The source of the Nile

 Soon after leaving the John Matte Hut, we climbed up a rise to a large plateau. Here was a mildly vast wetland area. Vittorio explained he had once been with researchers up in the Ruwenzoris for 29 days. Their focus was on the Lower Bigo Bog (at least that is what I think he was talking about. I came at this very same topic three or four times over our eight day trip).

 The piece that I had to make very clear is the part where the bog is the source of the Nile River.
"How can the bog be the source of the Nile?"
"The plants in the bog pull water out of the ground. More than the rainfall and snow melt."

Now, for an area like this, that, is making quite a comment. I took this to state that the vegetation pumped water to the surface, which overflowed into the adjoining river, which is the highest elevation water flows in the direction of the Nile. On the western side of the Ruwenzori, I would think that water flows to the Congo River.

"What were the researchers looking at for 29 days?"
"The bog."
"Did they think it was the source of the Nile?"
"Definitively." He used that word. Vittorio is quite well educated.







So here I am, little old guy from Columbus, Ohio, bumbling along some trail in Africa to climb a mountain and just inadvertently hike up and over a world heritage site that is the source of the Nile.

My great, 'Man, I did not prepare for this one.' was not bringing a small empty bottle with me. I could have had a bottle containing a bit of the source of the Nile. I could put it on the mantle next to my squashed penny  from Yankee Stadium. And my Viewmaster slides of the West.

All kidding aside. There are places on the earth where you can't help but notice the energy there. Mount Rainier is a place. So is the Washington coast, west of Olympic National Park. Similar energy along the waterways on the inside of Vancouver Island, north of... Vancouver. Yellowstone. Tibet. New Zealand.
Even I could feel it. The guy who wouldn't notice the Dali Lama, if he was sitting next to him on the Bus. To start conversation, I'd probably ask him about how he does his trash pick up.

But, the Bigo Bog has this, 'Beginning of Man' energy about it. This pureness. So pure, I was not brave enough to drink from the source of the Nile.
Another one of life's opportunities missed.
This kind of stuff is the difference between people like me, and... Hemingway.
Some people live life. I just walk around the perimeter.

The trail through the bog is a boardwalk, to protect the bog. This boardwalk had the earmarks of the UN, or at least an NGO: 24" diameter plastic culvert pipe (the expensive kind), stainless steel bolts, sawmill wood (any piece of it would have, at home, sold as an exotic African hardwood). The boardwalk was well built and made the right statement. This place is too beautiful and valuable to scar up with a pig slop through it.

At the bog's end, we climbed through some higher ground and into the Upper Bigo Bog. It is not quite as much of a power center. Although the boardwalk here does possess less of a
'right-outside-National-Park-Service-headquarters-in-Washington-DC feel to it though. The boardwalk lays directly on the wet earth and may last an additional five years before it begins to rot too pervasively.

Above the Upper Bigo Bog, is beautiful Bijuku Lake. It is accompanied by a hut of the same name just above it. With a lake holding water here, acting like a battery for a solar panel, Why would this not be the source of the Nile? I asked Vittorio if it was so.
"Yes"
"Both the bog and this lake are the source of the Nile?"
"Yes."
Clearly, the concept of an ultimate piece of real estate doesn't compute here in the Ruwenzoris.

I'm glad it doesn't. Here is a place where 'this tree is no better than that one', 'you get the same respect others get, when it is deserved' and 'Nothing here is worth more than another element. Its value is as a complete system. You can't break it up and sell it for the most any and every single piece can demand.'

A reference to Vittorio Sella

I inserted a nickname I gave to our guide, without the story behind it. I think its worth hearing, so, pity the reader. It comes out of an email I sent out to my climbing friends, thereby, I had this impression everyone had seen it. Sorry. Time to bring the story up to speed.

The Duke of Abruzzi came into the Ruwenzori in 1906. The area had been observed. A couple of Europeans had walked into the mountains, but not far. They had not mapped the valleys, even. I know of 4 expeditions the Duke had masterminded: Mount Saint Elias, K2, The Ruwenzori and an Arctic attempt. I have been to the first three areas and have some very real opinions to the tenacity, strength, thoughtfulness and quality of the projects the guy took on. Each a magnificient trip. And well done to boot.

