Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
B W I N D I
U G A N D A
Danny's once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list dream of Gorilla trekking came true in Uganda. Our entire trip to Africa was "secretly" planned around this moment.
As our alarms went off at 4am, we woke up nervous, excited, and tired. We drove two hours around Lake Bunyonyi, through the beautiful mountains of Uganda until we finally reached Bwindi Impenetrable National Park - home to 36 wild gorilla families.
We had a guide accompanied by two armed trekkers who led us through the jungle in search of our gorilla family. The morning sun was just coming up and the jungle was filled with an eerie mist, we felt like we were in a scene from Jurassic Park or Jumanji. There's no trail or path to follow, so we were climbing up steep hills, crossing rivers, and walking through mud, as our guide used his machete to cut down the jungle brush.
After two and a half hours, we had reached the gorillas and it was an incredible experience!
We stayed for an hour watching the family of six, including the massive silverback, who we came within about ten feet of.
The female groomed the silverback as the baby gorillas played with one another.
Danny was a little disappointed they weren't more interested in our visit, but Hailey was happy there were no close encounters and we lived to tell the tale.
On our way back, we basically ran into an elephant drinking water from the river. His tusks were huge and we were surprised with how quiet he walked through the jungle given his size!
Prior to the gorilla trek, we had some practice with chimpanzees in Queen Elizabeth National Park. We heard there's only a 30% chance of actually seeing any chimps, so we were lucky to see three up in the trees! We also came across a group of Hippos and two elephants on our way out of the park.
On one of our last days in Uganda we visited an orphange on Lake Bunyonyi where we were greeted by the friendliest children!
Hailey taught a math class and after school dance lessons - Danny busted out all his moves! It was a humbling experience and we were so thankful for their generous hospitality.
After an amazing adventure in Uganda, we headed south to Kigali, Rwanda were we took some time to see how far the country has come after the recent genocide.
After nearly 5 weeks in Africa, the first leg of our honeymoon was in the books!