Today has been great as we filmed white rhinos at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. It was amazing to watch a baby rhino (the second born in Uganda in over 20 years) suckling up to his mother and the head ranger admitted to me afterward that he had never seen this before so it was very special for him too. There have been some amazing moments on this series and this definitely ranks up there. I would also highly recommend anyone to pay a visit to the rhino sanctuary as the staff are extremely friendly and the sight of seeing one of these creatures is awe inspiring and also could soon be a fragment of the past if the poachers get their way.
 

 

 
Following our morning filming of the rhinos we endured an eight hour drive west towards the gorilla trekking, which will happen in a couple of days. Adam deserves all the praise for getting us to our over night stop off point safely and this was coupled with the fact that he worked like a trooper (as always) this morning. And whilst driving he had to endure Mr Gamble jabbering away to him and taking pictures of every digger we passed, which was a lot. Tomorrow we have another 6 hour drive until we finally reach our hotel for the gorillas.

I’m writing this from our overnight hotel and it is possible the worst place I have ever stayed in. Luke found a very informative leaflet on AIDS related cancers that are common in Uganda in his room (a great night time read apparently) and the irony of the “luxury toilet paper” in my bathroom didn’t pass me by – it was more like sand paper for smoothing cement. Can’t wait to move on tomorrow.

Driving in Uganda can be perilous, with truks and taxi vans bombing it at top speed, overtaking on dangerous corners, you always have to have your beady little eye out when you drive.

On the way up to the Rhino Sanctuary there is a stretch of roadworks which runs for about 20 kms. To curb these crazy drivers killing any of the labourers, the “road think tank” have decided to build bumps every twenty metres along the whole stretch of road, making it possibly one of the most annoying and uncomfortable drives I have ever experienced.

The six hour journey took us more like nine – perhaps we were driving like old ladies or something but we had a couple of interludes to film the journey. These are great moments whereby everyone piles out of the truck and I am vaguely instructed to drive over the horizon and then turn around and come back towards camera. I mustn’t look at camera and I have to be just to the left or right of the lens. I also need to make sure there are no cars in front of me or behind me and that I maintain a constant speed throughout the entire stretch of road no matter what traffic lights, roundabouts or bends are in my way. I cannot deviate from my path and slight alteration of the plan will ruin the shot. I also have Marc barking at me down the two way radio in Germanic guttural tones – I am unable to respond on the radio because I then look strange and this also ruins the shot. As you can imagine, these little episodes are stress free and take no time at all to film. We did a lot of them today which may account somewhat for the three hours extra it took us.

The views were simply stunning, we drove right across the Queen Elizabeth Park and saw elephants, buffalo, lots of baboons and monkeys and lush green landscape. Stunning as it was, the arrival at the impenetrable forest in Bwindi takes some beating though – I’m currently in a large tent listening to the rain driving down on the roof – love it. This place has huge amounts of atmosphere and apparently some very large residents I’ll be meeting the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is down as a hardcore community livestock day so providing the rain stops, I should be in for a great time.

It’s been a strange day as I’ve felt full of energy all day long – how strange is that? I might even go as far to say that I haven’t felt tired. This might have something to do with the fact that I got my best night of sleep since I got out here. We’re staying in tented accommodation, but this isn’t some windswept, rain drenched, faeces spewed Glastonbury experience (pretty much my only experience of sleeping in a tent as it goes). No, this is a luxury, double-bedded, hot water, clean sheets, and very much better than a hotel experience. The fact that we are sleeping in fresh air feels amazing, but the highlight for me has to be the hot water bottles that are put in our beds whilst we are having dinner (and what makes them even more special is the fact that the hot water bottle covers have flags of the world on them ­– tonight I have New Zealand). Wow…

Anyway, the thing is today has been full of energy and I have to lend a hand of applause to one Luke Gamble who has exerted himself “to the max”. He’s been “in the zone” at the community day delving into his “bag of power” to help over a hundred sick animals (cows, dogs, goats and pigs) and treating even more animals for common problems like worms and ticks. And when the car tyre blew on our way this morning we filmed Luke changing the wheel on his own much to his dismay, but he managed to get that “in the bag” eventually. All in all it has been a “nails” day, very much “hardcore” and the thank you letter he received from the farmers’ society was definitely “cool beans”. Yet, despite Luke’s “heroics” the crew (myself included) decided it was more fun to pick on the fact that none of the farmers understood anything Luke said (“to the max”, “in the bag” etc.) Poor Luke Gamble, you work your socks off and all you get is mocked ­– it sure is lonely out in front of the camera.