He brought a brilliant photographer on his trips, Vittorio Sella. For my money, Vittorio captures the loneliness, beauty, the bigness and the romance of these big peaks and the experience. He can stand next to any of the big boys: Ansel Adams, Bradford Washburn, etc.

On day two, while wallowing through some mud, I proclaimed my photography guideline. If you only take pictures of good weather, people think the trip was a celebration of good weather, good times, light loads, sitting around drinking good coffee every morning and laying around in the sun.

If I return to work at Utility Technologies International, a pipeline engineering consultant and contractor, could you imagine if the guys in the ditch (who I work with) saw only the sunny side of my trip? They would plant me in the mother of all mud holes, and leave for lunch. Just to preserve my dignity around the shop, I must photograph the hard times.

Capturing the hard times is the goal of the photography experience for me. I have rarely succeeded. Its a shoot from the hip; keep your eyes open when they are packed full of mud; be ever willing to ruin your camera for a shot- world. I see several visions of heart stirring shots a day, but ever so rarely, can I capture them. The perspective is challenging. I am usually busy. Most of the time, I'm tired. And, I just don't want to ruin my little point and shoot camera...

Within those shots, though is an unusual insight into the Human Spirit. Why do we go to battle for that next step upward, when for the same effort, we can take 100 downwards? Why do we increase the risk to our existence, when we could have stayed home and ben warm, safe and dry? Where does the energy come from to keep us moving farther? Why keep going deeper into the misty, cloud shrouded mountains in the distance, knowing any injury will turn our dreams into nightmare?

For all these reasons, my partner, in his deep wisdom could see the artistic aura around our guide, and handed him his camera for a few snaps of the mud.

Suddenly, this man was transformed. Every shot required three takes. Every species was recorded. Each beauty of the area had to be documented. The subtle gray on gray of the sky was realized. He was capturing images he hoped would help publicize his beloved mountains. In so doing, the world would come. The community would be able to afford to educate their children, buy medicine and hopefully improve their world slightly.

The net effect? We rarely saw our guide, or my partner's camera after he got his hands on it.

Hence, the reference to our guide, Vittorio.

In each day's review of the images shot, we realized the guy was taking some nice shots. It was humbling that this remote mountain area, our once-was-a-porter companion had a better grasp on the art of photography than myself after dangling one of the things around my neck for 35 years or so... A photographers images can hang on a wall and be scrutinized from close up and back at a distance. Some of my snaps can hold up to 8 seconds of investigation on a projections screen, with the distraction of a story and maybe music going on at the same time

Malaria in camp

The really unique element to the Ruwenzori Mountains, is the vegetation. We walked through three vegetation zones today. The Ruwenzori circuit follows a river until its confluence with an additional one. Near the confluence, we take the right (north) branch. The return will come in on the left branch. The initial day will be re-visited on the exit to the park gate.

The day was a blur of photos and gentle rain slowly moving in. To add some spice, we ran across some occasional boggy ground. The definition of trail here, is sticks and logs laying on/in the ground so you can walk, rather than wallow. You would be unable to go far with out the ground preparation. I did the best I could to stay on the logs, but as many disappear underwater (muddy water), there is an element of faith that some prankster did not saw the invisible part out. In fact, that must have been the case each time I found myself boot-topping in wet mud. The type that is trying to pull your boot off your foot. The Muckboot must have been designed for here, because it is ...pretty... mucky. With the frequent high steps, my Marmot Precip rainpants were mud up to the crotch, on the inside of my legs.

Tomorrow, we will hit the more extensive bog.

When arriving at the John Matte hut, I tried to log a GPS location, but the satellites were not cooperating. The steep ridges on both sides of us block out any satellites near the horizon. I am also sending out daily SPOT Satellite Messenger notes. Africa is a new area for SPOT.  

In review, all the 'pings' worked well. 
 
