Travel Addicts Unite

Travel is a very personal thing - some love it, some hate it and others like me are completely addicted to it. Venturing off to explore new destinations, cultures, sites and sounds has always enthralled me and I love nothing more than planning the next trip before the current one has ended.

On my mission to explore the world, I have to date travelled to 45 different countries. Twice in my life now, I have been fortunate enough to take a year off to travel with the most recent journey being from September 2005 to September 2006. These adventures along with my regular work trips and personal vacations have given me a wealth of travel experience even beyond my wildest dreams.

People often ask me what my favourite destination is. Of course, this is a near impossible question to answer as each is so different from the next, but some of my favourite regions are definitely the South Pacific, Africa and South-East Asia! And as for my favourite type of vacation that varies too. For a relaxing get-away - nothing beats a cruise with the outstanding meals, impeccable service and never ending options. However to get out and explore the grass plains of the Serengeti on safari or travel by boat down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang in Laos are also unforgettable, favourite travel memories as well.

One day I hope to return to these destinations as well as continuing to explore our great world. I am a firm believer that if you make your work your play, you'll never work another day, and this is why I love what I do for a living.

Below is an excerpt from my travel journals about our gorilla trekking experiene. I hope you enjoy and please post your comments and questions! I hope to share more of my travel experiences for those that love to venture around the world like I do.

Uganda - Gifted by Nature

Gorilla's In The Mist

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Bwindi Impenetrable Forest - quite an intimidating name for a place we were planning on hiking through nevertheless we left Kampala the capital of Uganda with eager anticipation for our long drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and our trek to find the rare mountain gorillas. After a ten hour drive, with the last 3 hours being through a rough, mountainous, dirt road we were very happy to arrive at Buhoma Homestead our home for the next 2 nights. Although the drive was long and exhausting it was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. Bosko, our guide had taken us the longer route from Kampala to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest specifically to try to impress us with the stunning scenery of south-west Uganda. He succeeded! The lush hills and mountains were covered with tea plantations, banana crops and locals out working the terraced fields. Local villages dotted the roadside with children that would come running to see us waving and flashing their huge warm smiles as if we were the only vehicle that had passed through the area in several months.

Before going to bed that night we looked across the star lit sky, with the sounds of the crickets playing loudly in the background and viewed the dense jungle where the rare mountain gorillas live. Permits are very limited for the gorilla trekking and we realized that tomorrow we were about to become two of the very few people in the world to ever get to see these fantastic mammals face to face in the wild.

We set off first thing in the morning after the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) guides had split us into our groups. The gorilla trek is known to be very gruelling and physically demanding as you climb high into the mountains, through dense thick jungle in the heat, rain and any other weather mother nature throws at you for a trek that could last up to eight hours. For our group, we set off climbing the mountain and passing spartan mud huts where some locals lived and their children would curiously peer out from behind the banana trees to watch us go by. We, like most people, had hired a porter for the day to hike with us and carry our bags including our packed lunch and several litres of water. At first we thought hiring a porter was a crazy idea. We did not need someone to carry our belongings. I mean, I am not in the best shape of my life, but certainly I can take a little backpack with me weighing only a few pounds. However, we were convinced it is a great help to the local community as it employs one of the locals for the day helping them earn income to feed their family and as a result Abel became our porter for the day. In the end, not only did we help employ Able for the day but we were sure glad to have him along! Those few extra pounds on our back would have felt like we were carrying the big male gorilla himself as we climbed straight up the steep mountain face for 45 minutes into the thick jungle. The trail did not curve or zig-zag at all but just ran directly up the mountain on a thin, rough dirt trail.

After our 45 minutes of exhaustion we cut off the 'main' trail and starting blazing one that was pretty much our own path. We traversed the mountainside for about 10 minutes tramping over vines and vegetations and downed trees. We were constantly pulling our sweaty shirts free from the thorny bushes around us that grabbed us as we ambled past. Then much to our surprise our guide told us the gorillas were just a few hundred metres further up into the jungle mountainside and we were to leave everything there except our cameras and binoculars. Luck was on our side that we had located our gorilla family so quickly. Many groups trek for three to four hours before they locate their family for viewing, leaving some people so completely exhausted they have a hard time enjoying the experience.

Our guide continued on ahead of us clearing a path with his machete he swung effortlessly to cut away the dense vegetation and jungle vines. Just after we passed a huge pile of fresh gorilla dung we heard some major rustling in the trees ahead. My heart started to pound that little bit quicker as the adrenaline started to push through my veins. The male gorillas are massive in size and if they were annoyed and angry could kill a human without any problem. Of course we had been given all of our safety precautions - don't run, don't look them in the eye, no quick movements, if they charge just sit down and act submissive and non-confrontational. All fine and well for me to do, but what if someone else in the group is the 'class clown' and antagonizes that big Silverback who weighs as much as 2 or 3 men combined? Or in a test of pressure and heat of the moment, will I remember not to run and act submissive to the massive gorilla towering over me? We were soon to find out!

We kept climbing closer and then the guide whispered to us that the Silver Back was just inside the trees and there we sat and squatted down in the bush waiting for him and any of the others to show themselves. Before long, the Silverback climbed down from a tree and lumbered out into the open view not more than 20 feet from us. What a sight! His large head, massive chest and muscular arms and legs all covered with long, thick black hair. His deep intense eyes stared at us and again our hearts beat a bit faster and more adrenalin shot through our bodies. Then for a brief second, he made a charge towards us. Of course, first instinct is you want to turn and run, but know from what we were taught you can't do that so there we sat with nothing between us and this Silver Back except our guide who remained calm and collected speaking softly to him the whole time to calm him down. The massive gorilla soon turned and walked back into the bush where we couldn't see him and unfortunately he remained in hiding for the rest of our viewing time. The charge was nothing more than a bluff charge to show his dominance, but for us virgin gorilla trekkers it was quite enough to get the adrenaline rush going and remind us how powerful these mammals really are.

Over the next hour, we were treated to a magnificent show from the rest of his family as we watched them climbing the trees, swinging from vines, eating the abundance of leaves and vegetation available and just going about their business as if we were not even there in the mountain with them. Although we were supposed to be no closer than seven metres from the gorillas, there were many times we would be sitting on the jungle ground and they would wander closer to us bringing us only five or six feet from fascinating animals. As we watched them play and eat their dark gentle eyes makes you forget their strength and power. A baby gorilla put on a cutest show of dominance though when he stood up, not more than three feet tall when standing, and did his best attempt at pounding his chest with his hands like he was the original King Kong.

Then the terrible words were given from out guide that our maximum one hour viewing time was up and we had to leave the gorilla family and began our descent down the mountain. We snapped our last photos and begrudgingly set off through the dense jungle back to the opening where our bags and porters waited patiently for us. We had our lunch sitting amongst the thick jungle undergrowth chatting amongst each other with excitement of our unique gorilla experience before making our way back to the UWA Office at the base of the mountain.

Now here I sit on the porch of our little bungalow staring across at the mountains we just climbed. Incredible. The view is even more inspiring now being able to envision the over 300 mountain gorillas swinging in the trees and going about their lives under the peaceful watch of the Uganda Wildlife Association and once again increasing in population with hopes that these magnificent animals will one day flourish and be removed from the endangered species list.