We’re off to see the gorillas tomorrow and I can’t wait. I’m getting a nice early night in my luxury tent as we “make shapes” and “rock and roll” first thing in the morning.

 
Hardcore community day – loved it. Wasn’t too sure what to expect, in fact none of us were, but it was brilliant. Treated about 300 animals – cows, goats, chickens and pigs and there wasn’t a dull moment. There is a huge amount to relate about the community project set up by Joy Howell which is a fantastic venture and really making a difference to the people here – anyone wishing to volunteer and help work at the school would have a wonderful trip. The school itself has six classrooms – three of which are concrete and it runs classes for 400 pupils who come from all over the region. It has an amazing feel to the place and getting behind this venture is a must. Charlie Garret, a Scottish vet and ex University professor, sadly passed away last year but worked with Joy to set up a poultry unit to help the local children get better nutrition from eating eggs – it is brilliant and working well. It was wonderful to see what he has created and the improvement it has made to the people.
 

 

 
The above doesn’t do justice to the project Joy has set up here – it really is something special and very worthy of support and aid. The plan is to now really up the support teams from WVS for this project and I promise anyone coming on this trip, you will have an absolutely amazing time. I’ll expand on this on the WVS site when I’m back but this project is perfect for non-vets as there is so much to help out with in the school so fingers crossed you get involved.

Fairly beat – tomorrow is a big day, off to see the gorillas so getting my strength up ready for a mountain trek – should be the business. This is one whirlwind trip. Rest of the crew are all doing great, Adam has a new blackberry which allows him to keep pace with the football scores – very bizarre in such a remote place, but great if you are a football fan. Marc is gearing up for the big trek tomorrow and Nathan has promised to run up the mountain and dazzle us all with his super fitness… promises, promises.

It has been a great day as we trekked the gorillas for over 2 hours in the dense Ugandan rainforest. But eventually we found them and Luke delivered possibly his best piece to camera of the whole series in front of the giant silverback gorilla. It’s going to make for great viewing.
 

It was hard work walking the two hours back to the cars, but definitely worth it.

Luke has a thing about taking pictures of every single digger, tractor, crane, basically anything yellow and to do with construction and to top that off he has a little teddy bear from Harrods, which he brings along with him on every shoot. Every person, animal or digger of interest, Luke will get them to pose with the teddy so he can show his little son Noah when he gets back home. Hmmmm. A slight distraction to the shoot, but each to their own!

What an amazing experience – I was about 10ft away from a huge male silverback gorilla and although we did our best to keep our distance in relation to the risk of disease spread – we didn’t have a lot of choice about it. One of the blackbacks (juvenile male – they become silverbacks around the age of 10-12yrs when they go through puberty and develop the badge of seniority of the silverback) came right up to us to check us out. The group seemed calm and didn’t mind our intrusion in the least – well accustomed to tourists popping up for an hour each day. It really was a special expedition and we all enjoyed it immensely. We’re all a bit beat – it was an uphill 10km hike through dense forest – but worth every step.
 

 

Dazzling facts about gorillas before I forget them: They live in stable polygamous groups lead by a dominant male called a silverback whose job is to protect them all from danger. The main dangers being man, leopards preying on the small ones and rival males trying to steal away the females. You can get more than one silverback in a group but it be his sons and they would only be there until they have enough confidence to branch out and try to establish their own family units. The females are attracted to powerful males, females born in a particular group will leave it about 8 years of age and go to another group – this helps genetic propagation of the species. They produce normally one offspring ever 3-4yrs, gestation is 8.5-9months, and they can live for up to 50years. The groups typically comprise 5-60 gorillas. What else – they have prominent bony ridges but the key reason for this is that it not only protects the eyes when going through dense foliage but it means the facial skin has a lot of flexibility and maximises their ability to perform a wide range of facial expressions – a bit like Nathan – allowing them to communicate with other family members. Silverbacks are about 180cm tall, weigh about 300kg and if they tried to take Adam’s camera you would pay tickets to see the result. Sadly, Adam might not keep his camera in that one. Infants are weaned about 4-5 years of age but move to their mothers backs from the bellies at 5months. Marc was a particularly attractive target for one baby who went right up to him and fixed him with a beady eye. I think it wanted to groom him but realized the challenge would be too great.
 

