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All the Small Things: A Walk in the African Rainforest
(Not even one hundred thousandth of the small things)
In the green heart of Africa, on the edge of the Albertine Rift where the land shifts and splits, dense rainforest covers the mountains. Tourists come to these forests to spend a peaceful hour in the company of mountain gorillas. The gorilla families go about their business. It is just another day for them. For their visitors, it is an experience they will not forget.
But the gorillas, and the troops of chimpanzees that whoop and shriek in the canopy, and forest elephants that can knock down trees but can also disappear into the darkness like ghosts, are only a fragment of this rich rainforest ecosystem.
Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest nestles against the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Less than fifty kilometres to the south, a wide red road crosses into Rwanda. This is a beautiful part of Africa. It is also complex in every aspect.
In January 2019 — a few weeks before the world changed — I was in Uganda with a group of friends on my first trip to Africa. Guides took us trekking through…
