Tomorrow we fly to Dubai. In my imagination, Dubai is a far off, imaginary city with shiny lights. Africa is here. It's been our home for 13 weeks. During that time, it has filled me and I will be leaving with a heavy heart. I think we were all ready to leave Kampala, though. I talked to the boys tonight on the phone and asked them what they thought about leaving Africa tomorrow and they were sad too.
The London School of Tropical Medicine had their graduation ceremony on Thursday afternoon and it was really sweet and heartfelt. A nice acknowledgment of sixty people who came together from all over the world to improve themselves and work toward the goal of making things better for others, in the process, becoming a group of wonderful friends. They were an incredibly diverse group of people, both students and all of the tutors who came to teach. I am sure they are all going to miss each other. There was serious sadness on Friday as groups were leaving our hotel.
I left Saturday morning before my family awoke to go to a Gorilla Trek (Mountain Gorillas) with one of the other doctors, Jace (the most perfect companion I could ask for!). Our driver made good time and we made it to our destination in less than the eight expected hours. We arrived at the most welcoming and homey spot perched on the top of the lush rolling green hills. The air was cool, clear and clean and it was so quiet. We were given a filling meal with a little charcoal burning fire next to us for warmth. When we were finished, we were escorted by kerosene lamp to our rooms which had hot water bottles warming the beds. I had no idea how much I needed some time alone. It was divine.
Jace and I got up early to go on our trek. The Ugandan Wildlife Authority sends out trackers each morning to find the family of gorillas and they report back on this "gadget" (walky talky) where they are. Today, the gorillas were not in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, they were out in the edges along the farms and buffer zone. We made our way along a thin slippery mud track between farm plots, then began our climb up. We were lucky it wasn't raining because we were climbing up a hill (imagine going up steps that were 6-24 inches high) over grass, brush, trees and bramble-like plants. After about two hours, we arrived. We were told we'd stay with seven meters between them and us, but that was not the case. We were so close to them, two (one being the alpha silverback of the family) walked within inches of us. It was so amazing, I actually don't really understand that it happened yet. When we finally scrambled out to the road (it was not a loop and somehow we went uphill the whole way), I was so excited that I just told Moses (our driver) "I am going to start running back!" I just ran down the road and it was exhilarating.
I will meet my family at the airport. They've been having a relaxing time in Entebee. It's been weird to be away from the boys since we've been together non-stop since leaving home.
