Gorillas in the Mist

Ever since I saw the Dian Fossey film about the primatologist who researched, and fought to protect, the dwindling Rwandan population of mountain gorillas I've wanted to visit them myself. At its lowest, the total population in Rwanda, the Congo (in Virunga National Park) and Uganda (in Bwindi National Park) dropped to about 250 due to poaching. But Fossey's lasting legacy, since her mysterious murder in 1985, has been a steadily growing population of mountain gorillas. In the latest census earlier this year, about 900 were recorded, roughly equally split between Virunga and Bwindi.

So after a week of work in Kampala and Iganga (eastern Uganda), I decided to take the opportunity to extend my time there and travel west (on a very long and uncomfortable 9 hour bus journey) to Bwindi National Park. A colleague had recommended Bwindi Backpackers Lodge - basic but affordable compared to some of the other higher end places - so I spent 5 days there in all, hiking every day including the day of gorilla tracking. I'm so pleased I stayed for longer than the gorilla tracking day - hiking every day meant I really got to know the area more than the few other tourists I met who seemed to stay one night and move on. For the second half of my week I was the only one there so I had the whole place to myself - the perks of low/rainy season. There was no electricity, no wifi, no phone signal (all of which I was happy to do without) but fortunately there WAS hot water (heated by a log fire) - such a relief as the nights were freeeezing!

Bwindi Backpackers Lodge is the tiny building with the green roof in the top left of the photo

Day 1 - Rubuguri hike (5 hours)

I had no idea what to expect in terms of group size, trail distance or route. So when I found out that it would just be me, my guide (Deus) and an armed policeman (Cesar), I couldn't believe my luck. Deus was really knowledgeable about the different plants and birds along the way so kept stopping to point things out as well as making sure that the pace was ok. Cesar, who joined us because the route took us close to the border with the Congo, also spoke reasonable English, and we ended up having really interesting conversations about livelihoods in Uganda vs the UK. They wanted to know all about agriculture in the UK, given that's the main livelihood in their region, so I did my best to explain the different seasonal crops. They were particularly interested in apples, and surprised when I said it was too cold to grow bananas.

Part of the hike went through Rubuguri village where Deus wanted me to try sorghum 'porridge' which he said was really good for energy. Picturing something similar to our oat porridge, it took my by surprise to see the very runny HUGE cup of liquid that we each had. Doesn't taste anything like oat porridge either - very sour/kind of fermented in taste. Give me a clif bar any day, but the lady who sold it seemed very pleased that I'd given it a go!

With Cesar on the way up to the rather cheesily named 'top of heaven' hill

Cesar looking out over the Virunga Volcanoes from the 'top of heaven'

Some intrepid cows made it up there too

Not much as just a picture, but if it had audio you'd hear the amazing church singing that came from it

Taking cover under the 'gorilla umbrella' plant (never sure what Deus just makes up for the tourists though!)

Sorghum grains drying in the sun

Drinking sorghum 'porridge' in Rubuguri village

Day 2 - Lake Mutanda hiking and canoeing (7 hours)

It took us 3 hours to hike to Lake Mutanda from the backpackers lodge - apparently a record for a mzungu (white person) according to Deus, who later told me that I "walk like an African" and have "strong legs like an ox". Thanks Deus.

Leaving the lodge at 7:30 we were initially joined by lots of children on their way to school, probably about 30 at one point. Seems they found me very entertaining, and were curious as to why I was walking when it was for no particular reason (like fetching firewood, going to school or planting/picking vegetables). I guess when you think of it from their point of view, it IS weird.

Today's walk took us past lots of the different crops, all immaculately laid out and divided up according to ownership. It was interesting to talk to Deus about the different systems in place for agricultural work, such as the women's cooperatives that enable women to work the land together and then share produce/profits evenly. 

Womens cooperative at work

 Along the way, Deus pointed out bananas, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, potatoes, maize, green beans and tea (a relatively new introduction to the area in the last 18 months).

The piles of sticks are collected and left, ready to stake out the beans (see below).

Banana tree plantation

Sugar cane

School break time

As we approached the lake we had amazing views of the Virungas again, and we were lucky that the dark sky that had been threatening to rain all day brightened up. Poor Deus carried an umbrella the whole way.

First sight of the lake

Stormy-looking Virungas

The canoeing itself was really hard work - the big wooden oars (compared to the fibreglass kind I'd used before) were very heavy but at least it was giving my legs a break from hiking! We paddled to a strange cave burial site where there were human and animal skeletons on the ground surface as well as buried underneath. I think the canoe owner was a bit disappointed I didn't want to take any pictures but the whole thing was a bit gross, especially the dead dog that had barely decomposed. 

