#fourgorillas

[sandjsbeachbumbonanza]

Day 97 – Banana Booze

We woke up a little bit later today. We started to pack, but realised that while the staff had washed our clothes, they never said anything about drying them. Our clothing was still wet, so we hung them outside on the veranda to try and dry them while we were at breakfast. After breakfast, we packed up our still wet clothing to head to Mbarara. The chef had made J two bags of popcorn to eat on the road as she was such a big fan.

On the way to Mbarara, we stopped to buy some fresh tomatoes and physalis berries at a roadside stall. They were delicious. When we entered Mbarara, Dona stopped by a shop and told us he had to pick up something. That something turned out to be S’ hat, which Dona had recovered from Mazikwe lodge. We weren’t sure how he managed to do this, but were impressed.

Dona then took us to our hotel, the Lakeview Regency resort. He explained that we shouldn’t get our hopes up, as the lake was really just a pond, but the hotel is meant to be the best in Mbarara. There was nothing notable about our hotel room, but it has air conditioning and was a decent size. We hung up our wet clothing to dry outside on the balcony and had a laugh, as we realised we would look like hillbillies drying their clothes at a smart, city hotel.

Dona then took us to his village, where we picked up his father and a couple of his buddies. They then took us to a banana farm, where they make banana beer and banana wine. We saw some of the banana plants and were shown how the beer is made using traditional methods (eg burying the bananas in the earth to ripen them and then squeezing and filtering the juice using grass). The resulting juice is then mixed with sorghum and fermented to make banana beer or banana wine. Apparently they use a special type of banana from a black banana tree to make the banana booze. We tried some banana wine, which was dark brown in colour and slightly sweet.

We then went on to the next stop to see the banana gin distillation process. The banana beer is distilled to around 60% using a metal drum and a pipe which is fed through a river to cool the resulting alcohol. It can then be sent through a second distillation to make it 70-80% alcohol. The 60% gin was tasty and reasonably drinkable.

We then went to a compound, where we were given a glass of banana beer to try. It had an interesting taste. The initial taste was banana and the aftertaste was smoky from the charcoal which is used in the manufacturing process. We gave it a thumb’s up. We were then taken to another village where Dona’s dad got us to try the 70-80% alcohol banana gin. It tasted mostly like alcohol and was very strong. After that, we dropped Dona’s friends back off at the banana tree farm where had first picked them up. While he was chatting with his friends, Dona slipped on a small hill and injured his foot.

We then went to Dona’s parents’ house, where they invited us in for a while. J saw two baby goats and decided to go pet them. They were adorable. We said goodbye to Dona’s family. We then went to the village clinic so Dona could get his wound checked out. He got some iodine to place on the wound to avoid tetanus and was told the injury was minor. We then went to dinner. Dinner was at the oldest pub in Mbarara, which opened in the 1960s. It is not frequented by local community people, but more by politicians and people working for NGOs. For food, they only serve roasted goat or chicken, which are not frequently eaten by locals due to their cost. The food was excellent. J had two servings of chicken and S tried a bit of chicken and a bit of goat. There was also matoke (roasted green banana), which is not sweet at all and tastes like potato, and an onion and tomato salad. Once the food arrived, we realised there were no utensils. That’s when we were told that we are supposed to eat with our hands, including the salad. This explains why a guy came around with a basin of soap and water for us to wash our hands before and after the meal.

Weirdly, they were playing a mix of country and 70s/80s American music. We had a nice time sitting outside and enjoying the ambiance. It was interesting to see that the clientele and staff did not give us a second look as they are all used to seeing foreigners. We then headed back to our hotel for a nightcap at the bar.

[sandjsbeachbumbonanza]

Day 95 – Four Gorillas lodge

We woke up, had breakfast and hit the road. Sadly, an hour out, S realised he had left his safari hat at Mazikwe. “Adios, hat”. We had to change cars because the air conditioning in ours was busted and they could not find a new air conditioning fan belt. The company had to send a new car out to meet us. Our old friend, Alex, from the night of our arrival, drove six hours to meet us and swap cars. The new car was another Toyota Landcruiser, but a slightly smaller version. The air conditioning worked well and J found it a bit chilly after a while. On the way to Bwindi, Dona suggested we view a tea production factory, which sounded like a good idea. When we arrived, a guard with a standard issue AK47 waved us in and we then went on to the entrance. Unfortunately, since COVID, you need to have an appointment a week in advance to tour the facility. As we didn’t have that, we were turned away. We then headed on to Bwindi.

On the way we stopped at a rest stop, which had an ‘avocado house’ for a company that exports avocado seeds. J took some photos of the giant avocado sculpture outside the building but was disappointed that they didn’t actually sell any avocados. We then stopped in a town, Kabale, so Dona could pick up some white wine for us to drink at the Four Gorillas lodge, and any other items we wanted. He let J pick out some white wines. J went with the Four Cousins we had had at Mazikwe and a few other white wines. J liked the experience of being in a local grocery store. The staff at the grocery store were quite helpful. Dona was even able to exchange our warm bottles of beer for cold bottles.

The terrain on the way to Four Gorillas was breath-taking. It was very mountainous, but the villagers still managed to grow crops on the terraced hillside. The temperature decreased as we went up the mountain. On the way to the lodge, we stopped at a roadside vegetable stand. J and Dona got roasted corn for a snack. Four Gorillas lodge was down a long, single-lane dirt road. On the right side of the road was the national park (Bwindi), where the gorillas live. Apparently the gorillas make it down to the road from time to time and it’s possible to see them from the lodge.

Eventually we arrived at the Four Gorillas lodge. It is called Four Gorillas because when the owner was building it, he fell off a ladder during a storm, was knocked unconscious and pinned down by a beam from the lodge. When he woke up, the beam had been removed, he had been covered by a plastic tarpaulin, and a gorilla family of four was watching over him as it rained. Apparently the baby was even massaging his body. S doesn’t find this story 100% plausible. For example, why would the gorillas even think to put a tarpaulin over the owner when they sleep without cover in a nest? However, it does make for good marketing for the lodge. The main building was very impressive. The owner imported from the Congo to build the lodge, including a veranda which overlooks the impenetrable forest. The main building has floor-to-ceiling glass windows and is decorated with furniture imported from Dubai. There is a giant double-sided fireplace which separates the seating area from the dining area. The fireplace is fed by fresh charcoal. There is also a small bar right by the entrance.

After being shown around, we had some sparkling wine on the veranda, overlooking the impenetrable forest, which is actually a dense jungle that covers the mountains. We were placed in a cottage close by the main building with very few steps, to help out S. The room was bigger than Mazikwe, but smaller than many of the other lodges we’ve stayed at. It was sparsely furnished but had good lighting. Very importantly, it had hot water. J went to the room for a hot shower while S stayed on the veranda with Dona.

We had a few drinks in the main building next to the fire, where J sat on a fur stool and took in the heat. Dinner was an avocado and tomato salad with a honey mustard dressing, French onion soup and beef kebabs with vegetables and mashed potatoes. The lodge bakes their own bread, which is slightly sweet and very tasty. We finished with a caramel-encrusted pineapple slice for dessert, which was also delicious. We then retired to the sitting room for a nightcap. J loves the sitting area at Four Gorillas and would want to replicate parts of this in our next home.