Chimps trek

Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6, off on foot at 6:30 to see chimps. The going is rough, frequently off trail uphill, over slippery roots and mud. The chimps are solitary in the morning, grazing high in the canopy, 150 feet above our heads. Slowly they join others. We spend the morning searching to see where a group will congregate. We are advised during the day, the chimps will descend. They do, but not low enough and camera conditions are poor. We wait.
We lunch and then take off in a different direction. We spot a sole male juvenile on the ground. We follow him hoping he will take us to another group. Eventually he gets tired of us and takes off up a tree. We trek for another 3 hours, up and down hills, on and off trails. No more chimps. At 4, we give up. We hike to a road and wait for our driver to pick us up about 6 km from where we started. All I have to show is 4 lousy pictures, none on my blackberry. Instead of a chimp, you get an olive baboon. Chimps are hard.
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The Lodge

At the Primate forest.
We stayed in the Bush Baby room. It was a tent enclosed by a thatched bungalow. The bath was under the thatch but not in the tent. There were two full beds enclosed by mosquito netting. There was a front porch with two wood and canvas chairs protected from the rain. We sat there and watched the afternoon showers. Very pleasant.
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The obligatory

Picture of the Equator crossing.
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Game run

Yesterday morning (not very early) we went on a game run at QENP. In the British Empire, Uganda was the jewel of Africa. It had the largest game population in Africa. Not so any more. Independence, brutal dictators and civil war did a job on the wildlife. You need a stable, motivated government to protect nature. The numbers are improving.
We saw two lions. Attached is a picture of one.
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Queen Elizabeth National Park

We descended from the volcanic mountains of the Albertine Rift to the Ugandan Great Lakes of George and Edward. We traveled 80 km through QENP on dirt roads. We had a flat tire and had a treacherous bridge crossing where a double semi had jackknifed with the back part in the river and the front portion blocking the bridge. We made it through but there was a long line of trucks backed up since the dirt road thru the national park is the main truck route into the Congo at this part of Uganda.
Our hotel was lovely,overlooking Lake Edward. There was a pool and a wonderful lunch buffet. No time for swimming tho, because after lunch we had a boat trip on the lake and channel. Lots of kingfishers, Sara. And hippos and crocodiles and water buffalo. Jim counted 43 species of bird.
Wildlife photography is difficult with a 300 mm lens, much more with a blackberry. Please accept my hippo picture.
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Uganda gorillas

Today to the Impenetrable Forest, Bwindi National Park, to trek after Uganda gorillas. We did not penetrate the forest very far. We were in the wusses' group. They took us out of our tour group and put us with 2 singles, a German and a Dutch guy. And are we glad. They marched us around for about 10 minutes and we came upon about 8 gorillas, including the silverback and a mother with her baby on her back. It turns out we were right below the park office. We got our hour of viewing, which is all you get, and were back to our hotel by 10:30, before the rain started. It is now 1:30, the rain continues and the rest of our group has not returned. We are hoping the rain will stop by 3. We have hired a guide to go birding.
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CMC and JOL

In the Impenetrable Forest.
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Travelers Rest Hotel

Customs between Rwanda and Uganda was a breeze. Two cards filled out, a check with the police and we were off.
A short drive and we were at our hotel and it was lovely. Very colonial Africa in feel: bungalows with broad verandas, masks on the wall, a stone fireplace with a fire in the evening and a garden looking out on a volcano. George Schaller,
Alan Morehead and Dian Fosse stayed there.
We went out with our binoculars and a kid came out and not only told us the names of the birds, but the page in the East Africa bird guide on which it could be seen. Nice.
Now a ride on rugged roads to the Inpenetrable Forest.
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Golden Monkeys

Back to the park to see the golden monkeys. Same routine as with the gorillas. As we were waiting for our guide, it began to rain. It is the rainy season after all. The rain came down in sheets and we were umbrella escorted to our landcruiser for the ride to the drop off point. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped and we hiked off over the fields and into the park. That is not to say we did not experience the effects of the rain. One of my boots sank into the mud above my ankle. And Jim slipped and landed on his posterior twice. No harm except to his dignity.
The monkeys were adorable. There were over a dozen and they were not intimidated by us. Unfortunately I had little luck photographing their faces since, inevitably they would turn away by the time my cameras took the picture. Oh the trials of wildlife photography.
On to Uganda.
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Macys

