Capturing the Moment

Kisoro turned out to be a real gem. Nice enough to stay for 2 nights! We lucked out and scored 3 gorilla tracking permits for a whopping $500 each! But it was worth it. I couldn’t believe that we could get gorilla permits at 9’oclock at night for the next morning! You can only hope to do this in Mgahinga, where gorilla trekking is still somewhat off the beaten track. We pulled into a nice bed and breakfast called the Travelers Rest Inn, which was reported to be Diane Fossy’s oasis out of the field during her gorilla trekking days . We drove up another mountain road the next morning towards the headquarters and got about ¾ of the way there before suffering another setback with the ‘Turtle’, A car fire! Thick white smoke began pouring out of the passenger side dash. We pulled over and lifted the hood to find more smoke. A wire had superheated and began melting along its entire length because the electrician the day before had forgotten to ground it. After putting out the fire, and taking...

Uganda is a country filled with surprises and highlights for the nature and adrenaline lover. After rafting some of the biggest and fastest rapids on the headwaters of the Nile, I met up with Jim and Cheryl in the bustling capital Kampala. Eager to get out of the big city and back into nature we headed northwest to Murchison Falls National Park. The park is mostly situated along the banks of a river that flows down from the mighty murchison falls. This is where the mighty Nile is squeezed and forced thru a 6 meter wide canyon creating what may be the most powerful waterfall on the planet. Highlighted by a boat trip up the hippo and croc filled river to the base of the falls MFNP did not fail to impress. The park was further highlighted by a trip to a southern area of the park set in thick woodlands where Chimpanzees are known to live. We went out early one morning with our guide Abraham and after about 2 kilometers we heard the chimps up in the trees. They were way up, about 120ft, but...

I just spent a day in Jinja, Uganda doing perhaps the craziest white water rafting I have ever experienced. I headed to a company named Adrift, who 18 years ago started taking people down big rapids on the Nile River. I had heard stories, and seen pictures of tiny looking rafts surrounded by nothing but white water completely upside down. I was pumped, and a little nervous. But I love that feeling, it means you are about to do something different, dangerous, and memorable. I was grouped up with guide Tutu, and 2 guys and 4 girls. I headed to front left, my favorite spot because of the likelihood of getting tossed. I was excited that the water was so warm. We are just above the equator near the source of the nile where it emerges from Lake Victoria, so the water is still quite warm. Certainly warmer than the cold mountain rivers I had rafted before back in the states and Honduras. There were six big rapids and somehow we made it thru all of them without flipping, although we came very c...

After a few days camping in cold, misty mountains of central Kenya we found ourselves next to one of the largest lakes in Kenya, Lake Naivasha. This is where we found our friend Simon, who has been working with birds of prey here in Africa for longer than I can remember. Growing up in Kenya clearly gives you a way with the wild which can be seen quickly once meeting Simon for the first time. Some people fly falcons...which is think is pretty cool, Simon flies eagles, of the African variety. Imagine my surprise when Simon asked if I wanted to fly one of the tawny eagles. I had seen falconry shows before where someone wears the glove and has a lure to draw the falcon back...but this bird is a lot bigger than a falcon. I have to admit when she was flying right at me I cringed back a bit. Maybe sensing this she hit my hand holding the food and kept flying the first time. The second time she and I had a much better connection. And you can see how ecstatic I was! The area surrounding his pla...

I always like getting as close to the wildlife as possible. Zoom lenses and binoculars are great, but actually catching and holding the animals is another experience altogether. So the chance to deep sea fish and see some offshore pelagics is always something I look forward to. Chris, a friend from the states, invited us out for a day of deep sea fishing with the famous Pemba Channel Lodge on Shimoni Island. Located in the southeast corner of Kenya on a peninsula jutting out into the equatorial Indian Ocean, the Pemba Lodge is a little bit of colonialism far removed from any bustling city. It even has a spot in the '1001 Places to go before you die" book. We left on their 40ft fishing boat around 7am trailing 10 fishing lines behind us. It was amazing how they kept from getting the lines tangled. We steered thru a bait ball and immediately had a couple of hookups, landing one skip jack tuna. Then we had a long dry spell as well did what fishermen do best, wait, until the...

If you want untamed wilderness and 4X4 roads then Tsavo National Park in Kenya is the place for you. Known for its dramatic landscapes Tsavo is the largest national park in the country. We drove in past lesser kudu, impala, lots of hornbills (like Xaxu from lion king), and tiny antelope known as dikidiks. They are a little bigger than house cats. I was thinking 'what perfect leopard food' but the big cats eluded us on this trip. We stopped at Mizumi springs, where water bubbles out of the ground creating an oasis amongst the dry landscape. It is fed with melting ice caps on Kilimanjaro melting and running underground. We found one big hippo with this pool all to himself. Camping was typical Kenya camping...anything goes. Knowing the reputation of Tsavo's lions (man eaters) and other dangers (hippos, crocodiles, big cats) we decided to head down a road with a road closed sign on it. It followed the river a ways and deteriorated pretty quick. We came to an impass in the road ...

Last night we made arrangements to rent a traditional dhow here in Shimoni, Kenya to take us out to the Kisite Marine Park. Touted by the guide as the second best marine park in the world...I was pretty excited to see. And I was not disappointed! The ride out took about an hour but we added some time to stop and watch some very playful, mating bottlenose dolphins. Other dhows packed with people on day trips sailed in to see what we were looking at. We negotiated a pretty sweet deal, getting our own boat for about half the cost of what those tourist were paying for a spot on a packed boat. So it was just Jim, Cheryl, Chris, and I and we could go and come as we pleased. We made sure we were the first ones out to the marine park. I could see the waves breaking over the outer reef. The water was beautiful as you can see in some of the pictures. I lept into the water as soon as we were hooked up to the mooring. Right off the bat there were tons of fish, including a couple of yellow spotted ...