Bikepacking in search of the Gorillas in Uganda; the wild east of Africa

I officially lost. This is a disaster. It's only getting worse. This view. Where are we going? I'm not happy. So my friend here just saved my life. Touchdown in Uganda for the second time in my life. I got some unfinished business. The first time we went here was last year in 2022. So it was a very cool trip. It was insane to do it together with your dad in this beautiful landscape but we forgot one thing. One very important thing. We didn't go to see the gorillas. All the people that I spoke to that have seen them said this is such a life-changing experience. So I'm back in Uganda for some bikepacking as you can see. But also to see the gorillas. Good morning from Rwanda. The kit is drying because today will be a new adventure. I'm bikepacking from Rwanda into Uganda for a sixth day of bikepacking the Uganda bike trail. Ready to rumble but first breakfast. Sorting out all the gear. What to take and more important what not to take. If you ask me that's the art of bikepacking. I'm also quite surprised by the amount of stuff that I do have to bring. I thought like okay I can go really minimal on this one but when you put everything together it still is quite a lot. Already tired from packing but let's start the adventure. Bike is ready. Let's go. Some team Rwanda guys are escorting me towards the Ugandan border. So a very warm goodbye. Let's get the party started to to get into Uganda. But thanks a lot guys. Really appreciate. When I get back to Rwanda we go for proper training okay. Made it to Uganda. Already welcomed by the local cows and he's got a Ugandan sim card because very important to stay connected. The road is really hard. I should pack my bikes better I think because it's bouncing everywhere. Hey man What's your name? Your name? Nam. Nice to meet you man. Uganda. Check this out. This place is incredible. I turned around the corner and then boom Lake Mutanda. Check this out. Is there a fish in the lake? Yes. The type of fish we catch here it is the trapia fish. Just arrived at this incredible spot. Check it out. Got some red dirt on my body. I'm going to take a shower, clean my clothes and then get ready for the race tomorrow. So just for my own personal record to just keep reminding how awesome this place was. I'm shooting this little video so future me can look back at how awesome it was. And snacks. Tomorrow is a race day. Good morning from Lake Mutanda. Just had breakfast. Double breakfast actually. I'll be pinning up number 88. My lucky number but it's going to be an adventure. Unfortunately I'm going to leave this monster here. Extremely rocky terrain. So on a gravel bike it's a little dangerous. And it's not good for your bike and not good for your body. I'm taking his bike. I'm going to get some some bike care done. The chain of the bike that I'm going to use is completely rusted. The beast is ready. I lowered the handlebars. Put the saddle up a little bit higher. See? Nice dropper post. Nothing can go wrong with this one right? I just saw some guys, some local guys also also joining. So there's just some more riders than the three of us. I think we'll be with like 10 riders. It's God's luck. I'm going to win. Okay. So we've got four opponents today. We've got Connorson. We've got the next bike. And myself. So the first 500 meters are neutralized and then it's go time. So tough. My gears are jumping all around. And I managed to drop the guys. My back is killing me. My saddle is dropping. But I think I got a good advantage. So first mountain bike race. First win. Two kilometers to go and if I don't crash or puncture or drop my chain, that will be the victory for me. It was a wonderful experience. The previous course record was two hours and 50 minutes. I did it in two hours and five minutes. So that's good. What a day. What a race. I mean we were just with the five of us at the start line. I was on a borrowed mountain bike. Chain is skipping. The seat was dropping. Man, just super fun experience and really happy that I chose the mountain bike. Because I think I would have wrecked my ridley. Took a funny day and after that we just sat down, chilled with the guys that were doing the triathlon. Another day in paradise. Ugandan bikepacking trip. Day two. Mutanda Lake to Brujija Gorilla Resort. Something like that. It's time for the Queen Stage. The Queen Stage is 80 kilometers only. 3000 meters of climbing. But the climbing will be super intense. And I made a rookie mistake. But that's part of the adventure. The mistake I made was that I didn't bring any food. So first part of today's adventure is to find some local banana dealer. I will need it today. But with these views I just can't complain. But still it's a bit tricky on a fast gravel bike. I finally made it to a town. So I'm going to score some bananas. Hello, do you have banana? No. Is this cake? I don't know what this is but it looks something like dough. Like a cake. So it will keep me going for a couple of hours. Okay, so we are getting closer. Gorilla lodge is popping up. So maybe if I'm very lucky or maybe unlucky I'll see some gorillas on the road. The place that I'm going to is right in the heart of the gorilla area. It's a long ass climb. Going all the way up to 2500 meters. It feels so magical to ride here on my own through this strange country in the dust. Dust everywhere. It's not all about winning in beautiful roads. I mean I was on this beautiful road. You know, perfect gravel you say. But I have to turn left. It's very steep. You cannot really tell from the video. I have to take it. I looked on Komoot and yeah there's no really another way around. I'm already walking and carrying my bike down these rocks for I don't know 20 minutes. I still have a long way to go. I'm not happy. The views are amazing but I'm not really in the mood to to enjoy it. If you reach the top, you will return to here. Okay, so I go back