In a nutshell, gorillas are great – they are on the road to recovery (there are only 800 left in the world), but numbers are increasing mainly thanks to the tireless efforts of dedicated conservationists who are championing their cause. There is no denying it is a fragile process though. Ecotourism, despite the good it does, risks a viral epidemic amongst the habituated groups (based on today’s experience contact is a given despite the 7metre ruling), climate change is affecting rainfall and global warming the vegetation. Deforestation is destroying the habitats and we need to make every effort to preserve, protect and cherish the plant and the wonderful animals within.
 

On other news – washing has finally been done – took a few days to dry but great to have another change of clothes, Unfortunately for the man who brought me the washing, I was in the bath at the time (no showers – it’s a tented camp so sort of outdoor bath thing) and he decided that rather than come into the bathroom to collect his tip, he would high tail it out of there without witnessing a spectacle of me in the tub. Very wise. Nathan wants to go on a camera course, Marc is upset because we got messed around by one of the Ugandan vets who let us down at the last moment to show us a lab, and Adam is shattered after a hardcore day of filming in extreme situations – Simon (cameraman from Peru and Nepal) would be proud to have a companion on the pantheon of extreme cameramen. I am blissfully happy to have seen the gorillas – wish I could have taken Cords and Noah to see them, they would have loved it, (Noah would have been right up to the silverback like a shot and caused all sorts of chaos) but a good plan to come back in years to come and hopefully do it again.

Few relaxing drinks tonight to celebrate before out 10-12 drive tomorrow back to Kampala. Fingers crossed we can catch the stray dog with the USPCA that got away – I really want to get it fixed up. Rock on.

13hours of death defying driving constituted today. Marc, Adam and myself split the driving with Adam nailing the night drive section with virtually no functioning headlights – he said he felt very responsible for us all – touching stuff when you are bleeding from your knuckles gripping the seat. Nevertheless, we are once again here in Kampala safe and sound. Astonishing news is that Nathan slept – almost the whole way. Very impressive.
 

Met up with Dave the aerial cameraman who is at this stage becoming a good friend – albeit a surreal one who I only meet in completely random places around the world. This is definitely a moment to flag up the amazing patience, dedication, work ethic and thoroughness of Pascal and Andrew from AJ Tours who have painstakingly organized all the logistics for this trip. Really great guys and if anyone ever comes to Uganda through WVS or otherwise, you’d be making a mistake not to have them looking out for you and making sure everything goes to plan.

The big aerial day with David the pilot and David the cameraman. Full on David-David action and they made some magic shots. Adam joined in to direct things and we kick started early hours (luxury 4 hours kip last night) with first a trip to see Angie and her gang at the rhino sanctuary. They took me along for this bit and I then proceeded to stand in the bush about 20metres away from a wild bull rhinoceros as the helicopter flew overhead. As the rhino charged from the bush directly towards me, I turned to see that Godfrey the ranger had promptly left me for dust and Adam has a great shot of me legging it from a clearing as a 2 tonne rhino crashes past. Thankfully the rhino settled down pretty quickly and didn’t seem to mind the helicopter once it got used to the noise and I had no idea I could run at that sort of speed – and neither did anyone else.

Once we had that in the bag, David swooped us back to Kampala, I nipped off in the truck for driving shots and then promptly got lost. An hour and a half later I somehow miraculously managed to find my way back to the hotel in the city centre through rush hour traffic. No idea how that happened but today has been all about my secret powers. Running and driving – all going on here.

The aerial team slipped off to Ngamba to nail some chimp shots of the island and now we are back at base and all looking a touch shabby, except for Nathan who spent the day ‘editing’ in the hotel. Somehow he has that steely glint of alertness that we just can’t seem to shake, no matter how grueling the pace.

I think Marc will now feel a huge weight off his shoulders now it has all come together but breaking news is that one of the dogs we needed to revisit tomorrow has been released, so big drama and that may well sink Marc into a deep depression just when he was almost feeling good. Hopefully a pizza and chips will turn him around – can’t beat good local food.

p.s. still can’t send e-mails – driving us all nuts – can receive them though which is tantalizingly keeping me in touch. Steve, if you happen to read this the key is 1000square meters with outbuildings. I know it is big but I reckon that’s the business. Helen – that is a huge bill, I am crying into my empty bank account. Tess – thanks for getting Lee on the case with those website changes, Khageshwaar – so sorry to hear about the dog, you did all could, re the other one, do the preds every day for a week, then reduce to every other day for a week and then half the dose and do that every other day for a third week then stop. Let me know if there has been any improvement next week, fingers crossed. Mum – looking forward to seeing you on boxing day – going to be great!