As I am about to enter the TV studio to participate as a contestant in a televised game show, I am drawn back to a wonderful and human experience I lived while visiting Uganda. My reason for wanting to try my luck and wit at this game show (my first time in a TV studio) is to collect some monies to send to the amazing and caring people I met while volunteering at the Uganda Lodge in September 2024. I am both anxious and excited to go through the motion of a televised game show, but what the heck, what do I have to lose? Whether I win or not, the experience might be enough to satisfy my curiosity about the TV business. I get to share this event with my family; we will have memories to look upon from this unique happening that the common folk like me never get to live.
I can feel my heart fill up with love, compassion and pride while standing on the sidelines, reminiscing about how these Ugandans have given me so much even though I was (I will admit it here) a bit reluctant, scared, and apprehensive about this whole traveling experience. What did I agree to and why? In hindsight, my need for adventure and my curiosity in people and societies overshadowed my negative feelings. I read many books on anthropology and have always been curious about how we as a species arrived here? How did we develop the societies of today? Where is the concept of religion from? How much power have religions had on our world throughout our history and its influence on the current world? Why have different societies evolved at various levels?
My husband Eric and I honeymooned in Tanzania a few years ago. We went all out (as we should when traveling as newlyweds!) and opted for a Big Five safari for 5 days that took us in the Ngorongoro crater and in the Serengeti. It was absolutely amazing – I highly recommend the experience! My only regret is that I we didn’t get to interact with the locals enough. We were mostly kept within the touristy realm. I was curious about their daily lives, their schools and of course, how their towns were set up: how did they mingle, how were we perceived by them? Although we are seasoned travelers, eastern Africa was new to us. Nonetheless, we returned home from this trip with a sense of satisfaction and for me, a heightened curiosity of life in this part of the world.
During our stay in the Serengeti, among giraffes, zebras, elephants and lions and many others, we chatted up with two ladies that were traveling through Africa and had just completed a gorilla trek in Rwanda. As they related their story, you could feel their amazement of the whole experience of meeting gorillas in the wild. Being a lover of all animals (well, more the mammal type than the reptilian species), I was captivated by their description of this gorilla encounter. As you can imagine, it stuck with me for many years, until one day, I started chatting with my old friend Linda.
Five years have gone by since our return from Tanzania and even though Eric and I have continued our quest to explore various parts of the world, I was unable to convince him to do a gorilla trekking trip.
However, I held on to the hope that some day, I will go.
Lo and behold, two of my former colleagues (we have all retired from the same office) were chatting on social media about their recent travels, and I happened to see their discussion. Linda was explaining to Glenna that for her 70th birthday, she wanted to go to Africa and do a gorilla trek. My jaw dropped while reading this! Hallelujah, someone else that I know, love and respect was considering a gorilla trek trip, and even though she said she’d go by herself if she couldn’t find a traveling buddy, she had been wanting to do this for many years and this year was going to be the year! “If not now, then when?” is her motto.
I sent her a private message (I hadn’t seen or spoken to her in thirteen years) to see if she was seriously considering going on this trip, as I had also been dreaming of living this experience for years. She said, “Yep, I’ve read about it on this group chat I follow, and a few trustworthy friends have recommendations on where to go and what to do.” I explained to her that I was also extremely interested in doing it, and if she would mind if we went together. She was as excited as I was to have reconnected and about the prospect of realizing this adventure!
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Linda tapped into her friends for more information on where to go, what to do and names of companies that specialized in gorilla trekking. We agreed that we could go in early September - both of our schedules were free (good thing we are both retired!), and that we would be away for two weeks.
My fifth wedding anniversary was coming up, and of course, I wanted to spend it with my husband. So, I pencilled in September 1st to the 13th with Linda and September 14th to the 21st somewhere with Eric. Eric and I had to modify our travel plans a few times due to conflicts happening in Europe and around the Middle East. I’ll let you know later what our final plan was!
Linda and I had about seven months to get everything planned for this formidable trip we were so giddy about. We spent weeks which turned into months and countless hours doing research about the country, the culture, where to go - you know, the typical stuff when you are organizing travel plans! During one of our numerous chats, (we live over three thousand kilometers apart and two time zones away, so all of our discussions are online), we decided that maybe we should look into volunteering at a local school in a small town or community. Thank goodness Linda is a socially engaged person and has done volunteer work in the past because she knew people who had done the kind of volunteering we were looking for.
First thing on our agenda was to secure the gorilla trekking part. Linda reached out to a Ugandan Safari company and started chatting with their sales representative Florence. Based on our preferences, she sent us a tailored 3-day trip which included ground transportation, lodging with all meals, the permit to go into the Impenetrable Forest Park to go see the gorillas in their environment, and a guide. After a few adjustments, the deal was signed and we sent a deposit (the balance was due a month prior to our arrival). This part of our trip is at the tail end of our journey into Uganda.
So now, what about the start of our journey?
Linda goes back to her traveling chat room and a few of the ladies refer her to Uganda Lodge. They were accepting overseas volunteers. Even though they are actually in Ruhanga, Uganda, they are a UK based charity organization that manages the Lodge and facilitates the educational and medical volunteer programs. It comes highly recommended.
Linda reached out to Ann and Penny and got all the information we needed to secure a room each and make all the necessary transportation arrangements from the airport to the Lodge. We signed up as volunteers for seven days and then our plan was to go do our gorilla trekking experience over three days and then head back home. Total days away from home: thirteen days.
This trip planning monopolized my every thought for months.