Kathmandu, Nepal : part 1

Just 3 days in Singapore and no time for jet lag.

In the back of a packed plane, pilot abhorts the landing twice because the wing flaps won't come down. We redirect to Kolkata which has a longer runway. Engineers fix the problem and we finally land in Kathmandu at 2am.

We stayed in the Manaslu Hotel, a nice heritage style hotel but in need of a bit of a spruce up.

By 10am the next day we'd had breakfast and met our tour guide for the day.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal.

In the last 30 years population growth and development has meant that the entire Kathmandu Valley has been subject to urban sprawl. The 3 old Newari kingdoms of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur run into each other now. Each of these ancient cities were centred around a Durbar Square and all 3 are now World Heritage Sites.

The huge earthquake of 2015 caused major damage in the valley and most of the historic places are still being renovated or rebuilt. 

Beyond these historic areas Kathmandu is an ugly, densely built up and highly polluted city. 

The restoration of Kathmandu's Durbar Square is a very difficult, delicate and expensive undertaking which is sadly still going to take years to complete. A hallmark of Newari architecture is very intricate carvings in wood or stone.

We really enjoyed wandering through the lanes and alleys of the old city.

Our next stop was the Swayambhunath Buddhist temple, perched on a hill above the city, also known as the Monkey Temple. It's one of the oldest and most sacred temples in Nepal, centred around a large stupa 365 steps up from the carpark.

We tasted Khuwa, a snack made by boiling milk until it forms curds.

We headed off to Patan Durbar Square next. The restoration program here seems much more organised and the town centre is much cleaner.

Since the dethroning of royalty in Nepal, some palaces have been turned into museums. Sundari Chowk is a beautiful palace with the famous  King's Bath and it's golden water spout.

Gorillas Jan 2020: Chimpanzee Tracking

13 January

After lunch at Bush Lodge we drove to Isunga Lodge in Kibale National Park. Just when we thought our accommodations couldn't get better, we were welcomed at beautiful Isunga by owner Gerard, 3 dogs and a tree full of Village Weaver birds. We chose a rest over the village tour. The food was really good at Isunga too.

14 January

Another early start and after breakfast we were off to Kibale National Park for our Chimpanzee tracking. Our guide was the delightful Jessica. She's been working at Kibale for 10 years and her knowledge is great.

The walking here is easy compared to Bwindi. After about 15 minutes we found the chimpanzees. They were hanging out in the canopy about 15 - 20m above us, eating fruit.

A few of the females were on heat so we watched the courting and flirting. Chimpanzees, unlike gorillas practise confused paternity. She mates with up to 20 of the males in the troop so that none of them know who the father is and everyone raises the young as their own. At 11am, when it got too hot at the top of the trees, they started descending in ones and twos and spreading out a bit on the forest floor to wait for the others.

We had great sightings for about half a hour with various chaps just hanging around. At times they'd yell to each other and when everyone was ready they moved off towards the water.

Humans share 98.6% of our DNA with Chimpanzees, our closest relatives. It was a privilege to see them in their natural habitat and tourism provides revenue to keep the conservation efforts going.

15 January

Our first chance to sleep in and enjoy breakfast at 8am. Isunga does the best smashed avo and poached eggs I have ever tasted. And I've tried them in many places on our planet! It's probably due in part to the fresh and locally grown food you get in Uganda.

We had a long drive back to Kigali.

We had an early supper at Chez Lando and then it was off to the airport. Our flight departed at 10.30pm, which meant arrival in Johannesburg at 2.30am. Another sleepless night but oh, so worth it!

Gorillas Jan 2020: Queen Elizabeth National Park

12 January

Another early start and we headed off to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Rain forest gave way to Savannah as we headed north and once we entered the park we saw elephant and buffalo and herds of Defassa waterbuck and Cops gazelle.

The park is not fenced and villages and human settlements are dotted around inside park borders. We got to Bush Lodge by lunchtime. It's a stunning tented camp on the banks of the Kazinga Channel.

After lunch we did a boat cruise. We saw herds of elephants and buffalo and lots of hippos. The birding was good. We saw hundreds of pied kingfishers; they are more common than sparrows and more than 20 malachite kingfishers too.

In the evening we drove to the salt marshes where locals still make salt like they did in the 1700s. 

On our return through the park we had a great sighting of hyena.

Dinner and a few drinks around a campfire round off a great day.

13 January

Early the next morning we did another game drive. This time we had to take a park guide who insisted Sam roar around looking for the lions while he jabbered on his phone trying to locate them and we did eventually find them. We are all seasoned game-viewers, so he was confused to find us unimpressed by his shenanigans.

The equator runs through the park so you can stand with 1 foot in the northern and the other in the southern hemisphere here.

Gorillas Jan 2020: Our Gorilla Tracking Experience

11January

We were up early and having breakfast at 6.30am. We arrived at Rushaga Gate by 7.30 and after a short briefing all the tourists were divided into groups.

Uganda only issues 100 tracking permits per day. Rushaga is one of 3 gates into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest with access to 5 habituated gorilla families. Each guided group can take a maximum of 8 tourists. Our group of 5 were joined by Ann and Carlos.  I had pressed Sam to get us into a group visiting a nearby gorilla family. What a bonus!

Overnight trackers follow the gorillas to see where they "nest" for the night, so they know where the families are.  After a short drive we plundered into the thick bush. Guides and porters accompanied us; 2 ahead of us hacking a path through the jungle with pangas and 4 or 5 giving us a hand or a push from behind as we made our way up the muddy, rocky impenetrable hillside.

After just 25 minutes we reached the Mishaya gorilla family. 1 silverback, 2 females with babies and various others totalling 11. At first they were up in the trees, just hanging out and eating. Beware you don't get right underneath; they pee like a rain shower.

And then, thundering and crashing but amazingly agile the silverback came swinging and loping down onto the ground. He sat down about 3m away and partially turned his back on us, avoiding any eye contact but staying close.

After a few minutes a female joined him. I was seated on the ground less than 2m from her.

After about 10 minutes he moved off followed more or less by the whole group and we hacked our way downhill a bit more until we were close again. The smaller ones were in the trees above us and one or two moved past or came to check us out.

A large female with her baby settled about 2m from us, turning away as the silverback had done. She stayed for 15 minutes or more while the little one clambered all over his mum. His coordination wasn't too good and when he fell into her lap she would lovingly cradle him in her arms, trying to calm him down until he wriggled away again.

When she moved on we walked a little further to watch another guy digging out a dead tree stump.

Our hour up, we scrambled all the way back through the forest to the road. What an amazing encounter. 

We were back at the lodge in time for lunch. 

After a rest and a massage we went out in the car a short way for a bird walk.

Around 5pm we saw other groups of tourists returning from their trek. At the lodge that evening we chatted to people who had to trek 3 hours to find their gorilla family. I'm not sure I would have made it. There's a 95% chance of seeing gorillas with a maximum 5 hour trek or a 50% refund. Thanks Sam for your experienced intervention; our gorilla experience was awesome.