No Stopping for Lions by Joanne Glynn

Author:Joanne Glynn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2016-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

THE PLEASURE OF THEiR COMPANY

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is home to half the world’s population of mountain gorillas, and three habituated families can be visited from Buhoma, a small settlement straddling the park border. We have booked three days’ accommodation in town, hoping that we’ll be able to pick up gorilla tracking permits at short notice for one of the days.

We arrive at Buhoma late in the day. The village has a number of gorilla curio shops, gorilla rest houses and even a gorilla orphan centre for human orphans, but it still manages to present a laidback face, unaffected by tourism. The next morning we front up to the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s office early and yes, there are two cancellations for the day’s gorilla tracking. And even better, the vacancies are for the R group, the gorilla family that usually hangs out closest to the town and which will require much less strenuous trekking.

We have our packed lunch, binoculars and bottled water in backpacks but these are carried for us by porters. There are also trained guides and armed rangers in our little platoon, as we are dangerously close to the Congo border where poachers and rebels have been known to murder the innocent. We set off up a vehicle track into the forest, everyone excited and chattering about fitness levels and camera settings. Neil and I wave to the staff as we pass our guesthouse and they call out, ‘Good luck, good luck, Mr Neil!’

At first it’s not quite the slipping and sliding that we’d anticipated but it’s not long before we veer off into the forest and start climbing. In single file now and with the rangers protecting our rear we follow a rough track of damp leaves and not much sunlight. It becomes very steep and one girl loses a zip-on leg of her trousers while another lifts her T-shirt to fight off red ants. Talking has stopped. I have a strong young porter who takes my hand and pulls me up the slippery muddy bits. The head guide is in radio contact with the trackers who have gone out at first light, and after 45 minutes he turns to inform us matter-of-factly that the gorillas have been located and they’re just ahead. We take a last drink of water, disentangle our cameras and leave everything else behind with the porters. We climb up one last rise and there in front of us are two fluffy little black balls wrestling and squealing and rolling all over the others. Over there is a mother gently cradling her baby, gazing into its eyes, and with infinite care picking a twig from its scrunched-up little face. To the left, sitting happily against a tree is the silverback. We’re all momentarily taken aback by the ordinariness of it all. A family in their leafy living room, having a nibble, scratching bellies, farting occasionally. They’ve allowed us to share their morning, and it’s only later that we understand what a great privilege that is.

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