Friday, February 02, 2007
Gorillas (and chimps) in their midst
A photo safari to Uganda was a stunning experience for one Roanoke County couple.
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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The first sign that Harry Bosen Jr. had reached his destination appeared as a dark, shadowy form barely visible through the thick jungle vegetation.
"Then you see an eye looking you," Bosen said as he recalled that first encounter with a rare mountain gorilla during a December photo safari to Uganda. "You wonder what he's thinking.
"You know what you're thinking: Oh my God."
An attorney from Roanoke County, Bosen was fulfilling a longtime dream when he and his wife, Ellie, took the trip.
The safari, especially the four days spent among the gorillas and chimps, was everything Harry Bosen had dreamed of, and more.
"It's an absolutely mystical experience to be up there with the animals and have them accept us," said Bosen, a youthful-looking 61-year-old. "It's one of the more amazing things I've ever witnessed."
This is from a guy whose office walls are covered with pictures of cheetahs and other wildlife roaming Africa's plains, and who has stood fishing in an Alaska stream while huge brown bears chomped on salmon just a few feet away.
In addition to the memories, the couple brought back more than 4,000 pictures and hours of video.
The safari, organized through the Washington and Lee Traveller's program, cost about $6,000 each. It was anything but a cushy tour, starting with a day of plane flights to reach Entebbe, Uganda.
After a visit to a chimpanzee sanctuary on Lake Victoria, the group headed west to the Kibale forest for two days with wild chimpanzees.
That experience was amazing, said the Bosens, two in a group of seven tourists.
Trekking into the jungle with a guide, the visitors soon found two distinct groups of chimps. Agitated by each others' presence, the chimp groups were unusually active and loud, swinging wildly through trees, running along the ground, and even fighting.
"It's was Grand Central Chimp Station," Harry Bosen said. "We saw probably 40 different chimpanzees."
The electric atmosphere made for tough photography, but had a powerful impact on Ellie Bosen, who is hearing impaired.
"It was interesting to be able to hear that," she said excitedly.
The next day the group found only a single chimp family and the animals were more reserved. As a result, the Bosens got better pictures and video.
"Steve said they were the best chimp-viewing trips he'd ever heard of, let alone seen," Harry Bosen said.
Next, the group traveled south to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the southwest corner of Uganda.
The park covers part of the range of the rare mountain gorilla, of which only an estimated 700 survive in the wild.
The first morning, trackers headed up the mountain first to locate either the Habinyanja Group or the Rushegura Group.
The trackers relayed their information to the guides, who led the trekkers -- accompanied by gear-packing porters and two armed guards to protect against poachers -- up the steep mountains.
The Bosens worked out for months on treadmills to get in shape for the hike.
"Most of the time you're climbing," Harry Bosen said. "You don't notice [how hard it is] because you're so full of anticipation."
Once the group reached the gorillas, there was little time to relax. Visits are limited to one hour.
Flash photography isn't allowed, and visitors are required to keep their distance from the gorillas, which are susceptible to human diseases.
During the hour, the gorillas went about their business, with young animals playing while adults ate leaves. The time went fast.
"When that hour is up, not only does the guide tell you, but the male gorillas know," Bosen said. "They walk into the jungle and [the] rest of them follow."
For Harry Bosen, the trip was to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Now, he's not so sure.
"I'd go again in heartbeat," he said.