We then paddled to the canoe owner's house where he gave us some tiny grilled fish on a stick to eat. Better than the sorghum porridge from yesterday but still not the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. Deus, on the other hand, was really pleased to buy loads, and he explained he'd later mix them into g'nut sauce to give him and his family extra nutrients. Eating direct from the land and water makes you really think about how to get the nutrition your body needs, and appreciate the time and effort that goes into food preparation, when all too often at home we can access what we want to eat with such convenience and speed. Deus was also telling me about the artificial fish ponds that have been created in various communities to harvest fish particularly for children, so they can get the nutrients they need for healthy growth. Clever stuff.

Stopping at one of the more upmarket lodges for a cold stoney ginger beer on the way back

Day 3 - Pre-gorilla tracking hike (3 hours)

Today we did a hike in the forest below the lodge to get used to the terrain for gorilla tracking - basically very steep and dense vegetation, so Deus was armed with the machete to make a 'path' as we hiked. He also took time to point out some of the food that gorillas particularly like to eat (up to 6 hours a day!) - mainly leaves, stems and fruit, plus the occasional termite.  

Deus very proud of his machete!

Waterfall along the way

As it was just a half day hike today, I spent the afternoon in the peace and quiet of the lodge, starting my report for the week of work I did Kampala and Iganga. Not a bad office view...

Day 4 - Nkuringo gorilla tracking day (8 hours)

I left the lodge early for the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Nkuringo office. Nkuringo was also the name of my room at the lodge so I'd already heard a lot about the Nkuringo group of gorillas it was named after, and how as well as 2 silverback males the group also has 2 babies, making 12 in all (average group sizes are 10-12). The gorilla permits for tourists are (encouragingly) strictly regulated so groups are limited to 8 people and, once found, you are only allowed to spend an hour with them. All the groups (Nkuringo; Bushoma; Rushaga; Ruhija) that tourists can track in Bwindi have been 'habituated'. This is a 2 year gradual process, during which time the UWA slowly gets a new group of gorillas used to humans. So there are non-habituated gorilla groups too, but it is only these 4 groups in Uganda that you can visit. A percentage of the gorilla permit fee goes to the UWA to help continue their work, and also to the community to support the local area.

Once reaching the gorillas, we were told we'd need to leave our walking sticks behind us (as some still remember being hunted by poachers with sticks that had spears on the end) and maintain a distance of at least 7 feet to avoid any cross contamination, just as much for the gorillas' sake as ours. Still, 7 feet was a lot closer than I had expected.

Again, because of low season, I lucked out on group size and was only joined by 2 other tourists - one woman from Colorado and another from California. Like me, they were keen to avoid any news about the Presidential election result (due on the same day) so we all agreed to ban election talk. 

 

2 armed guards (Sam and Gideon), 1 guide (Osbert), the Americans (Linda and Gail) and their porters.

We set off at about 8:30, a couple of hours after the trackers had gone ahead earlier to track the Nkuringo group from where they had been yesterday. 

With Gideon, one of the guards

With Osbert, our guide

Getting into the denser (and steeper) forest

Just as we reached the trackers (who had radioed Osbert to say they'd found the group) the sky got really dark and it chucked it down for the first 10 minutes so the gorillas were hiding under the trees. I still couldn't believe I was actually standing in a forest watching a group of gorillas, only 15 feet away.

Fortunately the rain only lasted 10-15 minutes and when it stopped, the gorillas became more active, apart from the dominant silverback who remained aloof and spend most of his time showing us his silverBACK or lounging around dozing (and occasionally farting). The females and 2 babies on the other hand moved around a lot, with the babies even playing a game of 'let's see who can push the other off this tree first' cat and mouse. One was 18 months old, the other 2 years. Generally the younger one succeeded in pushing the older cousin off. It was more amazing than I could have hoped for, and the hour flew by. My pictures aren't as good as some people probably take, but I was so awestruck that I just wanted to watch and soak it all in. A magical experience that I'll never forget.

 

The dominant silverback, Rafique

Showing us his silverBACK

Give us a wave...

Back at my Nkuringo room after visiting the Nkuringo group

Day 5 - Ruhugire mountain hike (4 hours)

The last day of my trip, and it didn't disappoint. No gorillas but some really steep mountain climbing through dense bush (reminding me of the first time I ever went hiking on Cradle Mountain in Tasmania when I was 18), reaching some amazing panoramic views out towards the Virungas and the Congo's rift valley.

Thank goodness for gardening gloves - I was grabbing onto anything I could to pull myself up!

The valley before the final push to the top

At the top, eating bananas and chapati rolex (a legacy of the Indians - kind of like a chapati burrito with egg. YUM)

From the top we could also see far into the Congo and Deus told me he was scared to cross the border in case he wouldn't be able too get back. He was just telling me about the refugees who come across to Uganda to escape the civil conflict, when we looked down towards the road and saw a UNHCR truck heading towards the border. I was trying to explain the Syrian refugee crisis the best I could, but it was clear that it was too far from his reality, though so alike in so many ways - with rebels fighting an authoritarian government regime. Hard to believe that not so far away from the conflict, the gorillas continue to live peacefully.

On the way back to the lodge, Deus found a 3 horned chameleon. I'd never seen one before so it was a great end to the day. As he picked it up (rather him than me) you could see its skin start to darken - such a clever defence mechanism.

