We were up and ready for our driver at 9:00am as planned. He was still a no-show at 9:30 and we were planning when we should start to panic. The receptionist came by concerned and asked how she could help. We didn't have the driver's number but he was booked through the previous hotel, so the receptionist called the Karibu and in her telephone voice asked if they could contact the driver. It turns out he had a flat tire in the morning and showed up a few minutes after we called.
And so we were off for Rushaga, our entry point to Bwindi to see the mountain gorillas. It was market day in a few towns we passed through and they were bustling. There was even a livestock market at one. We did some drive-by touristing, taking pictures through rolled-down windows from the moving car.
Closer to Rushaga, the road was signposted with the hotels and lodges. There were a couple forks that weren't marked and unfortunately we chose poorly both times.
We arrived at the Gorilla Safari Lodge around 1pm. Once again we were the only guests. The lodge was okay - not as nice as Apoka, but prices are inflated around Bwindi. The whole area is very hilly and it's at least a 50m vertical down the path from the main lodge area to our cabins.
Electrical outlets are only in the main lodge and so first on the agenda was recharging phones, iPad and camera batteries. Good thing we were the only guests!
We took a walk along the road to warm up for the next day's trek, as we had been very inactive since we arrived, sitting in safari vehicles for most of the day. We saw the locals farming in 45* slopes, school kids playing soccer and goats and sheep herded along the road.
We cleaned up and then met up in the main lodge for a few Clubs (a pilsener that's our favourite local beer). We had dinner around 7:30pm and then went to bed early, with our big adventure tomorrow to see the mountain gorillas!
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