Photo of the Day: Uganda mountain gorillas

From Bwindi Impenetrable National Forest

it is amazing how close you can get to the mountain gorillas -- amazing creatures. And not many of them left, alas.

quickie in Africa

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Kisori, Uganda right now, awaiting my overnight bus (on one of the worst stretches of road I've been on yet) back to Kampala. Then tomorrow morning, I will take another bus to Nairobi, Kenya and start on my Sudan visa quest. But as bad as the internet is - no pictures yet - thought I'd give you a quick update.

I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro last week. It was amazing. Difficult. Rewarding. Just simply one of the best experiences of my life. Blog coming soon.

Then I spontanously decided to hop a bus from Arusha, Tanzania to Kampala. I had 4-5 days to kill before I needed to be in Nairobi and decided to add another country to the trip, since I heard Uganda was beautiful. It is.

Got here Sunday morning (bus ride will be another blog) and decided to have a rest/beer day. Needed it badly. Also decided to make a seemingly futile, last ditch effort to get a pass to see the mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park. They offer eight a day. At $500 U.S. a pop. Most are reserved months in advance. But there are cancellations. . .

I got a pass for Wednesday on that Monday afternoon. Hopped an overnight bus down here. Got a good night's sleep last night - first one in a while. Up this morning and got my hour with about 12 of the 19 mountain gorillas in this group in the park. I am hoping that a couple of the 250+ pictures I took actually are in focus. Perhaps some video also.

Pretty good week. Kili and mountain gorillas inside of seven days. Neither of which were booked in advance. I may be the luckiest traveller I know (knocking on wood as I say that, in the hopes I don't totally jinx myself.)

Lots of blogs and pictures from Nairobi this weekend. Promise.