nkuringo

Bobbie and I stayed four nights at the camp from which we launched our gorilla trek. We were in a very small mountain farming village called Nkuringo.

This area of Uganda is actually referred to as "The Switzerland of Africa" - with good reason! I have never been anywhere quite so breathtakingly gorgeous.

The landscape is exquisite, and so are the people who live there. The colors the villagers donned were vibrant and saturated due to the diffused light coming from the often overcast sky. (We got a huge downpour each afternoon. Watching those storms roll in was one of our favorite daily activities.)

We had no electricity and only enough hot water for a three minute shower at a time (the water was heated up on a coal fire and then poured into a large bag which was connected to the shower head). Our room got very cold by day's end; a hot water bottle was delivered to us each night before bed. I'd never curled up next to one before. It wasn't as handsome as Eddie, but it certainly did the trick for keeping me warm while I fell asleep! Our wake up call was delivered each day by one of the staff members (all of whom became our family) who sang into our window "good morning!".

We were in Nkuringo long enough to do some incredible hikes (there are more species of birds in this part of the world than most anywhere, and our guide, Everest, knew the names of each and every one!), visit the local nursery school, meet some of the local villagers and eat some good meals. This village is way off the beaten path (we traveled a dirt road for an hour and half to get there) but, man oh man, was it worth the journey.

Here are some of the photographs I made while there.