Should today's destination for the first day be Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite you will continue after the short break at Nkuringo Safari Lodge by canoe to the Rwajenge landing site where our walk begins in earnest with a near 900m assent ahead to our destination. For those that wish porters can can be hired to carry luggage leaving you only with your daypack and camera so as to better enjoy your surroundings. The walk to the road head at Rubuguri junction to join the Kisoro road will take 3 hours a distance of 9 km. Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite is located at 2160m in altitude a further 10 km from this junction.
Papyrus reeds that are harvested as roofing material for local houses and fencing dominate the Rwajenge landing site. Women's basket making groups also use the material and even children make their own footballs from this resource.
After a 20-minute walk from Rwajenge we join an unsurfaced road which we follow for a further 10 minutes to find the trail that leads up to the first rest and viewpoint outside of the Mubano Trading Centre. Here there is a primary school called Kirundo where children will most certainly be distracted by your arrival. The children's welcome is always warm with enthusiastic attempts to converse with you. On clear days exceptional views of Lake Mutanda, the Virunga Volcanoes and the rugged ridges of the western arm of Africa's Great Rift Valley are visible. Schools, churches, homesteads and the trading centre of Kasharara are also in view.
Continuing along the footpath you will pass through a series of banana plantations and fields of sorghum when in season. The sorghum crop is distilled into a very popular beverage known locally as Obushera. The distilled sorghum beer is extremely potent and consumed with great passion by both men and women. The finished brew is transported by young boys on the rear carriers of their bicycles in yellow 20-litre jerry cans. Produce is sold in Kisoro and further a field with copious amounts consumed on market days.
After a further 10 minutes walking you will join a little used road from Kisoro town to serve communities in this remote area.
Your guide will introduce to you some common medicinal plants like acucia 'omwitanjoka' a cure if you have been poisoned. Ficus capensis can be observed which is used for treating goats suffering from diarrhoea and is also a traditional symbol used to ward off evil spirits and protect shrines.
The roadside provides an excellent opportunity for pointing out many birds often seen only by the lead person when on a narrow walking trail. Grey headed fiscal shike, chubb's cisticola, cape wagtail, yellow bishops and augur buzzards are among those on the list we would expect to see. The verge of road is also home to many different plants including polycias fulva, albizia gummifera, erythrina abyssinica and maesa lanceolata.
10 kilometers before Nkuringo we reach a road junction where the track we have been following joins the main murram road from Kisoro close to Rubuguri trading centre. This point is referred to as Rubuguri junction in the documentation. Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite is a further 10km distant and 3 hours walking. Some travellers prefer to complete the journey to Nkuringo by special hire taxi. sourced from the trading centre. The views along the road are just breathtaking whether travelling by vehicle or on foot.
Tour groups can rendezvous with their vehicle at Rubuguri junction to transport those that are weary onward by vehicle to Nkuringo.
The night is spent at Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite for those with their own camping equipment or in the adjacent Hammerkop Bunkhouse that can accommodate 10 visitors in 5 comfortable twin bedded rooms. Facilities are simple yet comfortable at Nkuringo and visitors should be prepared for this. The campsite and bunkhouse sit on top of a ridge at 2160m where the north facing view looks out onto another ridge line swathed in primary forest within the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Within the forest is the round hill known as Nkuringo from where the local gorilla group take's it's name. The south facing view looks towards the Virunga range and the active Nyiragongo volcano in the DR Congo often to be seen in clear weather.
Visitors have the option to spend a second night in Nkuringo. This is magical place to take in the ambience, to relax and visit community tourism initiatives. These include a well-defined community walk.