So we were sitting in our room in a hotel in Rwanda and the phone rang. I panicked. No one knows my phone number except Catherine, Sara, Rebecca and the office. That sounds like a lot of people, but I don't believe anyone has ever called me without me expecting a call. So I picked up the phone. It was Macys calling to say that my sofa was ready. I told her I was in Rwanda and asked if I could call when I got back. She said sure and hung up. I'm sure she thought I said Wauconda.
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This lady

Appears to be selling salt.
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The market

After breakfast, a little birding in the garden. Lots of birds, but little luck identifying them.
Then a walk into town to the market. There are a fair number of land cruisers and mini vans, motor bikes and a few bicycles. Most everyone is on foot. Yesterday, Sunday, at 6 in the morning, people were all dressed up in their colorful best, heading on foot to church. Today it is back to work.
Up here, they raise potatoes, cabbage, onions, corn and tomatoes. There are banana, pineapple, papaya, lime, and passion fruit.
Very little offered at the market.
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The trek

Yesterday we drove two hours from Kigali to a small town below Volcanoes National Park. The mountain gorilla's habitat is on the sides of 5 inactive volcanoes which are situated (along with 2 active volcanoes) on the border between Rwanda, Uganda and Congo (DRC).
This morning, we were up at 5, breakfast at 5:30 and off to the park at 6. At the park we were assigned a guide, Oliver, a gorilla group, the Lucky family, and 2 more group members, an American and Brit who work in Kinshasa, she for an NGO, and he for the British cultural attache.
We were driven a short distance, where we met another guide and our porters (mine looked like Michael on the Wire). We then walked for an hour, up through farm fields, to the edge of the park. Our staff included armed guards as well as our guides and porters. The guides were equipped with walky-talkies and they talked with guys who were following the gorillas. We then proceeded to climb up the volcanoes through the bush with Jim setting the pace. At places we followed a buffalo path, with recent offerings marking the way. At times, our porters hacked through the brush for us.
After about another hour, we came to 2 female gorillas and a baby, eating breakfast. They were content to let us photograph them and obliged us with some chest beating and howling.
The Lucky group is a recently formed group with one silver back male, 5 females and 5 babies.
We then moved and found a group, muching on bamboo shoots about 15 yds away. 2 babies scaled bamboo trees and swung down to the ground gently when the bamboo trees bent with their weight. In walked the silver back. He weighed about 600 pounds. He proceeded to hunker down about 25 yds away and groom one of the babies while two females munched away. Many pictures later we moved again and came upon 2 females roughhousing, with a baby looking on. The baby proceeded to walk within 5 yards of us. Then one of the females charged us, within 5 yards. My heart nearly stopped. A few minutes later the roughhousing became more confrontational and the females howled and fought with each other. All of a sudden there was this roar and the silverback forcefully intervened to break up the fight. This too took place within 5 yards of our group. Fortunately, one of our group got a picture, but it sure wasn't me.
That was it. Our time was up. We marched down the volcano, clammered over the stone fence indicating the park boundary, hiked through the fields and back to our land rover. We stopped at the park office and received commemorative diplomas. Jim's was presented to the "silverback."
We arrived back around 1.
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Our group

Is six plus driver. An Australian couple (Sydney-they like the park) a woman from Canada (near Toronto) and a young man from London.
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Genocide

In April, 1994, civil war was taking place in Rwanda between the government, mainly the majority Hutu and the rebels, mainly minority Tutsi. The government, with French money, had begun to arm the population. The French supported the Hutu government because they were French speaking. A plane carrying the president of Rwanda (and the president of Burundi) crashed in Kigali. This started the armed Hutu to kill their Tutsi neighbors. Organized by Hutu leaders, enflamed by hate radio and facilitated by the identification cards which indicated group membership, Hutus massacred 1 million people in less than a month. Ironically, there is no ethnic, cultural, physical or language difference between the 2 groups. The main difference was that the Hutu were farmers and the Tutsis were cattle herders.
There was a small contingency of UN peacekeepers with a vocal leader who demanded an increase in peacekeepers, eventually characterizing the bloodshed as genocide. This should have activated a 1948 UN agreement to act. But the UN refused to act. With Bill Clinton and the US representative Madeline Albright refusing to authorize action (because of the deaths of US peacekeepers in Somalia), the UN not only did not act, they withdrew some of the UN peacekeepers who were there. They evacuated all embassy personnel, NGOs and even some Rwanda government leaders who had organized the slaughter.
Meanwhile the rebel army was having success, so Hutus, afraid of reprisals fled to neighboring countries. 2 million people ended up in refugee camps in countries bordering Rwanda.
Eventually, the UN allowed French "peacekeepers" to go. However, the French supported the French speaking Hutu government and did not protect the Tutsis, but instead the Hutus.
Eventually the world including the Clinton realized their failure and poured money into the refugee camps, thus benefiting mostly Hutus.
Today we went to the museum. Tragic.
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The weather

