Click above for music to travel with the update…..
Friends and Family,
Where to begin? There isn’t a word in the english language that properly summarizes our time with the mountain gorillas. Amazing is about the best I can come up with. We spent only two hours with them in total, and when you hear how much we went through to get to them you will be tempted to wonder if it was worth it….let me assure you It Was.
Context
They are endangered (only 880 left in the world) and all live in this region of the world spread between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We learned during our visit that you won’t see mountain gorillas in any zoo — they do not thrive in captivity due to their special diet and impossible to replicate habitat. We visited them inside the Volcanoes National Park — the same park where Dian Fossey conducted her research. Today the park is approximately 40,000 acres and is home to roughly 40% of the total population.
Getting Here
It is not easy to get to them. On top of the over 21 cumulative hours of flight time (via Dubai and Nairobi) the hike to get to them can be physically demanding…especially if your training regimen consisted of sushi, wine and an occasional trip to the gym (imagine a smily emoticon here – can’t find those little bastards in wordpress).
Typical Trek Day
5:30 am: Wake up call. This is when Linus (Dawn assigned name, explained later) shows up at your door with hot chocolate, coffee and biscuits.
6:00 am: Breakfast in the lodge dining room
6:30 am: Our driver Gaston (true story, can’t make that one up) shuttles us 20 minutes to the Park Service Headquarters that serves as the gathering place for all trekkers that have permits for that day.
Between 6:30 and 7:30: Gaston negotiates with the park service staff on the level of difficulty we should have for your hike. They are categorized as Short (30 minutes), Medium or Long (3 hours).
Between 7:30 and 8:00: We are assigned a difficulty level, a hike group (limited to 8 people), park service guide and given a briefing on the gorilla family we are about to meet.
Between 8:00 and 9:00: Gaston drives us to the head of the trail
9:30: We meet our hired porters (a porter is to Rwanda Volcanoes National Park what a sherpa is to Mount Everest) that will haul your bag (and you if needed) up the mountain.
10:00: The trek group begins the hike
Eventually: You meet up with four gorilla trackers that have pinpointed the location of the family, leave all your gear behind and take the short walk to where they are.
Highlights from Day 1
Let me just get this out of the way….day 1 nearly killed me. We were assigned a medium hike that translated to a 1 hour and 45 minute hike straight up the Karisoke mountain. The hike was steep (up to 8,500 feet above sea level) and the terrain was an unfriendly mixture of rocks and mud. This coupled with the fact that I self identify as Ridiculously Clumsy (recall that time I broke my foot boarding a plane?) meant that I was extremely timid poking my way up and down the mountain much to the dismay of our group….and my poor porter. He was a very slight guy and I almost took him down with me a couple of times. Let’s just say the hike was not elegant — for me. Patrick, however, was a different story. He bounded up the mountain like a sure footed gazelle which I found Completely Irritating.
The reward for all of this hard work was the gorillas. Once we made it to the trackers they led us around a bank of foliage and right in front of you was our first sighting of the 12 member Ntambara family…a huge silverback gorilla. He was simply sitting there and when we came into his view he looked up and away — not bothered at all by our presence. I was simply in awe of his size and how close we were to him (3-4 feet). Continuing down the path we saw the rest of the family and spent the hour observing the adults rest and the babies play. Their overall activity level was low, we clearly happened upon them during nap time. This actually was comforting…since they were not on the move you could simply watch, take pictures and study their features and behaviors. I loved every minute. The guy next to me was charged once by a mid-size gorilla which was exciting (for us probably not him) but he handled it well, doing exactly what we were taught — to demonstrate submissive behaviors like lowering your eyes and moving your body closer to the ground. The gorilla liked what he saw and retreated.
Highlights from Day 2
So many things broke our way on day 2 it is hard to highlight just one. First of all we were assigned a short hike. Secondly were placed into hike group that consisted of 7 people (four from Washington D.C. and one from Costa Rica) that were guests of President Kagame and in town for the global Interpol convention. I immediately viewed this as important because I knew that these folks would be treated to the very best viewing Rwanda had to offer. My instinct was correct when we learned which group we were assigned…the Agashya family (swahili for Special). The family is comprised of 19 members ranging in age from babies to the lone silverback / head of the family and unlike the Ntambara family, were Extremely Active.
This hike was a thousand times easier than the one the previous day….we made it to the gorillas inside of 30 minutes. As an added bonus, they were feeding on bamboo which we learned causes them to be hyper. This family had eaten quite a bit of bamboo.
We entered their space and they were literally all over the place. Above, behind, in front, beside…..it was exhilarating. They were swinging, climbing, running, playing and chest beating to show off. One person in our group was slapped by a gorilla — any guesses on who that was? That’s right…it was me (everyone all together now “Only Dawn”)! One of the trackers was with me several feet away from the rest of our group when one of smaller gorillas (I presume a teenager given high level of sass) ran past me and slapped my leg. Then he came back the other way and grabbed my pants….and held on! It was brief but long and hard enough to actually unsnap my pants. I was so proud of myself, I did exactly what they said and remained still and calm until he let go. They claim that running is the absolute worst thing you can do because they will chase you (it pays to listen to those briefings boys and girls). A short time later I was standing in a different spot and another gorilla brushed past my leg not once....but four times. During each of these close calls I grabbed the first thing I could on my left to stabilize myself — and it was the arm of one of President Kagame’s guests. During a gorilla close call all protocol goes out the window (emoticon smiley number two).
I could go on and one about this day — the pictures tell the story better than any words could. I’ll post the highlight reel on Facebook (wordpress limitation number two) for now.
This morning we will meet with the Senior Research Scientist at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. I am very eager to learn more about how they work daily to protect and grow the population (up 27% between 2005 and 2010). Then we head to the airport to launch the effort to make it to Zimbabwe (Kigali Rwanda to Johannesburg South Africa to Zimbabwe). Game On.
Until the next check in!
Dawn
PS: I neglected to share why our guy has been assigned the name Linus. Our guy (everyone at this lodge is assigned a guy) quickly learned we liked wine and has made sure that each day we had a full bottle of chardonnay waiting in the room. This reminded me of that episode in How I Met Your Mother when they were at a wedding and Linus made sure Lily had a beverage at All Times (link below).
Dawn's Tribe 