Day 2 PM, Gorilla Forest Camp Village Tour

March 12, 2009, Thursday Afternoon

The whole walking tour sounded intriguing if it wasn’t too long. Bennie picked us up at the bottom of the 99 steps with our guide, a very gentle local woman. We chatted while we drove a short distance to where we were to visit. We stopped in a fairly rural area where there was a small village. Even though we were paying for this tour, it is always wise to ask about taking photos. Once you get that straightened out, you can proceed with the fun! The soil there is reddish, along with the homemade bricks. We first approached their community church.  It was huge on the inside with openings for windows and a mostly dirt floor. There were a few dusty benches, but it was a peaceful place. We stayed briefly, then continued out the back entrance to take a path up the hills to the medicine man. The dirt path was soft, as most everyone walks them in bare feet. Single file through the jungle past small one room homes, we reached the dwelling of the medicine man. He must be very well thought of since his ‘office’ was a separate building with a sturdy iron gate and lock. Our guide went to his home to tell him were had arrived. The inside of this cool building was lit by the outside daylight coming in through the small barred windows. We were instructed to sit in two of eight small chair type stools that semi-circled the round stone building. When the medicine man arrived he was in full regalia: big goat skin hat and plaid shirt! The focal point of the small room was a huge low table that contained fresh and dried plants and no telling what else! He told us what he did and how he consulted his patients. Most of what he did was old fashioned herbal medicine. Apparently some of it works. I asked him if he could cure my lower aching back. He said he didn’t have anything for that and see my own doctor! (Take two ibuprophen and go home!) What really intrigued me was not all the dried stuff but the huge Obama calendar on the wall behind him, and the big Obama button on his shirt. We talked about that briefly, but the locals consider Obama, family. We said ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ to go on to the banana wine making. A very short distance through the heavy jungle we reached the back of a home that had a crude ramada made from the jungle trees. Under it was a hollowed out tree on two logs. We found out that the bananas and the banana trees themselves are put in the dugout and smashed until the juices are released. The whole process takes a while as the juices are poured off. The juices are allowed to ferment and be filtered to become a grayish milky liquid called banana wine. I sure did not look like ‘wine’ to me. I took a small sip, and it wasn’t bad. It was slightly banana sweet with a little kick. These local brewmasters do sell to village bars and distilleries. The last distillation renders the banana wine clear with an alcohol content like grappa. We were asked if we wanted to visit the local pygmy tribe. They were not the small jungle people anymore as they had intermarried with the outside world! We declined and wanted to go back to camp and sleep. The individual lodges were comfortable with a full bath. We had a shower and a private room that held the bathtub. To use the hairdryer we had to contact the manager to turn on the generator to our lodge. We napped for a while then got ready for dinner. I went for the full shower and hair routine. At least I had hot water heated by a wood fire in the back of our lodge. The bathroom had a totally open area at the roof peak. I hoped it wouldn’t rain! We kept the door to the bathroom closed to keep all the bugs out of the bedroom, especially the flying kind. By the time I got down to the main lodge for cocktails, Steve had already located the local entertainer singing down by the firepit. With camp chairs in a circle with blankets and cocktails in hand, we listened to the singer.  The man made up his own native songs and sang along with some kind of handmade stringed instrument. We sat there watching the fire and smoke spiral into the the Ugandan evening sky. As it became dark, the dew fell with a small chill in the air. We said good evening until tomorrow. Dinner was set with a tablecloth, cloth napkins, and a camp lantern. There were two entree selections, a meat and a vegetarian. We had the chicken. During our dinner, the camp cat showed  up. She was very friendly knowing exactly how to act cute for her nightly meal. She did well. We had a night cap afterwards and went back to our lodges. I got Nicole set up with her gear and reset the time on her cameras. I got back to our tent and did the same with Steve’s camera and lense. I checked all the equipment for damage and time reset. Fortunately, all the lodges had two beds. One bed was the designated staging area for cameras and gear. Everything was packed into our carry bags ready for the trek. Tomorrow was a big day! Cameras and Gorillas!!

Tags: banana wine, cameras, Gorilla Forest Camp, gorillas, medicine man, Obama