Gorilla Trekking

Wow! That word seems insignificant, but it is the best word I can think of to describe today. We’re in the northwestern part of Rwanda this weekend going on our Gorilla trekking adventure. Anything I type is going to seem insufficient to portray everything, but I will try my best. Saturday morning we woke up early and took the bus to Kigali. Once there we stopped for a quick bite to eat at Café Bourbon and Emily satisfied her coffee addiction. I also satisfied my longing for two foods that I had not had in awhile, ham and cheese. After lunch, we hopped on a bus to Ruhengeri. This bus was huge compared to what we’ve been used to, and we each had individual seats. People have been telling us that the area around Kibungo is the “flat” part of Rwanda. We’ve been laughing at this because it’s all hills and mountains similar to the Appalachian Mountains… but with palm and banana trees. After this trip, we understand why they made this distinction. The bus traveled up into huge mountains, with farms going up to the top of most of them. It’s amazing that the Rwandan people do not waste an inch of land. I can’t imagine hiking up those slopes every day to farm, but even the children here seem to have no problem doing it.

Once we arrived in Ruhengeri, we hired a car for the quick drive to Kinigi, which is right next to Volcanoes National Park. Once I saw the volcanoes I had to catch my breath. They are enormous mountains covered in trees that extend up into the mist and clouds. I almost feel like it would be worth it to come to Rwanda and see the park, even if you didn’t see the gorillas. We stayed at the Kinigi Guest House, which is a cozy little place just a short walk from the park office. We grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant there, where we met several other travelers who were trekking the next day. Emily and I sat next to a lovely couple from South Africa who had spent the previous three days viewing the gorillas and were going to view the Golden Monkeys today. The lady was wheelchair-bound, and they have been hiring porters to carry her and a chair into the jungle so that she can enjoy seeing something that few people in the world get to see. The organization of the people at the park is truly amazing. During dinner, we secured a group to share in the expensive cost of hiring a driver to take us into the park, and then we were quickly off to bed to rest up before the big hike.

I started off today with a luxury that I have not enjoyed in three weeks: a standing shower. Please don’t take reliable hot water, electricity, or water pressure for granted. Being without it is tolerable, but enjoying a nice shower in the morning is awesome. Ok, enough of that… on with the story. After a delicious breakfast, we headed over to the ranger station. There are seven families of gorillas and one group of Golden Monkeys, and each group can have up to eight visitors. The guides quickly divided us all into groups based on their estimate of how fit we were and a few special requests from people who knew a little bit more about the differences than we did. We were just happy to see a gorilla. We ended up with a diverse group, including a couple our age from Australia, a married American and German, and a couple from France. Our guide was hilarious and very informative. We found out we were going to see the Ugenda group, which consists of thirteen gorillas, including three silverback males, several females, and a small bunch of young babies.

After a somewhat nauseating drive on a very bumpy gravel/dirt road, we arrived at our hiking point. The ride was tolerable only because the whole road was filled with people, many of whom were children, who all laughed, yelled, and waved at us as we passed. I have no idea what they were saying, but the Rwandan children, as always, are impossible to be around without a smile. The path started out walking through farmland. Before you think that farmland doesn’t sound too bad, remember that I earlier said that the farms went all the way up the mountains. Our path was very steep up a hillside filled with crops and occasional goats, sheep, and cattle. There were children along this path as well, but they may have kept their distance from us because of our two military guards carrying Kalashnikovs. They were our insurance in case we ran into an unfriendly guest, such as an elephant or buffalo. We were also warned not to take any pictures of the soldiers. The hike was somewhat difficult, but we tackled it at a reasonable pace. The view was breathtaking, with the volcanoes rising up out of valleys covered in mist and reaching up into the clouds. I kept telling myself, “Remember this moment.” Before we knew it, we were standing at an old stone fence with a small opening. Beyond it stood a huge forest of bamboo and stinging nettles. We had arrived at the border to Volcanoes National Park.