The SPOT Messenger is a very cost effective device and seems very dependable. Messages also include Google Earth links to our location. When I sent one from a summit, I heard wails of complaint from a friend, neck deep in school. Sorry Bill, I didn't mean to rub it in quite so hard. I was trying to be gentle. My intention was to alert family and friends that we were doing well.

A second button will call for help and the operator is allowed a moderate length message. The message is pre-written, having been uploaded online, with the email and text message addresses prior to the trip. The crux is what to say on the help message. Finally, there is the 911 signal. I can only guess that, here, they send out the National Guard. For 911, there a single contact person, with phone numbers. Here, you can also write up a profile of the participants, for the rescue folks. The SPOT Satellite Messenger is a valuable piece of gear. I think it would be negligent to not have one as a professional, with paying clients, or students. It is the least expensive way to ensure communications.

While I am milling around with various pieces of technology, Vittario approaches me with, "One of the porters has Malaria. Do you have any medicine for him?" No, I don't have any Malaria treatment medicine, just our daily pills. After a moments thought, I pulled out my Kindle. On it, there a couple of medical books. After lots of reading between the lines, it became clear the same medicine for prophylaxis is used for treatment. The book called for 1 gram in treatment, of course of a different drug than we were carrying. I am sure our meds are new to the area, so the Malaria is not resistant to it. The info that came with the drug, Doxycycl, from the pharmacy was consulted as well. None gave any guidance for our situation....


My partner and I concluded to give the porter some of our meds. The devil being, how much? If 100mg is a daily prophylaxis, a gram of Old Standard is treatment, then,.... let's try 200mg of new-on-the-block Doxycycl. Give him some Mortin for the fever (it's all I had) and lets give him 2 hours. We'll give him more D if we need to.

I kept the medical record on the Kindle, as a note in the Malaria information of Medicine for Mountaineering, a standard medical text. Over the years, I have likely read it 6 times. I still can't remember a thing in it.

                 26 yr old pt
                 lost his appetite. vomited a small amount. chills.
                 fever/headache. has history of malaria. with last
                 about 1 year ago.
                 vomited 15:00
                 we were notified 17:15.
                 elevation...11,000ft?
                 rr 16/18 easy and regular. he is well acclimated.
                 carrying here often.
                 sctm color good. temp warm. moist.
                 pt complains of fever. I do not feel a significant
                 warmth. we have no thermemeter.
                 last oral intake. drank a liter of water, hoping to
                 reduce the headache.
                
                 17:30 gave pt 2- 100mg doxycycl
                                       2- 200 mg Motrin

                 18:15 pt feeling better
                 19:15  pt was encouraged to get up join crew by fire
                 drink some tea and eat something. i was told he did.
                 20:30 pt was given 3rd doxycycl. 3 for day, from
                 17:00 to 20:30

             ....plan
                 pt and strong friend will begin walking out in the
                 morning. rms will send up porters to help with the walk
                 out.
                 we will send the pt with doxycycl for 3 sets of two
                 caps. we will send equal amt of motrin.
                 send off with- food
                                      foam and sleeping bag
                                      sufficient clothing
                                      meds record

23% of folks in Uganda have Malaria. it is common knowledge here.
The moral I walk away with, 'learn the common ailments of the country you are visiting. Carry some meds for these ailments. A unique book, for just this situation is, Where there is no Doctor. There is no digital copy for the Kindle- hear that Amazon? It is an important resource, akin to John Muir's, Keeping you Volkswagen Alive.

addendum to On the trail

It struck me, while I was chopping ice off my gutters for 9 hours, over two days, that the ramblings on 'half way' yesterday helped anchor a Tibetan belief. Helped bring it into the West an additional step.

Human life is full of pain.
Our pain is caused by our desires.
If we can free ourselves from our desires, we free ourselves from pain.

I have chewed on that for years. There is not a smooth translation/transition to my goal-oriented world. Maybe it works if we transcend the measurement of our world. Just live in it.

Fits into walking uphill, doesn't it?

