Mountains in the Mist

We've been away from work and Kampala for the last 9 days as Glen's sister Barbara has been visiting and we have been touring Uganda with her. We travelled to the extreme South West near the borders with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The scenery is beautiful in that area with mountains and forests. The area is also home to around half of the world's population of the endangered Mountain Gorillas. Several of the habituated groups live in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Barbara was keen to join a trekking trip to see the gorillas and we were very happy to explore a new and beautiful area.

The mountain gorillas featured in the book and film 'Gorillas in the Mist' although the gorillas followed were just across the border in Rwanda. Barbara met the gorillas and we all saw plenty of mist. We were there for 4 days and saw several glimpses of the mountains peeking out from the cloud and mist.

 View towards Mount Muhavura

 Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Lake Mutanda

On our fourth day we travelled back down to the town of Kisoro. This is only around 10km to the Rwandan border and you can (sometimes) get a good view of the 3 volcanos that form the border, the Volcans Mulhavura, Gahinga and Sabinyo. Mount Sabinyo has 3 peaks and if you climb to the 3rd peak you can stand in Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC on the summit. Sadly we had neither the time nor the energy to do the climb as the summit is at 3634m.

 Mount Muhavura

Mount Sabinyo

The height and cloud cover keeps the temperatures in Bwindi and the Kisoro area a very comfortable 5 degrees or so lower than in Kampala. But the view on the occasional clear day must be very spectacular.