Hiking in the impenetrable forest was like nothing I’ve done before.  The sheer adrenaline rush of knowing that somewhere out there, either close or far, a gorilla forages is something I’ll never forget.  The trail itself is steep.  You’ll be cutting through steep fields of crops tiered along the mountain sides before you even enter the forest itself.  The brush in the forest is thick.  Luckily, there is a scouting party of trackers ahead of you to help clear the way.  They find the gorillas and follow them so that your hiking time is reduced.  Even still, you should plan on at least 2 hours of strenuous hiking in and out.  The trails will be overgrown, muddy, and difficult to find and navigate.  Once you find the gorillas, expect to go off trail in order to get as close as possible to them.  Possibly even ducking through bushes, leaping over streams, and avoiding elephant footprints (yes that’s a thing).  Once you’re in the presence of these majestic creatures, you need to remember a few things. 1) Don’t look them in the eyes – that’s considered a challenge.  2) Don’t use your flash as it disturbs them.  3)  Remain calm even if they come right by you.  If you follow these rules, you’ll have an amazing experience admiring something that very few people will ever have the chance to see.

After hiking in, through the thick underbrush and across the stream multiple times, the guide finally stopped us with a wave of his hand.  We had been chatting away along the route but now his demeaner had changed.  ‘Quiet please’ he whispered as we could hear something in the brush ahead of us.  We stopped.  Hearts pounding… waiting… was this it?… did we finally find our objective?  The guide motioned to me to follow as he quickly took off down an embankment.  Ducking under branches, tripping over roots, and stepping in large mud holes I was barely able to keep up with his speed until he stopped.  Suddenly stopped.  Frozen looking past me.  I stopped too, looking at him.  Then someone came up behind me and bumped me, I spun around to see who it was and suddenly I noticed, beyond us all, in a small clearing, there he was… The silverback.  The group finally caught up to us and all began to admire this creature.  We had been watching him eat leaves for a few minutes when suddenly he got up and took two steps towards us.  At this point he was only about 8 feet away from us.  Standing on his back legs, suddenly his body straightened as though he had a rod up along his back and he took a deep breath.  His arms stretched out and smashed down on his chest making a tremendous drum beat noise just as his mouth opened and an ear shattering roar came out.  He repeatedly pounded his chest as he roared.  For a moment we were all frightened, and began to take a few steps back, but the guide assured us… ‘he is only asserting his dominance’ … And sure enough as quickly as he had stood up he sat back down and began eating leaves…  This truly is a moment I will never forget I though to myself as we continued watching.  And I’m sure I never will.

There are a lot of resorts around the area of the forest.  We stayed in a nice place called Rushaga Gorilla Camp.  The rooms were well apportioned, large, and easy to access.  The food was good at the restaurant and the staff was exceptional.  After a long day of gorilla tracking your boots and gators are going to be trashed.  The staff will clean them for a small fee: totally worth it.  On some occasions the local pygmy tribe will come to the hotel and put on a traditional show.  If you’re lucky you might even get to dance with them.

As with all safari style trips everything is left to chance when you search for animals in Queen Elizabeth National Park.  But that adds to the excitement of actually finding something that is unique and surprising.  That’s the feeling you’ll get when you discover animals in unique environments.  Queen Elizabeth is a great place to find elephants, cape buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, and the unique tree climbing lions.  The best way to find any of these things is to ask the local guards and employees of the park.  The guides are always communicating with them and telling them where they found whatever they saw.  You will also have the option for lion tracking… but the lion tracking involves gps’ed lions that are a guaranteed sight.  Only take this option if you haven’t seen any as it isn’t nearly as exciting as finding them on your own.

Another exciting activity to do here is taking the river cruise.  All animals must come to drink at some point and they seem to gather along the banks of the river near Mweya.  If you take the boat here you’ll get an opportunity to see elephants, hippo, antelope, buffalo, lions, crocodile, and much more down at the river.  All of these animals in a tight space means there is bound to be some action.  While there we heard stories about crocs taking antelope, baboons fighting on the banks, and saw hippos asserting their dominance.  The river is a great place to experience the beauty that is life in the African wilderness.

The final area that you shouldn’t miss in Queen Elizabeth is the Kymbura Gorge.   This area is a large gorge that suddenly drops off from the plains of the park.  Deep inside the gorge is a lush and beautiful environment starkly contrasting the dry planes above.  The way into the gorge is rot with hippo and hyena tracks not to mention very muddy and slippery.  Once inside you’ll be afforded the opportunity to venture by lagoons filled with hippos.  If you listen carefully you’ll be able to hear the tell tail screams of the chimpanzee over the grunts and groans of the hippos.  Be patient, vigilant, and energetic and you will get to see these amazing creatures.

