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Into the Congo in Search of our Giant Relatives

Into the Congo in Search of our Giant Relatives
 
 

WE RETURNED to the main part of the village at the end of the road where we had walked to yesterday. From there will walk straight up the hill. The track was initially easy, but quite wet due to all the rain that had fallen so far this morning. The rain had thankfully by now reduced to a light mist which allowed me to pack away my poncho which was dragging a bit on the ground.

Climbing high into the mountains
Climbing high into the mountains

Dougie my porter took my backpack and we all started walking up the hill. Wilbur led the way, followed by the tourists and porters. Two assistant guides took up the rear, Charlie had his AK-47 shot gun to protect us should be we attacked by any of the wild animals up there - well that's what they said. The truth was he was here to protect us in case any people came over the border from the Congo to kidnap and kill tourists as they occasionally do here. The situation here was concerning for us to the extent that the Australian Government’s smart traveller website had currently marked this area as a “do not travel” zone as they considered it too dangerous.

There was an instance in recent years where a group of tourists from the UK, New Zealand and USA had been captured, marched through the rainforest for a day, then eight of the group had been brutally mutilated and killed with their skulls crushed in and deep slashes cut to their bodies. Fortunately six other hostages had been released, but only because the captors wanted them to tell the story so no one else would come. The captors were apparently Rwandan rebels based in the Congo.

Entering the thick cloud
Entering the thick cloud

Our guides and porters were all wearing dark green army camouflage clothing. That must be the uniform up there. They were all also wearing black gumboots. I had never seen so many gumboots since moving away from New Zealand fifteen years ago. Perhaps that was all they could afford. Given it was going to be pretty muddy up there walking through the gluggy clay mountain soil, I would have thought gumboots would have been useless for walking through sticky mud, but as I’d later find out, they didn’t seem to pose any problem whatsoever.

The track steeply ascended to a few houses precariously perched on the spur. To my surprise we were led through the yards of these houses before continuing along the trail which quickly became very narrow but levelled following the contour from the ridge into the next gully.

The mist is very thick
The mist is very thick

Upon reaching the gully, we saw a crudely cut track heading straight into the cloud. We followed this track slowing us down a lot. It passed through a couple of cabbage and potato paddocks on a forty degree slope. The soil was very soft and slippery from the overnight rain, which had by now completely stopped. We all struggled up the almost non-existent track. Dougie was enormously helpful in giving me a hand up the bigger steps, and where it was very slippery. He cut small steps into the mud for us to climb.

The track continued getting more difficult as it continued to steepen, and I found myself constantly holding Dougie’s hand. I thought back to what I had said last night, but this was clearly a different situation. He was here to help me attain my final goal for this trip, and if that meant us holding hands to make the going easier, then so be it. A couple of the others were also holding hands with guides and porters, but some seemed to be happy just to slip and slide their way up the hill.

The gully turned and got even steeper. Not only was Dougie pulling me up from in front, but one of the guides was pushing me from behind. It was a crazy situation. Sure I was more than fit enough to get up this hill, but the ground was so slippery underfoot that I just couldn’t do it alone.

Everyone else seemed to be managing, whether being pushed or pulled, or through having some miraculous ability to walk on this slimy mud slope. We were all determined to get up there, and a little mud wasn’t going to stop us. At least the rain had completely stopped falling.

We stopped under a few small trees in a gully in between two muddy cabbage fields on the forty degree slope. After a few minutes rest, we continued up the slope.

Edging along the newly cut trail
Edging along the newly cut trail

We continued for another ten minutes before stopped again whilst Wilbur radioed the tracking team again. They were about 40 minutes away up the hill currently sitting with the gorillas. We pressed on, climbing even further up into the thick fog clouds that concealed the tops of the ridges.

The eerie mist thickly enveloped us as we climbed even further. The steep paddocks where cabbages were growing quickly gave way to scrubland at the edge of the forest. Wilbur indicated we were getting near now. Then we suddenly left the track along a freshly cut route through thick broadleaf ground vegetation standing a couple of metres high. The cut vegetation was still fresh and lain across the ground roughly following the contour of the hill. The trackers must have cut this within the past hour.

We were near.

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26 August 2011

 

Rubugiri

Uganda

 

1°06'S
34°40'E
2300 - 2700m ASL

 

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