In Kigali in October is perfect. You don't need air conditioning; you don't need heat. You don't need to water because there are a couple of gentle rains each day. You can swim outdoors. " There are mangos and bananas you can pick right off of trees." Heaven.
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Grey crowned crane

In the garden.
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Breakfast

On the veranda overlooking the swimming pool. Fresh made omelets, pain au chocolat and lovely cafe au lait.

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The ban

Plastic bags are banned in Rwanda. A few years ago they decided to clean up Kigali and they picked up 1 million plastic bags. Thus the ban. Jim and I are carrying contraband.

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Arrived Kigali

7 pm- temperature 82 F. Kigali is just south of the Equator, but it is 1500 meters above sea level.
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More thoughts about Belgium

Pain et chocolat- fantastique.

The train- convenient and reliable.

They don't even offer plastic bags at the grocery store.

Bicycles- I want to live in a place where you can do all of your commuting on bicycle.



Random thought from JOL: Frank would not use a Blackberry to take his trip photos. Comment from CMC: then his heirs would have a lot less to discard- no wait- I bet the slides were a special bequest to Libertyville High School.

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Leuven

We spent our 20th anniversary hanging out with the undergraduates in Leuven. It's not at all like Champaign-Urbana.
The university dates back to 1425. The town was hit badly in both world wars. The library was destroyed in 1914, rebuilt and damaged again 30 years later. In the 60s there was so much nationalistic strife between the French and Flemish speakers that in 1970 the French started their own university south of Brussels.
All of the town and university are charming. The town hall is a wedding cake of an edifice, with hundreds of statues perched in highly decorated niches all across the exterior.
The most arresting area is the Groat Begijnhof. It was a community of lay nuns founded in 1530. It contains red brick houses, convents, and a church on cobblestone streets, with picturesque squares and bridges over a typical Belgian bricked in waterway.
I had just about decided that autumn in Europe simply isn't as colorful as the US. But today in Groat Beijnhof the sun came out and the colors were stunning.
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Mechelen

Halfway between Antwerp and Brussels, Mechelen was a cultural center during the late 15th century. It has a pretty town square and cathedral.
Because of its location, during the occupation, the Nazis put a detention center here. Next stop Auschwitz. Grim.
Twelve kilometers outside of Mechelan is a Nazi interrogation center. Chilling.
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CMC at the Arcade du Cinquantenaire

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Art Nouveau Brussels

Monday, museums closed. Time for a walking tour. Brussels, along with Glasgow, Vienna and Barcelona, was a center of Art Nouveau, and we hit the top 10 sights. We saw many more. Apparently, the real beauty of an Art Nouveau building is in the interior which is filled with light. Sorry, Monday. Museums closed. No interiors. Lots of splendid exteriors, including one worked on by Klimt.
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JOL at the Arcade du Cinquantenaire

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Antwerp Cathedral

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The weather

Has been chilly. Yesterday when we started out at 9 it was
10 C (50F). At 4:30 it was 16 C (61 F).
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Antwerp train station