  

So that was the end of my stay in Bwindi... only a 2 hour car, 9 hour bus, 4 hour plane, 7 hour plane and 1 hour train to get home. But if it wasn't so remote it wouldn't have been so special, so definitely worth all the travel. 

Check out www.bwindibackpackerslodge.com - I couldn't recommend it more!

Last photo with Deus, back at the lodge

ICS Accredited Learning Pilot - South Africa

At the beginning of this year, my manager asked me if I could lead an ICS accredited learning pilot to explore any added value we could offer our volunteers by formally accrediting the skills they develop on the programme. As a big believer in the value of experiential learning opportunities (over and above formal education) I said yes, and set about researching and selecting our accreditation provider - Open College Network (OCN) - before making sure the various pre-requisites were in place in order to become a recognised centre for delivering OCN accredited courses. What I didn't know was that this also meant designing our very own OCN accredited course....

I still remember the conversation when I asked where to find their courses (naively assuming that it would just be a case of picking one 'off the shelf' to fit with the ICS programme). But no, that would be too easy. Instead, they offer a range of various units/modules that are built around learning outcomes and assessment criteria (kind of like a skeleton) and you have to build your course around them. While I've designed lots of volunteer training before, I had never designed an entire course that had to be signed off by an external provider. Fortunately I had the support and guidance of the consultant who had helped us select OCN as our accreditation provider. Together we selected 4 units from the OCN portfolio that were a good 'fit' for ICS: 1) Building a Personal Skills Portfolio, 2) Teamwork Skills, 3) Problem Solving Skills and 4) Presentation Skills. With such a diverse range of volunteers across the ICS programme, I also took the decision to write the course at two different levels of difficulty - Level 2 being about equivalent to GCSE standard and Level 3 roughly an A level. The challenge was I needed to write both (120-ish page) courses within 6 weeks so they'd be ready to pilot with summer cohorts of volunteers across 3 ICS agencies in South Africa.....

Once the courses were written and signed off by OCN, I developed a staff guide to accompany the learner guides and held a launch workshop to support agency staff in the UK in their implementation planning to roll out the pilot in South Africa to in-country staff and volunteers. Caroline (aka curriculum development consultant/all round accreditation guru and lovely lady) and I then recruited and trained 5 freelance assessors who would be responsible for providing distance learning feedback and assessment decisions for the volunteers. We also held interviews for a full-time Learning Support Officer who would co-ordinate the assessment process between volunteers, assessors and OCN, a complex juggling act of receiving and sending assessment submissions, assessor feedback and resubmissions on a remote basis across the 3 agencies. Fortunately our chosen candidate Jenny was an organisational skills whizz kid and a master of colour-coded spreadsheets.

With the course resources, team and systems set up in the UK I headed out to South Africa to support the in-country teams over-seeing the pilot and guiding the volunteers through the course. Starting in Port Elizabeth with Lattitude Global Volunteering I then headed to East London to meet with Restless Development before finishing up in Cape Town with Skillshare International. Less than 3 months after writing the course it was amazing to see it about to be piloted and to listen to the questions, concerns and suggestions raised by staff and volunteers. Back in February and March, sitting writing at my desk thousands of miles away it hadn't seemed real, but now it was in the hands of the people I'd been writing it for. Scary (but exciting) stuff....

Volunteers exploring learning opportunities on placement

Lattitude South Africa introducing the course to volunteers

ICS yoga?

A not-for-the-faint-hearted flight from Port Elizabeth to East London

But great views.

Restless Development introducing the course to volunteers

With Restless Development South Africa Team, - Sithembele and Bonga

Back in the UK we started to receive our first assessment submissions and prepare for our first standardisation meeting with the assessors (to establish a consistency of marking/feedback) as well as setting up our Internal Verification system (basically assessing the assessors' assessment decisions...) in advance of OCN's External Verification visit. It was an interesting insight into the layers of verification that happen in the world of external accreditation, but time was as tight as ever and I was so grateful for Jenny and Caroline's hard work on managing the various processes while I started to design the pilot evaluation structure and recruit another consultant to write the actual evaluation, that would also look at another accreditation model, implemented by one of our ICS agencies - Challenges Worldwide - and accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). 

The pilot evaluation enabled us to extract lots of learning to explore the added value that accreditation may offer our volunteers, however the main overarching finding was that there is clearly no 'one size fits all' course that is suitable for the range of volunteers who take part in the ICS programme. Content that is interesting, motivating and challenging for a graduate who speaks and writes English as their first language is unlikely to be accessible for a volunteer who is just out of school, or speaks and writes English as their second (or even third language) or someone with additional learning difficulties such as dyslexia. So in my new role as Youth Learning and Development Manager (leading innovation and quality assurance of volunteer training and learning across the consortium) I'll be exploring how we can integrate a range of accredited learning options into the volunteer journey to meet the diverse needs of our volunteers.