there, there and I go up. He pointed me towards a road which wasn't really a road. Yeah, I don't know. I'm hiking three kilometers an hour. I still have 43 kilometers to go. This is a disaster. Not knowing how long it's going to take. I'm already hiking for two hours now. I'm so so so flipping done with this stuff. Just only steep flipping ramps. Two hours of daylight left. Not even halfway. I finally reached the top and in descent was a super dusty corner and yeah I didn't hold the corner so I crashed. I heard something crack so I'm going to investigate my bike. Looks okay. Everything seems to be okay after the crash. Just some blood, some some dirt and the most important thing this one. I always tell people who just start with cycling like always wear gloves especially on multi-day trips because you will learn it once. If you crash and you lose your skin on your hands then you know the feeling. Also my knee is damaged. It was already damaged from my last bike packing so the wound just closed like two days ago. Shouldn't be complaining because it's just way too pretty out here but yeah today is just not my day. Doing some groceries. Thank you guys. Seems to be going in the right direction. Still 16 kilometers to go but the road is very good so I hope if I can just keep on smashing it to arrive at the hotel before it's dark. Okay I made it into a windy impenetrable forest. It's a national park and this is where the gorillas are and I just spoke to the tour operator from Red Road Uganda. He made the route and he said that two weeks ago there was this group cycling here and they saw a bunch of gorillas crossing the road. Final seven kilometers. Just an easy downhill to get to the hotel. Earlier today I really didn't expect to reach the hotel today but I just continued. I hiked a lot. I crashed. Ran out of water again. I don't know. Everything went wrong but man what a beast of a route. Just 80 kilometers but this was insane. Really proud of myself. The bike is completely done. The body is completely done. But I made it to the gorillas. Wrecked my shoulder. Wrecked my knee. My hands. So the bike is making a lot of strange noises. My body was also screaming but I made it. I'm going to take care of my wounds because the wounds are not something you want to work with here in Africa. So I'm going to do some nice scrubbing in the shower. Nice. Looking forward to that. Good morning. Day after. Yesterday was so tough. I just took it easy today. Now I've put some Aretha Franklin on and just waking up early. Had four coffees with breakfast. Look who's back alive. The bike is still super dirty but the chain drivetrain is okay. It's going to be a good day. It's going to be an easy ride. Looking forward to it. Go to Buena? Buena? Something like that. It's a 40 kilometer ride. Mainly downhill so it's going to be easy. Can you repair this? So yesterday I crashed on my shoulder. Now this tailor is going to take care of it. Got my kit fixed. It's not really beautiful but it works. No gorillas yet but I'll be riding the the edge of the national park today and tomorrow there's not a chance. Guys. This view. What the hell. Just left the the rainforest and now I'm right in between all the tea plantations. Riding this road is just an absolute dream actually. 2000 meters high. Especially when the sun's out. The colors are so so bright. It's really cool to see. It's starting to rain a little so that gives me the perfect opportunity to enjoy my lunch package. I thought it was just a plain chai party. Boring stuff. But actually it's the rolex. Rolled eggs. So it's a fried egg rolled up in a chai party. It's really nice. Just 10k to go so I thought if I just take shelter for a couple of minutes the rain will go away but it's only getting worse. So it's time to get back on the bike to get wet and to do some proper cleaning tonight. That's also the tropics. It can rain very hard but it can also be over very soon. It's just perfect gravel. Like around every corner there's a different beautiful view. There wasn't even 10 meters that I thought like okay this is not good. Like every single meter was high class. Hey guys. I'm almost at the guest house but today's stage was just just perfect and now I'm here in these green valleys with big mountains in the background so I think that's where the gorillas are. Four k's to go and I'm at the guest house. Tomorrow is gorilla day. I said it was an easy stage but it was a bit too fast. Final three kilometers. Oh brutal again. Nice. Where are we going? We are going for the Gorilla Trucking in the Wild Toronto National Park. The hike is on. So hitched hikes with some some locals in the back of the truck. Now we're getting deeper and deeper into the forest. It's quite a steep hike but it's already a great adventure. I haven't seen any gorillas yet. So we're getting closer and closer following the trails of the gorillas. Also found some trails of elephants. Hear that sound. It was a long and tough hike but we made it. Yeah it was just incredible. Those guys are so strong. Beautiful to see. Getting started. It's I think a lost count. Maybe the fourth stage of my bikepacking trip. It's a big stage today. 80 kilometers again but a little less climbing so that's a good thing. So I gotta get going. I feel good. Had a rest day. I could use it but I didn't really use it as a rest day because I've got super sore muscles now. So far it's a really good morning. It's taking way longer than it should take but yeah I'm having fun so that's important. 