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Picture of Antwerp

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Central Africa Museum

Up early on a train from Antwerp to Brussels. A short walk to our hotel from the Gare du Nord. Time:10 am. Rooms not available until 3. Metro ride and tram ride through leafy suburbs to Leopold II's Central Africa Museum. Located in a suburban palace set in formal gardens, it is strangely similar to the Field Museum (even has bronzes of African figures done in the 30s), but limited to Africa. In 1870 (or so) Leopold met with his royal cousins to divide up Africa. Remember, that's when Victoria gave Mt. Kilamanjaro to her son in law Wilhelm as a birthday present. Leopold pointed to the place on the map where the Congo drained into the Atlantic and said he would take it- plus the Congo basin. Of course the Congo basin is all of the center of Africa, which is immense. He ruled it as his personal fiefdom until Belgium turned it into the Central African Republic in the early 20th century.
It became independent in 1960. I remember seeing the pictures of Patrice Lumumba in Life Magazine
The museum had lots of artifacts and stuffed animals. It also had an exhibit on the Omo area of Ethiopia where we visited. It had TJ's pillow-stool.
There was an exhibit on Henry Stanley, who explored the Congo, and on the history of Belgium in the Congo. Fascinating.
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More Antwerp

We went to a museum that Jo would love. It was the 15th century home of a printer. Antwerp was an early center of publishing and the house was loaded with printing equipment and books. His grandson hired Rubens to illustrate his publications and the house had the original copper plates etched by Rubens. He also had Rubens paint portraits of him, his family and friends and those portrait were there. Quite a place.
I did not mention that our hotel was near the diamond district, China town and the Jewish neighborhood (which is thriving-not a museum).
(Note to Sara and TJ: our very modern hotel had a 2 speed toilet.)
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Antwerpen

We have had some difficulty getting connected, but today I received over 90 emails, so I am hopeful we are in business. (Thanks Catherine)
We arrived at 7 am on Thursday. We walked out of the airport and caught the express bus to Antwerp. The bus dropped us 2 blks from our hotel. We arrived at the hotel before 10. Our rooms were not available until 2. So we had a real Lacoco time tour of Antwerp. Before 2, we saw 2 churches, the cathedral, the central square and walked the main shopping street.
We also managed to eat frites, kabob, waffle and Belgian chocolate.
Friday we did 3 museums and at least 20,000 steps. Lots of Rubens, Van Dyk and Bruegal, the elder, the younger and Jan.
Antwerp is lovely- lots of little squares with pretty views. I really like the scale of European cities. Of course there are street cars and commuting bicycles, the sturdy ones with fenders. I saw one mother riding along with two children. There are bicycle lanes on every street, in many places with more space for bicycles than pedestrians. Very pleasant.
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Arrived

We have arrived in Brussels. No service yet. On the bus to Antwerp.
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20 years

We are celebrating our 20th anniversary on this trip, so I have attached a wedding picture. We haven't aged a day in 20 years. Amazing.

When we started planning this trip, Catherine suggested we do something really different. Africa is so old hat for us so Catherine suggested we go to ---Disney World. When I pointed out to her that each of us has made several trips to Disney World and Disneyland for that matter, she suggested Las Vegas. Expanding on that theme, she suggested that we could reaffirm our vows at the Elvis Wedding Chapel. We told her, clever, but no go.

Actually, our first choice was to go to West Africa, Mali including Timbuctu. We called to make the reservations and were informed that the British Foreign Service (or whatever it is called) advised the travel company to cancel the trips because of banditry. Now, Rwanda and Uganda, despite their turbulent recent history, are supposed to be two of the most stable countries in Subsaharan Africa. Dan, our partner is not convinced.

Packing

These photographs do not have quite the effect I wanted. I was trying to recreate what Sara's friend Ellen Cottrell does on Facebook. Periodically she takes a picture of her groceries all laid out in her kitchen. It reminds me of the pictures of families in front of their homes with all of their household goods on the lawn. Ellen's pictures are quite interesting- mine looks like a bunch of junk on the bed. Oh well. Maybe next time I'll get a black backdrop and it will be more dramatic. Then again, maybe I won't. Anyway, I'm packed.

Rwanda and Uganda

So we are off again. This time to Rwanda and Uganda to see gorillas, chimps and lots of birds. We fly through the former colonial power, Belgium, since not many other country's airlines fly to Kigali and Entebbe. And since we are using our miles, we couldn't chose our ideal flight schedule, we will be spending a fair amount of time in Belgium.

We've been to Belgium before, the battlefield tour. We saw Bruge and Ghent as well as Brussels. This time we will see Antwerp, one or two picturesque small towns and more of Brussels. Looking forward to the chocolate.