Adventures with Julia

Friday, March 30, 2018 Good Friday

Hamish Rendall, our pilot, Julia, Mark and Noriko, our companion since the beginning in Chad.

We make it into the Pretoria Hotel in Entebbe at 2:30am and fall into bed. Up again at 7:15 and look out our window at Lake Victoria. It would be lovely to relax by the pool and enjoy the view for a day, but we have a breakfast meeting with our pilot at 8am. As tired as we all are, we are also exited to be traveling by helicopter for the next 5 days. Our pilot is a young man named Hamish Rendall, who is from New Zealand and very experienced as a helicopter pilot.

In position for our first flight in 5YCCP.

The plan for the day is to fly to Goma, and immigrate into the DRCongo, the fly to Mikena Lodge where we have accommodations in Virunga National Park.

Flying over islands of papyrus in Lake Victoria as we fly south along its NE shoreline

The fertile Ugandan countryside.

The dense Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is aptly named. This scene is of the eastern edge.

This is typical landscape near Buhoma and Bwindi where the Kellermann Foundation has its facilities.

All goes well. We fly at 4500 feet most of the way until we need to climb to 10,500 to get over the volcanic hills near Goma. Unlike Cameroon, nearly every foot of the landscape below us is fertile, until we reach national forest preserves.

Approaching the international airport in Goma, DRC

At Goma, we receive visas and are stamped into DRCongo in about an hour. We do not even go into the building. Hamish takes care of the details and then flys us on to Mikena Lodge.

Close up of a street in Goma.

We land on a grass clearing near the lodge in time for lunch. The temperature is very comfortable, even though we receive an afternoon shower while eating.

In front of our cottage at Mikena Lodge

Mark and I have a large private bungalow with its own fireplace and sitting area.

Inside our cottage at Mikena lodge.

A large deck provides a view of the forest along with blue and colobus monkeys munching on fruit in the nearby trees. In the afternoon we walk to the orphan gorilla sanctuary near the lodge and are saddened at the conditions and lack of freedom the 4 current orphans experience. However, they would not survive if they were returned to the wild. Then we finally have time to rest. We all needed it. The shower is glorious with plenty of hot water and big towels. The food at the lodge is reasonably good, even if unremarkable. The bed wonderful.

Saturday, March 31, 2018 Holy Saturday

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready for our helicopter adventures. First up was a fly by of an extinct volcano called Mikeno.

Midway up Mt Mikena. The top is in the clouds.

At 14,547 feet high it is the second highest of the 8 volcanos in the region and the highest in the Congo. We spiraled our way around and up near the top, which was shrouded in a cloud, and saw stands of giant heather and lobelia at the higher elevations.

Then we continued to our date with the gorillas. Landed at the entry point called Jumba (which had been the M23 Headquarters during the Congo war), at the edge of the forest,

Landing spot at Jumba. Children watching us arrive to go gorilla trekking.

Noriko and I being briefed by he head gorilla tracker, Innocent.

got a briefing about how to behave around gorillas, then hiked only about 20 minutes to where the gorillas were hanging out for the day. Could not have asked for a better situation.

We were supposed to have only an hour with the 18 member Voiyukura Group, but they were so relaxed and so were we that the ranger allowed us to stay with them for an hour and a half. The trackers hacked away at the greenery around the animals and we were able to get some pretty nice photos.  Here is a gallery of several,  as I like them all.

The 500+ pound silverback strikes a pose.

There was one dominant silverback, several females, 2 small babies and several young and playful children. Several times we had to back away as they came very close to us. One even ran between my legs before I realized he was behind me. It was a delightful time for all of us. Even Hamish found the experience unusually pleasant.

Some of the children at Jumba station. These were the girls.

Back at Jumba, we found ourselves surrounded by children who had come to see the helicopter. Several photos later, we lifted off and headed back to Mikena Lodge, lunch and a couple hours of free time.

View from the air of the lave lake inside Nyiragongo Crater

In the late afternoon we flew to Nyiragongo volcano to have a look at the lava lake from the air and check out the landing and shelter situation.

Our first look at the shelters clinging to the cliff of the volcano.

I was not very comforted by seeing what is to come. However, I said nothing and on we flew to the tiny, crescent moon shaped, Tchegera Island near the NW end of Lake Kivu. There we spent the rest of the day and night in what felt like a rustic luxury resort. Very peaceful.

Tchegera Island in Lake Kivu. We land on the tiny grassy patch in the upper right of the image, where the halves of the island meet.

Our spacious tent is just a few feet from the lake’s edge, has a fully functioning bathroom and comfortable beds. That evening we watch the full moon rise over the lake while sitting next to a fire on the small black sand beach and sipping on a scotch. After lamb chops for dinner and a very dense chocolate moose, we happily trundle off to our cozy tent and a good night’s sleep.

The steaming Nyiragongo volcano as seen from our island retreat only 10 minutes away by helicopter.