Concluding a day full of excitement on the river connecting Lake George to Lake Edward we had just gotten into the vehicles after a torrential downpour of rain began.  Huddled in the truck we left the dock area.  Coming up the hill we rounded a corner and there was a vehicle stopped in the middle of the muddy road.  As we pulled up behind the vehicle we saw what they were looking at:  An elephant was standing next to the road, in the rain, eating one of the small trees.  We cautiously opened the window (rain pouring in) to take a few pictures.  Suddenly, on the far side of the truck, a baby elephant emerged from the heavy overgrowth.  The very moment that the second elephant emerged the first elephant became agitated and began to flap his ears and make trumpeting noises.  The driver realized that these behaviors usually mean that the elephant is going to charge.  Even a small elephant is MUCH larger than our vehicle.  Pulling up close to the vehicle in front of us the driver began frantically honking his horn in an effort to get the other vehicle to move.  They didn’t.  The elephant grew increasingly agitated and began to stamp the ground.  Long honks grew into lights flashing and engine revving as the situation became more desperate.  The elephant began to take several steps in our vehicles direction before the fist vehicle finally began to move… Following close behind our driver took off in a splash of mud just as the elephant entered the road way.  The elephant didn’t give chase as his only concern was the safety of the baby.

If you’re going to stay near or in Queen Elizabeth National Park there are a lot of options.  Many resort hotels can be found littering the park with tourists.  There are, however, two places that are not quite your normal tourist traps.  If you’re looking for something a little off the beaten path, a little different, and very personal then take a look at The River Ishasha Lodge and Little Elephant Camp.

The experience we had at The River Ishasha Lodge was one of the very best I’ve ever had.  We stayed in their tree house and it was quite simply one of the most fun experiences that I’ve had while traveling.  The accommodations are rustic but there are toilets and showers, a full kitchen, and nice comfortable beds.  An armed guard is included in the price to help keep you safe from the animals all night.  If you have the chance to lounge on the deck overlooking the river as the sun sets chances are good you’ll hear many different animals making their evening noises.  If you stay here don’t forget to see the sunrise or set from the perch and ABSOLOUTLY TAKE YOUR MEALS IN THE TREE HOUSE!  You’ll be SO glad you did!

If glamping is more of your style then head over the Little Elephant Camp.  This very fun glamping camp comes complete with a two different tents: a living area and kitchen tent as well as a bathroom and sleeping tent.  You’ll even get your own fire pit.  Let Little Elephant know in advance what you’d like for your meals and they will make sure that your kitchen is well stocked with locally sourced high quality foods.  The outdoor bathroom attached to the indoor bedroom is something to behold.  It is really fun taking a shower under the stars in the night.  The animals often meander through the camp in the night and we saw elephant tracks outside our tent area in the morning on the way out.  You can’t go wrong with this amazingly fun camp in northern Queen Elizabeth National Park.

There are two main parts to Murchison Falls National park.  The land and the river.  The land area consists partly of heavily wooded forest and partly of wide open grass lands.  In this portion of your safari you can expect to see giraffe, elephant, cape buffalo, and most of the rest of the land based safari animals.  There is also an opportunity to take a hot air balloon safari, however I would strongly advise you to reconsider.  We took the safari and ended up in a balloon crash due to negligence on the part of the company.

Nile Crocodile

The second part of the park is the river and waterfall area.  By chartering a boat from the ferry dock you can easily see the Nile river area.  Along the way you’ll have opportunities to see hippos, Nile crocodile, giraffe, and other land animals as they come to drink.  The boat ride is also a bird watchers dream.  This experience is quite different from the one in Queen Elizabeth because it is much more intimate.  While the boat in Elizabeth is full of 40-60 persons this boat will be just you and your guests.  It will allow you an opportunity to get up close and personal with each of the things you are interested in seeing.  Once you reach the end of the ride you can get off the boat and hike to the falls which are quite impressive.  For a small fee a local guide will give you all of the information you would ever want to know about the area.

Camping in the bush of the park is an adventure unto itself.  We knew we were in for something special when the guard dressed in fatigues with an AK-47 around his neck walked over and got into the truck.  From the moment we started setting up the tent to the moment we took it down in the morning we could hear animals calling in the distance to one another.  Lying in the tent trying to sleep while listening to hippos talking to one another along the river bank is something that I’ll never forget.   But waking up  in the middle of the night to the sounds of predators walking around and sniffing the sides and entry way of your tent is a truly special event (although we didn’t know that is what we were listening to until the guard told us in the morning).  Even as we began to leave the camp site the excitement just wouldn’t end as we saw a hippopotamus only 100 yards from our campsite.   Camping in the bush is something everyone that is adventurous should do at least once in their lives.

Plan on doing some bush camping when you come to Murchison Falls.  There is a camp ground just on the north side of the river that is perfect.  It has normal campground amenities but IS NOT GLAMPING.  Bring your own food, tent, sleeping accommodations, and armed guard as this type of camping can be dangerous in Africa.  Just in case you’re wondering: Yes, I did say bring your own armed guard.   Camping in the bush can be a very exciting and an exhilarating experience as not only will you get to hear and possibly see all sorts of animals but the sky will be free of any outside lights and the opportunity to star gaze shouldn’t be missed!