Rwenzori Road Trip

Ok, I don’t really know how this became the way it turned out but somehow I survived climbing a damn mountain—part of the Mountains of the Moon or the Rwenzoris. Aerin, Colin, Melissa and I initially wanted to do a road trip to a park none of us had ever seen. Going to Queen again would have been cool and perhaps going all the way down to see the Ishasha lions—of course that would have been awesome. Maybe next year. None of us had ever gone to Semiliki. So I called up Richard Tooro who runs Kabarole Tours and wanted a deal on seeing Semiliki and the pygmy group there. Somehow, we not only got Semiliki but we also got to trek the Rwenzoris. Being a Florida girl and not having been in the mountains really since 2000, this was not a good idea. I wasn’t ready. Had no training but somehow decided that I could hang with my mountain folk friends (all who reside in Colorado, Alaska, one of those Canadian provinces). The damn trek was 25km! I felt like an old hag lagging behind. I had to stop and catch my breath going up. I recover fast which is good but damn some of those places were steep! The scenery is beautiful but you are actually only in the park for about 6km or so, the rest is going through villages to get there. This is the footpath that people from Bundibudjo (the last town before DRC) take to sell their goods everyday because it’s cheaper than taking transport to Fort Portal. They do this in bare feet, so I feel like a total loser when I’m huffing and puffing to get up these inclines. The forest does change though. We walked through a bamboo forest which was really cool and nice. I think we got up to 2500 meters or so. Then the descent was brutal. You would think that you would prefer going down. I just prefer flat and a helicopter to come get my ass. Down is fine until your big toes have had enough jamming up against your shoes. Your quad muscles shake like hell and you think you’ve eaten enough bananas to stop but it doesn’t work. Over halfway down, I thought I would lose it, the pain was so bad on my toes. I have bruises underneath my toenails from it. I’ve never been so happy to see a vehicle in my life! I was in tears—the cuticles of my big toes burn like hell but the pounding has pretty much stopped.
When we finally got off the mountain, they took us into Bundibudjo to the Vanilla Hotel—which is a hotel built by farmers. It’s supposed to be the best in town. They have self-contained rooms which are tiny but definitely doable. They did have flushing toilets and a shower though it was cold water. I didn’t care at this point, I was so sweaty, I could handle the cold shower. We got cleaned up and ordered beers (cold ones!) and food. You would think that if a menu only has about 5 items then it would be difficult to screw up the order and bring out on time. WRONG! We asked for 4 rice, 4 beans, 3 chickens, and 1 beef. Over an hour and half go by and no food. I’m getting irritated. We were all getting irritated. I tried to let the manager know. Then they bring out food but it wasn’t what we ordered. We didn’t want matoke! They said we ordered it and we argued about it and finally got what we asked for. The others ordered the chicken which they said had to be old chicken because it was so tough. My beef was mostly fat but what could you do? Then Scott called and I went back to my room to talk to him and to pass out.
The next morning we got up for breakfast. We asked for fruit and juice; they said they didn’t have any. We asked for African tea and percolated coffee. We got hot water and Nescafe. Finally got the tea right. They said they had omelets so we ordered them. She came back with bread and 2 boiled eggs. I asked if this was an omelets. She looked at me like, “No bitch, it’s an f’ing boiled egg.” She told us it was a boiled egg but then we told her again that we wanted an omelet. So she took the eggs back. She came back with 4 fried eggs. Then somehow they found bananas and passion fruit juice (mind you we were in the area of the country with the BEST fruits!). After that debacle, Melissa told us that she had ants in her bed and couldn’t sleep all night. We told Moses our driver about it and the assistant manager or whoever was like, “When you come back, I will be the only one to serve you.” It was difficult to keep my mouth closed and say Lady, we’re never coming back. I’m sure it’s a decent hotel for where it is but we were so tired and our patience was not thick.
Then we set off for Semiliki National Park. On the way there, there was a Batwa Pygmy Village. They are more likely Bambuti but for whatever reason, they had signs for the Batwas. They are a hunter-gatherer group that was pushed out of the forest when it was gazetted. The European Union bought them land and looked like they were doing some agricultural work but not much else. They could do some cultural tourism. It’s pretty damn intimidating. They great you very nicely, pull out seats for you and then surround you shoving crafts in your face. Then there is a viewing fee that is bartered. You know these people are seriously poor so you don’t want to bargain down too much. The viewing fee included a dance and a house viewing (in the forest they would only have temporary shelter). The dancing was awful—it didn’t look authentic, just a bunch up people moving in a circle smoking blunts (huge blunts!). It was sad and we all felt dirty for visiting. I think it would be a great potential for tourism in the cultural sense but it has to be worked out better than what is going on now. It’s terrible and sad. But I am glad that I was able to see how seriously marginalized these people are. It’s seriously hard to put it into words.
Then we went on to Semiliki NP. We hiked again but this time it was flat. We visited the hot springs which are so hot you can’t go in them. This is definitely the jungle I had pictured and it was quite cool to go and visit. At lunch, Moses and our guide, Arthur, boiled our lunch in the hot springs. The boiled eggs, matoke, and potatoes and cut up these beautiful tomatoes and the sweetest pineapple and avocados. It was the best lunch ever! Then we headed back home.
I’m very glad that I hiked the mountain and that I got to see two national parks. Would I do it again? Probably not unless by some warped sense of humor I become a hiking fanatic. Scott wants me to go hiking but I think I should start small—with flat and work my way up to higher inclines. My legs are paying the price now but they should be better by the end of the week I hope.
Tuesday, Erimos and I needed to head to town to get some things before heading to Bigodi for our interviews. Suzy wouldn’t start. What a pain in the ass! Had to get her pushed to start. Then she wouldn’t start up at the gas station but Edward the Mechanic got his boys to meet us and fix a loose connection. It worked fine the rest of the day but we were late to our meetings—it wasn’t the worst that could happen. We just got home late. Erimos doesn’t seem well so I hope that he will be able to work tomorrow but I stressed to him that if he didn’t feel well, then we will do these interviews another time. It could wait.
And I think I have another damn mango fly! How?!?!?! It hasn’t been raining! It’s on my upper arm but I can’t find the hole but it’s swollen up and hot like the other ones. Aerin is excited. She said that I would have to grow it for a while and then we would have a public extraction. Can’t wait. It’s got a very limited time to grow if that is indeed what it is. I’m not bringing it home. Sorry. Will let you know how it turns out.
Got to run and do some work! =)