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Going Deep with our Friend Traditional Healer
Jeremiah Byaharugo, 73, practices traditional medicine in Rubona, a village on the ridge of a peninsula that points towards the centre of Lake Bunyonyi. He has been a Gorilla Highlands Trails partner for years and this relationship has allowed us special access. Please tell us about your family and education. I was in born in…
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Who is Jas Mangat, Gorillas in the Mist Champ?
Over the weekend the drivers racing on reddish murram roads of Kabale District were, for a change, not driving trucks of goods with scores of people surfing at the back. Their vehicles were actually intended to be pushed to the limit, and the inaugural Gorillas in the Mist Rally tested just that. 29 cars started…
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Meet New Trekking Hosts at Lake Kayumbu
📁 HikingThe Gorilla Highlands Trails campsite at Lake Kayumbu is located on a cliff that belongs to Church of Uganda. That means periodical changes of the omushomesa (“teacher”/lay leader) family that hosts our hikers. In February our reliable partner Baker Tugume (see the video below) was transferred and a new couple moved in. Gerald Nizeyimana, 32,…
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Hot Hot Kampala (Volunteer Life Part IV)
After many weeks of taking in the peaceful sanctuary of Lake Bunyonyi it was time to leave the nest… Just for a week though. I realised that I was getting very settled in with the region I’d been living in, and that I should experience more of Uganda. Katarina, my co-volunteer from Austria, was planning…
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Golden Monkey Lady
Of the two ways to track golden monkeys in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, the longer and deeper one exists because of the efforts of Sandra Gray. This former British nurse, now a primatologist, is so passionately committed to her monkeys that she cannot find peace in Europe anymore. Sandra and her team monitor golden monkeys…
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April Fools’ Day is Over
This fictional “news item” was posted on 1 April 2016. It is a satire that touches on many topics but, above all, our preoccupation with tourists’ well-being while too many local lives are lost routinely. There is no monster, only a scary lack of swimming skills. If you want to change this, become a Gorilla…
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Hilarious Arrival (Volunteer Life Part III)
It was hilarious to arrive at Lake Bunyonyi. I got out of the car around 10pm, and came down the large, stone steps with just a flashlight on my phone. It seemed like all there was to this place was a fairly big building for dinner, a kitchen, and some dorms. It was really dark…
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Crayfish, Lake Bunyonyi’s Speciality
The third in our Gorilla Highlands Specialities series is crayfish curry, a treat from Lake Bunyonyi in southwestern Uganda. You may also like: Lake LifePreparing for the Trekking SeasonLife of a Gorilla Highlands VolunteerSelf-Declared Nomad With a CamPablo (1 February 1955 – 12 April 2021)Trouble for Batwa “Pygmy” Communities: Lake BunyonyiTummy Troubles? There’s a Boat…
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Preparing for the Trekking Season
The Gorilla Highlands idea has always been to convince travellers that our region is a destination by itself (not merely a gorilla stopover) and to assure that local communities benefit from tourism. The Gorilla Highlands Trails, a system of guided trips throughout southwestern Uganda, is the epitome of this. Hikers are hosted by local families…
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Into Sabinyo Gorge in a More Comfy Way
The most popular nature walk in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park leads into the luxuriant gorge deep under the steep slopes of Mt Sabinyo. It is totally comparable to volcano hiking, in duration (5-6 hours), beauty, and even difficulty. To make it a little easier, the Uganda Wildlife Authority team led by Moses Turinawe, the park…
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From Squirrel to Unicorn (Volunteer Life Part II)
When I arrived in East Africa on KLM airlines, I was excited/nervous/curious and really, really tired. I flew in with another student from my Carpe Diem gap year program, who was also going to volunteer in Uganda, at a special needs education centre. The interesting part about our situation of arrival was that we landed…
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Stubbornness for Clean Environment
You must be a stubborn person to clean a place knowing that some hours later it will be filthy again! But that is exactly what Keep Bunyonyi Blue has been doing from Kachwekano to Rutindo, two trading centres on the eastern shore of Lake Bunyonyi… Thrice in six months. “Oh yes, it will be dirty…
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Gorilla Highlands in Japan
The Gorilla Highlands Press Trip we organised in November 2015 is slowly showing results. One of our participants was Jiro Ose, an award-winning Japanese photojournalist who lives in Kampala. His portfolio is remarkable; he has taken photos during the historic Congo elections, in the middle of the Sudanese refugee crisis, at the time when Jean-Betrand…
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Hank’s Volunteer Life (Part I)
Hank Rugg is an American teenager only a year out of high school. Before becoming a Gorilla Highlands volunteer he had an India experience that has deeply influenced him – therefore let us start over there…It’s important to understand that so far your whole life has been in classrooms. Pretty much all you can remember…
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Brussels Airlines Has Odd, Regular Problems [Updated]
![Brussels Airlines Has Odd, Regular Problems [Updated]](https://gorillahighlands.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Fly-away-with-us-as-long-as-it-isnt-Wednesday-photo-by-Marcus-Westberg-1.jpg)
Flying to the Gorilla Highlands of Uganda and Rwanda? You might not want to go with Brussels Airlines on a Wednesday… A concerned passenger has contacted us with an extraordinary story. On 9 March 2016 he was meant to fly from Belgium to East Africa and everything went well until, just before the takeoff, the…
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12 Observations of White People
I’m gonna start by telling you why I know the Bazungu*, the whites. When I was young I wished to work with foreigners. When I was 12 years old in 2002 I joined school at Bufuka Primary School at Lake Bunyonyi. It was difficult for me to speak English because Dad and Mum don’t speak…
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This Gorilla Was in Serious Trouble But Then …
📁 Gorillas… but then Gorilla Doctors helped him out! Officially known as the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP), this international veterinary team provides medical care to mountain gorillas and Grauer’s gorillas living in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They intervene inside the national parks to help gorillas who are seriously sick or injured.…
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Learn from Local Cooks: G-Nuts & Sweet Potatoes
How else to introduce Gorilla Highlands Specialities, our new section for cooking enthusiasts, if not with groundnut sauce?! It this weekly series we will present not only local dishes but also international meals prepared by top local chefs using local ingredients. You may also like: Ask for Teacher, Pour Some BeerMilan vs. Bunyonyi: Not A…
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