Rubuguri

Last week I went to Rubuguri, Uganda for a celebration of the "Year of the Gorilla" and the launching of a newly habituated gorilla group. It was my first time to Uganda and I was pretty excited. The border is about 30 minutes from our house so Magda drove me to Rwanda customs and Benard, one of our Ugandan veterinarians met me on the other side. The border closes at 6pm because that's when it gets dark here, and there is no electricity in the customs building... I got there by 5:30 to be sure it was still light! It costs $50 for the visa, which you get after standing in line and filling out forms on each side. Here's the Rwandan side - I forgot you are not supposed to take photos at customs.... I thought the sign on H1N1 was interesting.

Here's customs on the Uganda side. You can see Muhabura Volcano in the background.

Benard and I drove north to the village of Kisoro. We passed this beautiful lake on the way and I saw pelicans for the first time! Those are little wood canoes in the lake, and we passed a small, lovely campground. Might have to check it out at some point. The roads in this part of Uganda are mostly not paved, but the countryside is lovely. Population density is much lower here than Rwanda so there were some nice expanses of countryside without houses. There is a hotel called the Traveler's Rest in Kisoro that has been there for years - was frequented by Dian Fossey in the day. I was hoping to stay there, but unfortunately it was booked, so I stayed at a newer hotel down the street. That night I heard a bird call that I recognized, but took me a minute to realize that it was a Crowned Crane! So familiar from my work at the zoo, and how hearing them in the wild was so great.

The next morning Benard and I drove about an hour over very bumpy roads to the town of Rubuguri, which is just outside Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This is where the other population of Mountain Gorillas lives. This celebration was very important for the local communities. The newly habituated group means more money for the park service, which hopefully translates into more resources for the local communities. So this was a huge event. Looked a little like a horse show set up as we approached! It was a little odd to see Sea World and Busch Gardens on the banner - I'm still not sure about the connection!


There were many speeches by ministers and local leaders, then checks were handed out to leaders of the local communities. The excitement and hope for the future was palpable.

There were performances by school kids all day long. There were skits and dancing and singing - it was wonderful. At one point all the kids were asked to approach the stage and one of the local leaders told them they were the future of Uganda. The future of gorilla conservation. I think these kids will remember this forever.

These kids enacted a tourist visit to the gorillas. Very sweet.


Here's a small band with local instruments. I have video including sound - but I still can't figure out how to make the video small enough to post.. Howie, can you help????



This is a group of Batwa (pygmys) who sang a beautiful song. The announcer thanked them, and then they started to dance, and dance and dance! The whole crowd got into it, clapping and singing, and at one point on of the ministers went and danced with them. The Batwa have traditionally been a fringe group, historically somewhat neglected by community leaders. It was nice to see them included here.



A small flock of Crowned Cranes flew over the field at one point. You can sort of see them in this picture. I was pretty excited!


I didn't have time to visit Bwindi, but plan to do a health check on one of the groups with Benard sometime soon. It was a whirlwind visit, meeting many of the conservationist in Uganda, lots of hand shaking, and just trying to take it all in. Then it was back to Rwanda that evening, and an annual exam on one of the orphans the next day. See the gorilladoctors blog for that story sometime soon!

Quick aside: I make banana bread almost every weekend - there are many, many bananas in Rwanda. They've never heard of banana bread here (banana beer, yes... but not banana bread). I shared it with our guards and students and it was a big hit!