do this trek and I would caution anyone that this is not your average mountain hike.  Although I probably felt the worst out of anyone due to the altitude wreaking havoc on my system, our fellow trekkers all agreed they had never done anything this hard in their lives…and these were avid travellers/hikers as well.  I could not have been more happy and relieved to know that the next two nights would be spent in lavish luxury, ok maybe not lavish luxury, but at a lake side resort!



Second peak and the other two Volcanoes

Feb 2, 2011

Enter the bread basket

This morning finally felt like a vacation as we slept in till the last minute before the hotel buffet closed.  We actually even went back to bed after the feasting on a wide assortment of delicious food.  We laid around and waited for our transfer from the hotel to the airport to arrive.  After a 2 hour flight we landed safely in Entebbe, Uganda and met our new driver Vincent.  He’s an older man who was a little hard to understand at first, but a really nice man.  He explains to us that he had been expecting us to arrive early in the morning, instead we arrived late that night, the poor guy waited around for hours at the airport wondering where we were, I guess nobody told him that we had booked our own flights from Nairobi to Entebbe.  A slight misunderstanding because it was not explained to me that the tour company actually booked our flights while we were on safari not knowing that I had booked our flights months ago! Oops! In the end it all worked out but we quickly discovered why they wanted us to arrive early in the morning, traffic is INSANE here!  It’s a chaotic combination of trucks and motorcycles.  We had heard that Ugandan’s love their night life, and the drive through the suburbs of the sprawling city demonstrated this perfectly.  It’s rows and rows of kiosks selling BBQ meat and beer and there are tons of people gathered out front of each. All I know is I’m really glad I’m not driving! Once we arrived at the hotel it didn’t take long to realize what all the articles and books we had read about Uganda were talking about in terms of service.  I’m not sure what it is, if it’s a language barrier issue or an accent issue, but they don’t seem to be able to understand us very well.  We wondered whether they only heard what they wanted to hear or if they really didn’t understand us.  For instance if we ordered a tea, they’d say with milk? No milk.  Ok so tea with milk.  No I said no milk. And of course it would come with milk.  Oh well, I guess we’re now on what they call “African time”.  Tomorrow we have another very long day ahead of us as we make our way to the most south western part of Uganda to do some volcano trekking!

Well today we are in for one hell of a drive, but hey, it’s not like we aren’t used to it and have never done it before.  And at least we will get to see what the country actually looks like on the ground, well, the south of it anyway.  On our way down we drove through many small villages and the one commonality was the amount of bananas.  Neither of us had ever seen anything like it, the way they are able transport these bananas is quite amazing.  On our way out of the city it was transport after transport over flowing with bananas delivering them to the urban population who are getting ready for their work day. Vincent kept telling us that the entire country runs on bananas, that 3 varieties of bananas provide sustenance for the majority of the population.  The bananas arrive not by the bunches we see back home in the grocery store, but with the entire stem intact with dozens of these bunches per stem.  Watching them unload the cargo was interesting, but even more fascinating was the way the locals transport them via 10 speed bicycle in the smaller towns.  They are able to very creatively attach several of these stems to 1 bicycle with literally hundreds of bananas at a time.  It was quite the sight to see long lines of locals pushing these bikes up and down the shoulders of the highway.
Vast Farm Lands

As we continued further and further south, the terrain increasingly got more mountainous.  The scenery was absolutely stunning as we passed terraced mountain tops which make good use of all available terrain.  I suppose the trade off is that the entire region to the south has been cleared of trees and brush to make way for agriculture.  Here they grow beans, cabbage, corn, and potatoes…not what you’d expect of a tropical location, but I suppose these are the things that are easy to grow and provide nutrition for the locals.  The tropical, mountainous topography kept reminding Marlene of her travels to Colombia.  It was a very long drive, but at least our surroundings made it all the more inviting.  The most stunning of all scenes was after when we caught a glimpse of lake Bunyoni from high up in the terraced mountains.  We would be returning to the lake in a few days for some rest and relaxation.

After about 10 hours of driving we finally approached our destination.  At this point, the twisty turny nature of our drive had done a number on Marlene who was trying to find a position to sit in which did not make her feel queasy.  As the road turned from freshly paved asphalt to dirt, we rounded our last mountain pass, and there, way off in the distance, with absolute and distinct clarity, were the series of 3 massive volcanoes that up the Muhavura Mountain range, staring us straight in the face.  We pulled over to the side of the road to stare in aw and our driver turned to us with a huge smile and said “so…which volcano would you like to climb?” gulp!! I knew these volcanoes were huge, but to actually see them in the dying light of day was quite intimidating. Upon arrival into Kisoro, we made our way into the tourist centre to decide which volcano we were going to climb.  After intently reading all of the descriptions of the treks up these mammoth beasts we both kind of looked at each other with indecisive gazes.  They all sounded very intriguing but VERY difficult, a lot more difficult then anything we had read in books or on line and we kind of got the feeling that we had been mislead.  We opted for Mt. Sobynyo (Sovenio) which was the second largest of the 3...but still 3659M above sea level!  We based our decision on the fact that at the peak, we would be at a point where 3 countries meet:  Uganda, Rwanda, and the Congo.  When we booked this trip we both had the urge to dip into the Congo for Gorilla trekking but decided it was not a good idea due to the constant instability in the region.  So….this would be as close as we would get to entering the DRC.  Oh yes, and in case it needs to be mentioned, all of these volcanoes have been dormant since the Holocene age J

The Virunga Mountain Range
We eventually checked into our guest house accommodations and were greeted by a lovely, smiling hostess who gave us both hugs and took our orders for dinner. She was incredibly friendly but we are quickly discovering there is a distinct difference in service level here.  The funny thing is that each place we’ve been to has HUGE menus but ¾ of the stuff on them are not available!  So often we would get our hopes up for something we hadn’t had in a long time, only to be told they don’t have that right now.  In addition, everything takes for ever to be made and served.

We went to bed early because 5:30am comes very fast and early.  Tomorrow we meet the mountains!