Destinations

I went on a great Volcanoes Safari, but first, some thoughts on Heathrow. I had a long layover and stayed at Yotel in terminal 4. It is really convenient and very cool - minimum cabin rental is 4 hours and then you can add hours. Much better than hanging out in a lounge.

On the return, the best way to transfer from terminal to terminal is by the Heathrow Express train that goes to Paddington. It is free for terminal transfers. On to Uganda.

I flew Kenya Airways London/Nairobi/Entebbe and they were very good - flat seats in business, pretty good food, and nice crew both ways. Landed in Entebbe and was taken to the capital Kampala, which I can’t say anything great about - except for the Serena Hotel, which is beautiful and an oasis.

On to Queen Elizabeth Park for 3 nights at the Mweya Lodge, which looks out over lakes and channels - beautiful water views, and really good food. I was amazed by the restaurant. Queen Elizabeth Park is in the plains, so saw warthogs, monkeys, elephants and all types of antelopes, hippos, great birds.

Into the mountains to trek gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, climbing to about 6000 feet. This is truly Tarzan country - beautiful, huge trees.

The three lodges, Bwindi, Mount Gahinga, and Virunga in Rwanda are all owned by Volcanoes, all eco, which means bucket showers (thankfully with lots of hot water), ecosan toilets (non flush), and no heat and it got pretty cold at night. Bwindi Lodge was a great intro to the mountains and reminded me of back to the days of simple lodges and old Africa. Did an easy trek to the gorillas and found them in an hour. Trekking involves 8 people with permits, one or two guides, porters you hire to carry backpacks and if necessary, carry you, and an armed guard at the beginning and end of this train of people.

Trackers are sent ahead to find the gorillas. Once the gorillas are found, you get an hour to observe them and have to stay 21 feet away. Of course, if the gorillas want to get close to you, that is another story. The young ones have grown up around humans and want to play. There was one kid (he was the gorilla equivalent of a teen punk) who loved to rush our group and then run around us grabbing jackets as we huddled. Pretty frightening the first time. The big alpha males (silverbacks) are huge and really ugly. In three treks, we saw a newborn 10 days old, an 8 month old, children ages 3 to 6, teens both male and female. Each group acts as a family with the silverback being the head.

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