On the trail

 The Ruwenzori Circuit, first camp- Nyabitaba Hut. 16:30, sitting in a dry t-shirt, not hot, not cold, just right.
I had the impression these huts were small, uncomfortable buildings. The old hut here has a front and back 'apartment' and probably 12 bunks. There are foam mattresses, covered with a cotton cover. No guessing when the last time it was changed. Then there are pillows for each bed. I'm thinking I'll sleep with my head on my pack instead.
We had a pleasant five hour walk. There was maybe an hour of flat ground, followed with a couple of hours more of gently ascent.  

(On the descent, eight days later, I was rather impressed with how much of the day was fairly steep uphill. Obviously, there was still the 'glow' of a new place distracting my judgment when I wrote this.)

A lunch stop is reputed to be half-way through the day. Like many statistics, such information inspires heartbreak and inspiration, depending on one's mood, how it is presented and the experience with/of the subject/statistician.

There are at least four measurements 'halfway' could be referring to: distance, elevation gain, energy, and finally, time.
Distance is nearly useless in the mountains and with increasing altitude. It just isn't a realistic representations of a day for this scenario; unless there is, far and away,.more of it than elevation gain.


Energy is a bit esoteric,
but, at least, I can prepare myself mentally and nutritionally.
Time, is skewing the focus towards pain. Or hardship. With a perspective on 'time,' it almost begs the participant to focus on, "How much is left." I don't even want to go there any more. "Transcend time, Grasshopper (after the Master of th TV show of my youth, Kung Fu). There is plenty of it, yet you shouldn't waste any of it. But, in the end, it does not matter any way. Trying to measure, or project, time.
We are left with elevation gain. The knife stab here is, yet again, how much is left to go. Looking up. The same outcome, measurement and projection amounts to pain.

A well traveled high altitude climber has a particular expertise and insight into this issue, having spent seeming lifetimes wrestling with the slope above.

By far, the least painful attitude is to enjoy walking. If simply walking is pleasant, there is no pain. Each step can become an alignment and centering of your soul. It is best to not use two ski poles, for they insulate the participant from the pleasure of balance. OK, one is a good compromise. The process of sustained uphill walking requires a rest step. The single most valuable technique on any mountain of this planet. There should be flow from one step to the next, where there is a pre-cognition of where I want to be in the next moment. Looking at the immediate ground ahead, I know what I need to do to get there. Each transition is founded on the easiest step from here to there.

This can be a very easy substitute for meditation. And, that, will get us up a hill.

If only making a decision was as easy.



At Nyabitaba, there is a new hut under construction. Being the closest to the trailhead, Ruwenzori Mountaineering Services wants a larger, even more comfortable structure for two day programs, Nearly complete, it promises to be a very nice night out. These guys are laying the groundwork for an excellent program.

Back to the... modern world

We are out of the Ruwenzori Mountains. For such a legendary, rarely visited area, I went in ready for anything. As it usually happens, what I found, I really was not expecting.

There were no: poison blow darts hitting the tree just ahead of us, no drumming rolling up from the neighboring Congo, no monster crocs slipping into the water when we crossed rivers, we didn’t see any boats like the African Queen, there was no quicksand, no huuuge snakes dropping out of trees to strangle us, no cool English encampments, no staying up all night around the fire to ward off lions, no shrunken heads hanging in our path, ....

What we did find was an extraordinary place. Every day, we were changing vegetation zones, sometimes several per day. The glaciers are quickly disappearing. The local people have a fairly sophisticated ‘co-op’ to guide, cook for and porter for trekkers and climbers who come into the area. Last year, the managing director of Ruwenzori Mountaineering Services told me they had only 900 visitors. This included the circuit trek. About 25% of that number were climbers.

The circuit hike is a fairly tough undertaking. I really can’t call it a trail. It seems like every day, sometimes all day, we walked on logs and sticks laid on the boggy ground, so we could avoid sinking in. After the first day, I saw no reason to use a hiking boot. The rubber boots were the boot for the trip. I was glad I had sprung for a good boot. The MuckBoot, Wetland model, performed well.

Most of the mountains are pretty. The highest one, Margherita Peak, is likely the prettiest.
When you can see it.

The peaks would be great for traverses. However, the weather may complicate the undertaking. You would want to make sure the trails would work out. I don’t think I would even consider cross-country travel in any valley. You may find yourself stuck waist deep, in bogs, waiting for help to yank you out.

