Having been to Africa with groups on several occasions, I’ve had the good fortune to see all the classic animals: The Big Five (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, cape buffalo), giraffe, hippo, cheetah, and all manner of hooved ungulates. And often in spectacular fashion. Four cheetahs running down a Namibian road in front of our vehicle, lions up close and personal, a leopard attack on an impala, genuine “tuskers” on parade in Amboseli, a rhino baby in Ngorongoro Crater, and hippos from the deck of my safari camp boma in the Okavango. But nothing compares to my recent experience of seeing the mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.
We had just finished our successful first tour of East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) and, for our tour extension, had flown to Rwanda for the gorillas. Rwanda seems to be a very prosperous nation, particularly compared to Kenya and Tanzania. The streets were pristine clean, buildings were brightly painted and in good repair, same for roads and sidewalks. Vehicles appeared to mostly be of late vintage and also in good repair. In short, there was a lack of that “developing world” look or feel to everything. While their standards are not European or American, they are nonetheless a step up from their neighbors.
After a moving visit to the Genocide Memorial (that story merits a separate blog) we headed north for Ruhengari, gateway to Volcanoes National Park and, for us, the mountain gorillas. Ruhengari seemed almost as prosperous as Kigali, with women cleaning the streets with straw brooms, picking up trash, and weeding median grass and flower beds. My favorite sight: bicycle taxis – everywhere. How cool is that? Very ecologically responsible, employs lots of people, and very efficient. We could learn something here.
When we departed the following day it was a clear morning with misty cloud halos coving only the tops of the 3 volcanic peaks that make up the national park. It was beautiful. We were parsed into groups of 12. Some opted to rent gaiters, gloves, and even boots for the potentially muddy climb. Our guide instructed us on the dos’ and don’ts of the gorilla trek. Then we piled into our 4x4 vehicles for the drive up to the park boundary. The off-road vehicles were absolutely necessary, as the “road” was extremely rutted, muddy, and quite steep. Exiting the jeeps, we then walked about 30 minutes through farmers’ fields to the “buffalo wall”, a stone wall built to keep wild cape buffalo from gaining access to the crops. My group walked another 15 minutes up steep terrain, now surrounded by a bamboo forest. We met up with the trackers who had been out since dawn tracking our assigned gorilla family group. We took a water and snack break and were required to leave all bags, walking sticks, etc behind. The gorillas, we were told, were nearby. It was pretty exciting. I figured another 30 minutes of slogging would bring us to our reward. But we had barely taken 10 steps when I looked up to see a young male watching us approach. He had apparently been watching us the whole time. The gorillas were CLOSE.
A few more steps and the whole troupe of a dozen great apes came into view. The resident silverback, named Lucky, like a sentry was comfortably sitting on his haunches watching everything and everyone. The group consisted of several adult females, 4 or 5 adolescents, and 2 or 3 babies of various ages. Our guide, who of course has learned the language of the apes, made low grunting noises to assure the silverback of our benign intentions. This human-gorilla communication might well have been the most amazing experience on a day of amazing experiences. Simply magical. The gorillas were entirely acclimated to human presence. They were clearly comfortable with our being there. We were able to get VERY close. I would estimate 20 feet or so. We were able to spend the next hour visually interacting with them, taking pictures of them, and marveling at their human like characteristics. Additionally, their brute strength, dexterity, curiosity, and intelligence were also apparent. Highlights included wrestling adolescents, a mother inspecting a baby for fleas, and the silverback doing anything. Which was mostly quietly observing. But that in and of itself was simply magnificent with kinetic power. A few times the youngsters would frolic right into our human group and the guide would have us quietly move out of the way. However, my personal highlight came when I failed to move out of the way quickly enough and a teenager reached out and gave me smack on the bottom as he trundled by. What an amazing experience.
I would like to conclude this blog with a hearty bravo for the government and people of Rwanda for what they have created in Virunga. While much of Africa is the source of sad tales about animals being poached to extinction and steady loss of habitat, here in Rwanda they’ve authored a marvelous success story.
