Journal Entry 54

August 6th, 2005

"Mzungu, Meet Mapuwa"

 

It's been an interesting time. And this will be a short update.

I left Ethiopia, crossing to Kenya as mentioned in my last entry. A battering journey paralleling the Somali border, circumventing the recent massacre in northern Kenya. 2.5 days to Mombasa, including my most painful bus journey yet, as I was continually jettisoned from my ejection (back) seat, and even drew blood twice.

As I neared the coast, dusty brushland with ragged children herding goats suddenly turned to coastal plains and palm trees and bright colors and whitewashed buildings. Like entering a different world! In Mombasa, I met Ian, an Irish friend I'd met 2.5 years ago in India. A few days of wandering, eating, and talking in this Swahili city, left me fully energized for travel again. I was especially refreshed from the lack of hassle here, compared with Ethiopia.

Having only a 7-day transit visa for Kenya, I shot straight across into Uganda in 26 hours. Kampala, the capital is a nice place, set amid the hills, and has one of the biggest and most interesing markets I've seen in Africa. Here, I awaited a package from my parents (I've now joined the digital age), and I waited in line at the post office behind two Arabs arguing about a package that they'd sent to Tony Blair, returned unopened. Misaddressed apparently.

My grand plans for this part of the world shrunk quickly; exploitation of the tourist dollar is rife (now that people aren't too afraid to come here anymore). Setting foot in a National Park in East Africa is expensive business. I did splurge twice though, expending more cash in two single days than I spend in a five to six weeks normally...

#1: White-water rafting on the Nile. Several Grade 5 rapids. Flipped the boat four times. Refractured (slightly) the rib I cracked in December. It was awesome!

#2: Fulfilled a dream by seeing the mountain gorillas. This cost loads, but I saved (a little) money by crossing over to DR Congo (Zaire) to see them, since this portion of the park reopened last year. (Incidentally, the country was 'DR Congo' from 1960-72, then 'Zaire' until 1997, when it reverted back to 'Democratic Republic (ha!) of the Congo'...so no more confusion.)

Some gorilla facts, in case you find them as interesting as I do: There are about 300 of the species I saw left. These are the same ones in 'Gorillas in the Mist', based on Dian Fossey's book of the same name. They lie within a very narrow range along 6 volcanic peaks, at the point where Rwanda, Uganda, and DR Congo meet.

I woke the morning of, dreaming about gorillas (no, not in that way!) I crossed into the Congo, and from there it was a 45-minute drive into misty green hills on a terrible dirt road. I felt claustrophobic FOR the gorillas as the truck approached the park. Villages, banana trees, corn, and people wearing tattered and faded clothing. It continued like this all the way up to the park boundary, and you got a sense of how the gorillas have been completely hemmed in.

But also amazing is that only five minutes after leaving a cultivated field, you're in jungle, about to cross a saddle leading into another world! After descending into this lush forest, it was under 30 minutes before we stumbled across the troop we were seeking. A mother and baby appeared in the brush just 5 feet to my right! The next hour, we sat and observed. Technically, you cannot be within 7m (~25') of them, but the encroaching jungle, and the tendency of baby gorillas to approach you, makes this quite difficult!

What an experience! The first part of the visit saw two curious babies climb branches just above our heads; one even practiced some adorable chest-beating for us. Later on, the group leader, a giant silverback named Mapuwa, made an appearance for about ten minutes, before trudging on. The rest of the time, we watched females climbing and ripping at trees to get food, and their children playing and somersaulting down the hillside. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see all this...

I crossed back into Uganda at this point, the next day continuing into Rwanda. Rwanda is an extension of SW Uganda...the mountains and beautiful terraced hillsides are almost Bali-esque, so colorful and textured! It's hard to believe that merely a decade ago, a million people were slaughtered in this land.

Anyway, I found myself again at the Congo border, on Lake Kivu, before visiting Rwanda's capital, Kigali. This is probably the most pleasant African city I've visited! Bustling but not crowded. Small enough so everything is walkable. A chance to use a bit of French again. Decent cheap food. In short, a great place, though everybody I met said it was expensive and dull.

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A new food section is warranted, East African food being quite different than both West African and Ethiopian...
* Oogali/posho: boiled corn lump
* Matoke: plaintain mash
* Ndezi: baked unsweet bananas
...these three bases are then topped with beans, purplish peanut sauce, or vegetable or meat stews.

Also present are:
* Chapati (though unlike in India, oily)
* Chai (tea, white or black)
* Poko-poko: grain porridge of some kind, with a scoop of oil and lots of sugar
* Grilled corn with paprika, lime, and salt

Like the other side of the continent, the food here isn't bad. But it's not terribly varied or exciting, either.

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And that fills me in to about five days ago. Not much else new, besides snapping a tent pole. Oh, and 'mzungu' is foreigner is Swahili, the primary language of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

'Oh, there is peace of course, but not anything that lives within us constantly and never leaves us. There is only the peace that must be won again and again, each new day of our lives.' (Hesse)

 

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