The place truly deserves the world heritage site ranking, a UN designation for the most valuable locations on the planet. This appears to have been awarded for the uniqueness of the environment, the misty history of the Mountains of the Moon (from before Ptolemy’s day) and because it is the source of the Nile river.

The locals are all but pleading for every visitor to tell their friends. Have them come. They know that what is in their back yard rivals any place on the planet. They know that tourism is the solution to the financial straits they are trying to claw out of.
They are striving to develop programs to entice lucrative guests who are taking part in gorilla trekking in southwestern Uganda.

They mirror a feeling I got where ever we traveled through Uganda. The people are rebuilding their country after many years of hard, hard times, politically. I saw much building going on. The people are honest, hard working, ready and willing to take advantage of opportunities that come their way. The country is beautiful. The place and it’s people are positioning itself for tourism. I believe they hope it catches on, knowing alternatives of mining and oil do not really benefit the people.   

Tourism does.

Tourism is one thing we can do to improve the lives of these people. Uganda, and areas like Uganda, are real adventurous travel destinations. Your dollar goes a long way, you will be educated, your heart will be broken, but I don’ think it is possible you won’t return home a better world citizen
.
Because I dropped the ball on my capability to send out daily dispatches, I am going to drop back and begin sending out dispatches from the beginning of the trip. We went in on the 5th of February and came out on the 12th.

At least there will be photos.

Houston, we're missing a cable

I am so disappointed. I have left two cables at home. One to connect the Amazon Kindle to charge/ computer and a data cable for the sat phone.
It looks like I have to fall back to the stone age and send postcards to all three of you.

Even at 5/8 charge on the Kindle, I know there are plenty of electricities in there to get through a week of reading and maybe even writing. I have written two dispatches on the Kindle, but have not figured out how to get it out of there, from here.

I will write with pencil and paper, then let fly when we get back to civilisation.

I don't know if this internet connection could even get a photo through it. It took 25 minutes to fire up!???

We go into the Ruwenzori National Park in the morning. We will have 8 porters, for three people: Anthony, the guide and myself.

The weather is hazy, but not raining yet. No chance to prove the excellentness of the Marmot Exum Jacket and Precip full zip pants, yet. I am expecting to prove the modern age to the locals who insist a raincoat must have a poncho over it all.

Actually, those who are the climbers locally, all know nice gear when they see it. Herbert, who will be climbing with us, was playing with the three Metolious  Power Cams, the Keen boots and the Black Diamond ice axe.... I could read the thought bubble coming out of the top of his head, ...."I sure hope you forget this stuff behind..." 

The gear has held up well to its 30 hours or so in a duffel bag. The only fatality was a bottle of suncreme blew its top. I carry multiples  and small ones any more. Andy wrap them in plastic.

Uganda, contrary to what you may see on the internet, is a beautiful place. The people a sweet, kind and gentle. Things seem to run plenty smooth enough and its as hot as I would expect on the equator. I wouldn't want to be disappointed.
I suspect the Ruwenzori will very quickly bound into a hot trip to do.

And the system and people are honest. I was asked by a hurried airport worker if the Amazon Kindle found in the seatback pocket was mine. "Yes, (my heart stopped) thank you." There is a perfectly good excuse for my distraction from checking the seatback pocket, I assure you
"I will need your boarding card and passport." I started to walk with him to the CSI Airplane Seatback Pocket Unit, but he said "Wait here."
As he blazed away with a mission in his step, my heart sunk as I realized I had just given my passport and Kindle to the guy nearly running out of the airport arrival lounge. I was standing there wondering how I was going to explain this event to Anthony and International Mountain Guides.... I suspected this could provide the grand he has wanted to see Paris.
I waited for -only- several l-o-n-g minutes. The same guy half-jogged back in with a bunch of papers. I had two affidavits to sign and I had my passport, Kindle and boarding pass back....

The moral of the story? "Please be sure to gather all you belongings before you depart the aircraft."
I was probably reading (on my Kindle) when they said that,.....