The villages here were prosperous compared to the rest of Uganda that we had travelled through. But still terribly poor.
We drove up into the Bwindi National Park, a tropical rain forest bordering the constant vistas of farm land. Every inch was farmed, to nearly vertical inclines.
It’s humbling to see how much hard work they put into these fields, yet how little they gain.
On one hand, you feel proud of these people that live so close to the soil. On the other hand, these fields were once the domain of the mountain gorillas that we were in search of, and because of these farmers and peasants, the gorilla species is very nearly extinct.
The road through the dense forest was practically off–road. Stunning to both our senses and our bottoms. This picture shows farming encroaching on the gorillas habitat, which has halved in the last 50 years.
Before reaching Rwanda we passed Lake Bunyonyo, the deepest lake in Uganda.
We also saw some ‘campsites’ set up for the millions of refugees arriving from the Congo. How a country so poor can possibly cope with this influx I have no idea. Indeed, it may not be possible without huge suffering. How many times have I heard Brits complain about the 'foreigners’ taking our jobs and our welfare. We have no idea.
Who put the Phil in Philosophy?
After stopping for lunch at the 'Travellers Rest’ we passed the border into Rwanda and onto our next stop, the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, overlooked by enormous volcanoes.
Tomorrow we are up early to start our trek through the volcanoes and tropical forests in search of our ultimate prize.
No, not McDonalds…
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