The Gorillas

Trip Start May 01, 2007

Trip End Jun 30, 2007

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Flag of Rwanda Kinigi, Rwanda
Friday, June 15, 2007

Our morning began with a 12km ride from the tourism office (where we met the remaining five members of our group, and our guide) to the climbing base of Volcanoes National Park. At the tourism office, the herds of flocking tourists were divided into groups of eight, each corresponding to one of the five gorilla families living within the Rwandan perimeters of the Virunga Volcanoes. The Park National de Volcans hugs the borders of Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is the last remaining natural habitat for these amazing creatures. Our ride to the hiking base was filled with the distant backdrop of the misty volcanoes, more lush green fields, hundreds of waving, bare-footed children running in the streets, dozens of women dressed in colorful African wear (balancing more on their heads, than I can carry in both of my arms), and men carefully guiding bicycles topped with mounds of freshly picked bananas, not to mention...countless smiles and hello's. This image, one which we have now witnessed hundreds of times, has permanently ingrained itself in the way I will always remember Africa. Simple, green, and always smiling, amidst inconceivable hardship.

We hike up through farmlands and into the gateway of the National Park, complete with armed guards (to scare off poachers, buffalo, and elephants) and guide for less than forty minutes, before coming upon the family of Gorillas we are assigned to visit. The Gorillas are unusually low in the park, but are nevertheless lodged in a patch of bamboo, sitting, eating, and staring curiously at us. Our visit is strictly limited to an hour as to minimize the stress caused to the Gorillas by our stream of photography and hovering presence mere feet away from them. This particular group (whose name I can't remember at the moment but have written down somewhere) consists of three silver-backs (adult males), one baby, a teenage females and four adult females. Their appearance, behavior, curiosity is nothing short of addicting...and before we know it our hour is up and our visit is over. Fear not...I have nearly 500 photographs documenting their every move. Our visit, particularly amidst the beauty of the volcanoes in the backdrop, is forever memorable.

Kigali hotels

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