Day 79: Flower and Fern Cottage and Campsite

It's so wonderful here! Peaceful, secluded, and yet with practically everything you need to find yourself, process your thoughts, and look ahead. It's just a little cold...

After breakfast, we go to Brad's main house. We'll be staying another night.

It's always incredibly exciting and educational to talk to the people here. What stories they have to tell. An abandoned farm in South Africa, a family member shot (luckily not to death!), new beginnings, children and wife still in South Africa because schooling is better and more affordable there.

Brad is an avowed Trump fan, while we, as we know, aren't – and yet we have a great conversation and once again realize that talking is extremely important, even if you have different points of view. Brad tells us a little about his plans for the campsite and B&B, about his farm, and the sometimes arduous interaction with the workers.

After our chat over tea and coffee, we take some eggs with us, we get bread in the evening, and later in the day we gather eggplant and peppers from the vegetable garden. The whole thing becomes a delicious casserole, rounded out by yesterday's leftover meat – because yes, yesterday's steak for one person was too much for two of us.

Now for gorilla trekking: There are two options in Uganda: the well-known Bwindi National Park, whose four sectors are home to about a dozen gorilla families of up to 20 individuals. And Mgahinga National Park, with only one family of new individuals. Both parks cost about the same, with a visit costing between USD 800 and 900 per person for the permit, guide, park fee, and taxes.

In Bwindi, the chances of seeing gorillas are perhaps greater, but the families are also spread across four sectors, and a permit is only valid for one sector: everything seems to be very touristy. In Mgahinga, it might take longer to meet up with the family (up to 7 hours of hiking through the rainforest/jungle), but it's supposed to be more peaceful; the park is smaller and apparently very beautiful. Ultimately, it will be determined by where a permit is available for the time period we specified, between July 11th and 13th.

The starting point for every excursion is Kisoro, and Wolle contacts several providers. Afro Alpine Tour, Mystery Gorilla Safaris, and Virunga Gorilla Tour respond. As of today, it seems that two permits for the Ruhija sector in Bwindi and permits in Mgahinga are available.

We decide, despite the pressure from Mystery, for example, to wait until tomorrow before finalizing anything. It's a lot of money.

And then we'll push ahead with the visa for Uganda, because who knows how long it will take to get it and whether we'll have good network coverage in the next few days. If the gorilla trip doesn't work out, we'll have "wasted" $100, because that's all we want in Uganda.

And by the way: The chimpanzee trek is confirmed for June 25/26!