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Visiting the batwa pygmys in southwestern Uganda near
D.R.Congo border.
The Colorado African Expedition of 2007 reaches Lake
Tanganyika
After an adventurous journey across 5 East and Central
African countries, the Colorado African Expedition 2007 has reached
Kigoma in Tanzania at Lake Tanganyika to catch the MV Lima Ferry boat
south to Zambia. On the way, they have encountered hunters, poachers and
a troop of mountain gorillas.
The official departure of the Colorado African
Expedition 2007 from Mombassa, Kenya, took place on January 22, 2007 at
10:00 am local time under the patronage of His Worship, Ali Shekue, the
Mayor of Mombassa, on the white sand beach along the Indian Ocean.
Following the event, expedition leader Julian Fisher and camera man
Keith Hellyer took off for an adventure across Africa. Interviews with
conservation groups such as Earth Watch, with big game hunters like Ms.
Natasha Illum Berg and safari outfitters lined the trek along the
historical route of the Colorado African Expedition 1928 through
Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
What has changes since Paul Louis Hoefler came through
on his expedition almost eighty years ago? How has the focus of
conservation changed the lives of all Africans? The expedition aims to
record today’s reality of Africa - chronicled by conversations with
people of all walks of life. In south west Uganda a visit to the Batwa
pygmies tribe offered a unique perspective. The 20,000 rainforest
hunters and gatherers are forced to live alongside a logging road after
being relocated by park rangers and conservationists.
The Colorado African Expedition then had to leave the
historical route which headed north-west through D.R. Congo, Chad and
Nigeria, due to ongoing conflicts in those regions today. With the
Atlantic Ocean as the ultimate goal of the trek, the first stop in
Rwanda included a five hour hike through dense and humid rainforest to
reach a troop of eight mountain gorillas. Julian Fisher, a cultural
anthropologist, describes the experience as truly amazing, “We sat there
for over an hour watching them. There was a silver back and a baby. At
one point, a rumble started among the younger males and the silver back
got up to call their respect. He was huge!” “We kept a distance to them
of about
7 meters, but suddenly, we heard some noise behind us
and there comes a female slowly out of the jungle in our back. As the
gorilla slowly walks over to her troop, she passes right by me and
briefly touches my back as she moves on.”
From Rwanda the expedition headed through Burundi
which has a strong UN presence. “There were check points every few miles
– UN, police, military and others where we were not sure who it was. We
were interrogated over and over as to who we were and what we wanted. We
did not have to pay any bribes, but it was a very tense feeling
throughout”, Julian explains the situation they encountered.
The expedition has now reached Kigoma in Tanzania
where they will catch the MV Limba ferry boat to Zambia. “This is
Central Africa as you imagine it. There are so many boats and ferries in
the harbour, people are moving in all directions at the pier, right in
front of me I see a man washing his clothes in a puddle of dirt and
there are pineapples everywhere”. The trip onboard will take
approximately 65 hours and arrive in Mpulungu in Zambia. From there the
expedition will head for Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
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