Journeying into the jungle was pretty surreal. It was hard to believe that the land we were walking on was inhabited by such creatures that I’ve only seen in zoos or on television. We had to watch our step, because the path had been made by a buffalo who seemed to have a case of indigestion. The front part of our group actually saw the animal at one point before it meandered off into the bush. After about ten minutes of hiking, our guide asked us to put down our walking sticks and backpacks, and he told us to try to be quiet… the gorillas were nearby. We were told that this time of year, the hikes are a little shorter than normal. The furthest group can take hours to reach at times, but since this is the rainy season, the bamboo is throwing up new shoots in the lower parts of the mountains, making the hikes much shorter. Our guide asked us to not call it bamboo, however, we called it “gorilla beer.” Apparently the new bamboo shoots have a somewhat intoxicating affect on the gorillas, making them either extremely playful or very lazy. I think it is safe to say that we were hoping for the former.

We carefully crept through some low lying bamboo and suddenly, no more than about twenty feet ahead, there was a huge mass of black fur. Several legs were sticking out of the pile at various angles. One of the mounds of fur had an area of silver and he was identified as the dominant male of the family. There was the one male and about four or five females all grouped together lounging in a small clearing. We could hear the rest of the group moving nearby, and occasionally we’d see a small tree or bamboo shoot get toppled, followed my loud munching. They seemed to be pretty lazy at this time, but even a group of lazy gorillas is fascinating when they’re just a few feet in front of you. Eventually, smaller individuals emerged from the mound of fur, and the babies became more visible. They rolled around and climbed all over the adults. Unfortunately, every time one would look at us, they’d turn away before anyone was able to get a good photo.

After about twenty minutes, the big fella decided he’d had enough of that location, and he suddenly got up and walked out of the clearing, passing our shocked and silent group by only about five feet. The rest of the group followed, with the babies jumping on the backs of the females. It was at this time we spotted the second ranking male. He brought up the rear of the group and kept a close eye on us as we tried to follow them further into the brush. At one point he decided to stop and eat, so we continued on, leaving him somewhere further behind us. I was a curious about putting us in between a big male gorilla and the rest of his pack. I didn’t have to wait long to satisfy this curiosity, however. Our guide suddenly asked us to move quickly. He seemed a little louder and more nervous than usual, and he quickly told us to step aside. It turns out the other male was following us and was literally right behind some of our group. He walked by us seemingly without a care. I could have reached out and pet him if I had wanted, but I am not insane and value my limbs, so I did not.

The remainder of our time was spent following the group and trying to get the best views possible. The main silverback was at the front of the group, so our views of him became pretty limited. Fortunately we were able to get very close to some of the females and the other male, and the picture we obtained were wonderful. They really didn’t seem to care at all that we were there, as long as none of us gave off threatening or surprising impressions. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life, and I am so fortunate to have been able to do this. Our time was limited to the fastest hour I’ve ever experienced, and we finally had to leave our hosts. After a final glance at the group, we headed back down the mountain.

There is one final thing that our guide asked of us before we left him. I’ll use this blog to partially fulfill that request. He stated that we were now ambassadors for the gorillas and for the country of Rwanda. We may have had many friends or family who warned us not to come here because of the recent violent history. After the experiences we’ve had, I feel that I could suggest Rwanda as a destination to anyone. As you may have guessed from our previous postings, we have received nothing but warm greetings from everyone we’ve met. There’s almost a palpable pride here that the people show in how welcoming they are. Everyone seems to want to put the past behind them and move forward, something which the country seems to be doing better than any other country in Africa. As for being an ambassador for the gorillas, I think reading about our experience and that of others should do the trick. If anyone has the opportunity or privilege to do this, I highly recommend it. There are many other things to do in the national park, and the view alone is worth it.

So now we’re relaxing in the guest house, enjoying some peace before we have to make the long journey back across the country. We’ve swapped e-mail addresses with several of the group members, so I’m sure the best pictures from our group will be shared. We’ll make sure to post the videos and photos once we’re back home with a faster internet, but I think we’re going to try to upload one to Facebook today. So we now go off into our final week in Rwanda. The public health day is coming soon, and then we pack up to go back to Arizona. This week is going to fly by.