Trackin

Dave Sadier
Contributing Writer

RECENTLY, the Sadler
family returned from a
three-month camping
safari in Airica. One of
the highlights was track-
ing gorillas in Uganda.

The paved road stops at
stunning Lake Bunyoni, a days
drive from Kampala. Located
on the edge of the Virunga
chain of volcanoes, the area is
known as the “Switzerland of
Africa”, .

A dilapidated Toyota mini-
van was hired for the harrowing
60-km. drive to Mgahinga
Gorilla National Park. The
rough and ‘dusty dirt road
winds its way through the
mountains. No guardrails spoil
the spectacular view of the val-
ley far below. Because the dust
was so thick, we all wore han-
kies and looked like bandits.

The first day, we climbed
one of the three volcanoes in
the park. Two rangers accom-
panied us and provided iots of

Africa’s remaining mouniai

information on the iocal plants,
animals and the incredible 160
species of birds. The summit of
the volcano forms the border
berween the Congo, Rwanda
and Uganda and if you are a
contortionist, vou can be in all
three countries at once. Far
below on the Rwandan side,
the sun reflected off the galva-
nized roots of a refugee camp.
The next morning we met
our guides for the gorilla orien-
tation. Only six people per day
are permitted to track the fam-
ily of mountain gorillas, which
have been habituated — for
human contact, The length of
the visit is restricted to one
hour. One must avoid making
eye contact and no flash pho-
tography is allowed. They can
generally be found within a
15-minute hiking radius from
the camp. We could approach
them to within five metres.

Pecrummsmmad

north shore news

7 TRAVEL

ae

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We trudged through the
dense steamy bamboo forest.
Our tracker hacked away
obstructions with his machete.
Even though the other owo
rangers carried AK47s, our
party of six had been assured
the gorillas would pose no
threat to our safety. Rather we
had been warned of the vicious
fire ant whose bite would draw
blood.

Chunks of half-caten bam-
boo littering the trail let us
know we were close. We sud-
denly heard excited grunts and
thumps of our quarry, Our
guide quickly replied with
some grunts of his own — reas-
suring the family we were
friends. A very strong odour
wafted through the air. fhe
tracker claimed he could smell
gorillas up to two km. away.
We'd hiked just under nwo
hours.

sae

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The family of eight seemed
very at ease with their visitors
and continued eating bamboo
shoots. Two huge male silver-
backs, two juveniles and three
females — one of which nursed
a three-month-old baby. The
very proud mama cradled the
infant in her arm while feeding
and tossed ic onto her back
when moving to a new food
patch. Sadly she had fost one
hand which had become intect-
ed after getting caught in a wire
snare, yet coped admirably. She
would flutter her long eyelash-
es and seemed to enjoy posing
with her baby.

There was a small commo-
tion when a juvenile came tum -
bling out ofa tree, which could
not support his weight and nar-
rowly missed mother and baby.
She gave him what sounded
like a good scolding.

When the mate reaches sex-

Sunday. September 12, 1999 — North Shore News - 37

ual maturity, the hair on his
back turns silver. They can be
up to six feet tall and weigh
500 th. Their daily diet con-
sists of 60 Ib. of greens from
over 1000 different wpes of
plants anu they are not believed
to drink water.

During the one-hour we
were allowed to observe and
photograph, the two: silver:
backs had an altercation. Blood
curdling howls accompanied
the display of ferocious fangs as
the ovo males faced each other
down, One charged the other.
We cowered only five metres
from the action and remained
very quiet. Their over-power-
ing strength was obvious to
everyone watching the ritual.

Only 650 mountain gorillas
are left in the wild, half of
which are found in the wi-
national 420 — sq.-km. Virunga
conservation area. The rest live

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in Uganda’s other gorilla park,
Bwirdi’s Impenetrable Forest.
‘Tracking is currently suspended
in neighbouring Rwanda and
the Congo because of civil
unrest.

The tracking permits are
very expensive costing around
$200 US. However one must
remember that this money is
crucial for the park’s operation.

“Besides the trackers, many

rangers are r-quired to control
poaching. .

J hope eco-tourism will save
the mountain gorilla from
extinction. .

The Ugandans are very
friendly and made us feel wel-
come. The rural area is
extremely poor with most of
the mibes living in traditional
thatched mud huts. The aver-
age income is less than $1 a day.

Needless to say, it was an _
experience we will never jorget.

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