The Hike That Almost Killed Us

After conquering the Nile, Greg and I had planned a 12-day trip across the country to show Dad just what Uganda has to offer.  Since we don’t want to have a never-ending blog post, we’re breaking them up by the different events and places we visited.  Our first stop on the list is Kisoro, a town just outside Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and about as far southwest as you can go in the country.

Our main reason for heading to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, was not for the gorillas, but to climb Mt. Sabinyo, one of the three conical, extinct volcanoes, and part of the spectacular Virunga Range that lies along the border region of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda.  It’s also the only place where you can stand in all three countries at once!  We left our house in Kampala around 7 AM and lucked out, making it out of the city in a decent amount of time and were met with nicely paved roads (thank you China).  The ride down only took us 8 hours and we got to stop at the Equator, our first time in the Southern Hemisphere!  The drive passed through so many different landscapes in such a short period of time it made the drive go by quickly.  Once in Kisoro, the temperature dropped drastically and our hotel had a nice fire going every night to sit by (yes, Africa can get chilly).

In the Northern & Southern Hemispheres at the same time!

The next morning we were up around 5 AM to have breakfast and make the drive to the park for our hike.  Unfortunately, this road was not paved and the sun doesn’t come up until almost 7 AM.  Our short 14km drive took over 40 minutes and gave us lots of headaches as we tried to navigate roads that were basically large rocks with no signs!  Once at the park, we met up with two girls who were also doing the hike.  I know I wasn’t totally prepared for how difficult this hike would be, but they really weren’t prepared.  The first hour or so of the hike is relatively flat and covered in muddy elephant and buffalo footprints.  Then you reach the bamboo forest where there’s a slight increase in altitude, but nothing like what you’re about to hit.  The guides stop you at a hut and tell you the hike is about to begin and sure enough, it does.  From bottom to top the elevation gain is 1,300 meters (4,265 feet)!  When you finally reach the third peak you are at 3,669 meters (12,037 feet).

Mt. Sabinyo, what we were about to climb.  You can only climb the first 3 peaks from the left.

Hiking through muddy elephant footprints!

Not only is there a drastic elevation increase on this hike, but a majority of the hike slowly starts becoming ladders made out of tree branches.  The higher you go, the more ladders.  After what seemed like forever, we finally made it to the first peak, 3,423 meters.  One of the girls we believe was suffering from altitude sickness, so we decided to stop and have lunch and see if a little rest would help her.  Unfortunately, the moment we started for peak two she realized she couldn’t go on anymore and they had to turn back.  The three of us and our guide continued onward.  Peak 1 to Peak 2 wasn’t bad, you descend a little then start ascending again and go to 3,537 meters.  Peak 2 to Peak 3, on the other hand, is a whole different ball game.  Almost immediately you’re greeted with ladders, luckily for us, these ones have recently been switched from tree branches to actual boards.  As we’re climbing up I happened to look down and I realized I’m pretty much hanging onto the ladders because they are the only thing holding me onto the side of the mountain as we climb almost vertically.  Breathing is difficult as you’re not only climbing straight up, but we’re also now at such a high altitude and climbed in such a short period of time that we haven’t adjusted to less oxygen.  I felt like I had to stop for a breather every few minutes.

The "enchanted forest" part of the hike.

On our way to Peak 2!

Peak 2 (3,537m or 11,604ft), notice behind Greg all the ladders going up to the 3rd peak.

On our way to Peak 3, before it became completely vertical.

When you feel like you can't breathe and you surely cannot cling to another ladder, our guide finally yelled from the top of Peak 3, "Katie, Greg, and Scott, you've reached the top!"  At an altitude of 3,669 meters, we’re now standing in Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC all at once!  We had a view of the clouds for a while, but fortunately, the clouds cleared and we had beautiful views of all 3 countries and a great spot to finish our lunch.  We also had a crow friend stop to visit us, who we fed some boiled eggs.  A crow landing so close and eating eggs that were thrown to it was something our guide had never seen before.

We made it to the top & can officially say we stood in 3 countries at once!

What a view!

Our crow friend eating some hard boiled egg.

And then we had to go back down.

The next challenge came when we realized we now had to go back down what we just came up.  The process of making it down the mountain was tedious, painfully long, and exhausting.  At some point or another, each one of us slipped on loose gravel and took a tumble.  I took one tumble that nearly took me down the side of the mountain.  While I may have gotten down the mountain quicker that way, I am sure it would not have been much fun.  After 14 kilometers and over 10 hours of hiking, we were done.  The rains started halfway back to the hotel.  Thankfully they held off until then because I think I would have started to cry if it happened on our hike.  While I don’t think any of us feel the need to do the hike again, it was definitely a rewarding experience and something I’m glad I can say I accomplished.  We had one day of rest before our next big trek, to search for the gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

For more pictures from our hike, check out our brand new SmugMug site.  It's still in the process of being updated, so don't mind its imperfections.