12k climb coming up so yeah I'm just enjoying it. Not making so much content. Just riding. Enjoying the views. So they only had very big bottles of coke so I bought this I don't know what it is. Some pineapple alcohol-free beer. So that's the first time for everything right? It might seem perfect gravel on the videos but actually it's really rough. I don't think I need many words. It's just so perfect again. I'm suffering but I do take the chance to to enjoy it as well. Do you have cold drinks at your jackpot? So I got lost. Couldn't find the hotel. Wasn't on google map. So they picked me up at the petrol station in town and now I'm following them to get to the hotel. It was such a hard day. Bumpy rocks. Man I was so happy that I was at the finish but then it took me one and a half hour to find the accommodation. The last 10-15 kilometers felt like it took five hours. I was just completely destroyed and then I couldn't find the hotel. Then I got to the hotel finally and they were like do you want this room? Then they showed it or the other room and then they showed the other one. I was like I really don't care I just need a shower and a bed. Then they were like what do you want to eat? You want this or this? I said I don't I really don't care just give me something. I just need food. It's quite early in the morning. I wanted to make a lot of progress today but the owner of the place made a really nice breakfast for me including some local delicacies but for me it's too tasty to have early in the morning. Today is a bit of a mixed stage. I don't know really how long it will be because it's a mix of three different routes but I think approximately it will be around 80 or 100 kilometers. So the legs are starting to get really tired. The body as well. So I'm getting a little bit of a cold. I don't know why. The same thing happened as yesterday. The hotel was at a completely different place than both the route and Google Maps showed. The worst thing. I have to climb back three kilometers to quite a steep climb. But it's on tarmac. I made it. Today's stage is all the way back to Rwanda if all goes well. I had a very very shitty night. Yesterday I already didn't really feel well. A bit of a cold. Everything was clogged in my face. Big headache. So I really hope that today is going well. Otherwise I got some friends two thirds of the route where I can sleep. So it's a good backup plan. The final stage. Today is a very special one because I'm going to ride a part of the Uganda Cycling Trail. It's a newly built route by the guys of Red Dirt and it's a route of 1600 kilometers all the way from the south of Uganda to the north. It's a mainly unpaved route. I'm really curious what the route will be like because it's like the the life's work of the UNMPs. So it's going to be pretty exciting. Today's stage will be 145 kilometers. So it's very dusty. Especially super annoying when you're climbing. When you're heavily breathing and then all the dust comes into your lungs. Nobody said it was easy. But it's beautiful. So wherever you go everyone is just super friendly. Waving. Asking how are you. Even on this super difficult mountain pass. The views are breathtaking. But the altitude also takes my breath. I had that gravel road all the way through the valley. Through the forest. And then boom. Climbing all the way. All the way. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 percent. I'm running this one-on-one gear ratio. It's not sufficient for these trails. Man, it's such a long, such a steep climb. And then at the end the last two kilometers are this flipping steep kettle trail. Oh man. I took a wrong turn and then I looked on my Wahoo and I saw the roads come together later on. And the most frustrating part is that some locals are just like laughing at me. The gravel road along Lake Bunyonyi. And then in the trip last year that was my my favorite road actually of the whole trip I guess. At the end of this gravel strip there's a restaurant. I'm going for lunch. I need it. I'm empty. I still have a long way to go. I finally made it to the restaurant. But the credit card thing is not working. It really is the only place in the whole region where I can get some food. And I really need it. I just have a little bit of cash left but it's never enough for for a decent meal. So I'm very hungry. I'm very thirsty. Yeah, but I have to get back on the road. I'm not happy at the moment. Okay, so with my last one thousand shilling in cash I bought this little bottle of water. And now I got nothing left. This is exactly what you need. 12 kilometer climb just when you're completely done. I don't really know if it's a smart thing to do but I'm just trying to smash it. Keep tempo to get rid of it as soon as possible. I just need food. I just need water. All these shops. It's impossible to play with cards. See what I mean? Still out of food. Still out of water. But I finished this massive climb and now I'm on this long winding descent with views like this. There's the border with Rwanda. You can see the tarmac roads going down. You don't really need food to enjoy this I think. So we're getting closer to Kizoro. That's the biggest city so I hope they got a proper restaurant or a petrol station where I can pay with my credit card. Pray for an old place. So my friend here just saved my life. It was not able to pay with cash but he got me a water bottle so thank you. The last Ugandan speed bumps. Made it to the border. One big massive headwind show. It was such a special day. I mean I woke up and I just didn't feel fit at all but as soon as I was on the bike it was okay-ish. The climbs were just so beautiful. Endless gravel. The Ugandan cycling trail is just, from what I've seen of it, it's just perfect so go check it out. I also need to get used to riding on the other side of the road because in Uganda they ride on the left hand side. In Rwanda they ride on the right hand side and there's also a time difference of one hour so a lot of changes within these 100 meters. Touchdown in Rwanda and now it's time to move to the Africa Rising Cycling Center and that will be my accommodation for the rest of this trip. So a little under two weeks left and that's the home of the of the national team so that's where I'll be staying and I'm really looking forward to that. Very beautiful mountains. We're in Rwanda. This is a Sri Lankan.