This year's Mountain Gorilla treks to Volcanoes National Park, in Rwanda, marked our 41st through 45th treks, to this magnificent country and exciting and unique wildlife adventure. This year's trips were anticipated with some trepidation, as political unrest in the nearby Congo has resulted in the murder of several gorillas over the past year. The status and future of the mountain gorillas in the Congo is uncertain, and we worried that fact may have an impact upon the status of Rwanda's gorillas. In fact, it did, but in a positive way, as some gorilla troops have emigrated into Rwanda as if they sensed the safety found there.
AS usual, we had a wonderful trip and came away with hundreds of 'keeper' shots out of the thousands we shot. Our guides were great, the cooperation with the Volcanoes National Park staff was world-class and, I wish, would be a model for how other Park staffs managing wildlife resources interacted with tourists and photographers. Of that, I cannot say enough, except a simple thank you.
The following is my day-by-day journal from that trip. You may find it of interest as I rate the severity of the hikes and the quality of the shooting on the various days' treks. It may be of interest to you in planning your own trip or, if you are a serious photographer interested in getting quality images, it may be an impetus in booking this trip with us. We have been doing 5 days of trekking because of the varying shooting opportunities presented, as conditions can vary. In five days, we could have rain one day and bright sunlight another, we might have gorillas in dark, thick bamboo, or deep in a forest, but we're likely to have at least one or two days where the conditions are just perfect - the gorillas are in the open and the weather is cloudy-bright.
In the future (after this February's big 46th-50th treks!) we may start offering shorter trips involving 3 days of gorilla shooting, which should be adequate for getting great shots, albeit with a bit more chance of weather playing some factor. Gorilla permit fees and, because of a booming tourist interest, lodging fees in the area have increased and may continue to do so, making a longer tour of 5 days photographing gorillas, prohibitively expensive. We'll have to see ...
In the meantime, here's this year's Trip Report:
Day One - Nairobi, Kenya to Kilgali, Rwanda.
Because of the Nairobi Marathon race, we had an unusually early
departure for Kenyatta Airport for a 12:15 flight - leaving at
8AM. The extra time at the airport gave us the opportunity to
do a pre-trip briefing while we were refreshed, in contrast to
later in the evening. We arrived in to Kilgali around 1, had lunch,
and headed on to Volcanoes, arriving around 6PM.
Day Two - Left the lodge at 6:30, signed
in at headquarters and, by 7:30AM headed to Hirwa for our first
trek. We had a total of 800 feet gain in elevation, arrived at
the gorillas at 9:55 for our hour, and shortly after its conclusion,
as we packed to head down the mountain, the gorillas started moving,
actually walking through our group as we backed up our gear.
We had one silverback, 6 females, and 4-6 young, in the open on
the edge of an extensive bamboo forest. The young pounded on the
silverback's back, pulled the hair and scalp of a female, and
wrestled constantly, putting on quite a show. The one silverback
has garnered his troop by successful, periodic raids of Sabyinyo,
Group 13, and others. As a lone silverback, however, he may eventually
have trouble himself by challenges from other roaming, troopless
males, much as is happening with Group 13 which has disappeared
into the Congo to avoid theft by a one-eyed male we've known for
years. We rated our hike as fairly easy, about a 3 on a scale
of 1 to 10, and the shoot at about a 6, as we had very clear viewing
but a rather tight and limited shooting window, and the light
often dropped to agonizingly low levels.
Day Three - Last night, as we went
to bed Visoke and Karisimbi, the two tall volcanoes that dominate
the western sky, were clearly visible, with Venus hanging high
and bright low over their summit. That promising sky held through
morning, and the dawn was clear, bright, and so colorful the light
seemed to snap. More promising still, the summits of all of the
volcanoes were shrouded with clouds, hinting at great lighting
conditions on the mountain slopes. And this, it turned out, proved
true.
We trekked to the Kwitonda gorilla group, fugitives from the Congo
two years ago that have taken up permanent residence here in Volcanoes
National Park. The hike was a bit more strenuous, with some more
uphill hiking through the crop land, and, once we reached the
gorillas and dug out our equipment, the hike to our shooting spot
was a bit steep. On our scale, we'd give the hike a 4.
This
troop has three silverbacks, with one dominant, Kwitonda, and
over the hour we saw all three but with rather limited shooting
opportunities of each. At the very end of the shoot one of the
silverbacks sat up nicely, offering great portraits, but the show,
today, was truly with the young.
We had wonderful, wide-angle views of four to ten gorillas at
a time, with a mother and three month old baby climbing about
the mother and often pausing for long moments for nice portraits.
Once, another female grabbed and gently pulled the baby to her,
but after a few minutes of cuddling the baby crawled back to his
mother who, with a languid reach retrieved him, followed by the
baby's clambering all about her head.
The troop never strayed, so we had two good shooting locations
where we spent most of our time, and a third when we finally circled
the silverbacks as we headed back to our packs at the end of the
hour. At our second site two or three juveniles wrestled frequently,
while, nearby, a mother nursed a baby that appeared about a half
year old. One of our gorilla guides loves photography, too, and
with a nice 16-35 mm L lens his slow motor drive seemed to be
firing faster than any of our's, and a couple of times he appropriated
an abandoned tripod as a temporary rest.
It was a good shoot, and we'd rate it about an 8 on our scale.
Afterwards, we headed down to Ruhengeri for lunch, where our entire
soft drink bill was less than one diet coke here at the Gorilla's
Nest Lodge where, sadly, new ownership has changed the place quite
noticeably, and for the worse. Some of the rooms had such poor
lighting that Sherry and Kathy had to use flashlights to see their
keyboards, and all meals, except breakfast, our off a menu. With
a new lodge opening soon built by the original owners of the Gorilla
Nest, I suspect this is our last visit to this once very favorite
location.
Day Four - We awoke at 5AM and as we
dressed thunder rattled our room, heralding an advancing storm.
Shortly after, wind and rain swept across the lawn of the Gorilla's
Nest and the skies hung low with a blanket of black clouds. The
rain continued through breakfast, our drive to HDQ, and as we
headed toward our destination, the parking area for Susa group,
but stopped shortly before our arrival. Still, the skies seemed
threatening, and for the first time I packed a rain jacket when
we unpacked our gear and headed into the bush for gorillas. Fortunately,
it never rained again.
Unfortunately, today we had my least favorite guide as one of
the two who accompanied us to Susa, and true to form he was noncommunicative,
unfriendly, unhelpful, and a general sour presence for the group.
He was also obsessed with moving us about whenever a gorilla seemed
anywhere near, and in doing so we were constantly changing positions,
wasting time, and growing increasingly frustrated with the shoot.
On a scale of 1 to 10, what had the potential of being an 8 to
10 was about a 5 - a series of opportunities lost.
That
was sad because Susa group requires a very long walk, almost all
of it uphill, for a total ascent of almost 1,600 feet. Yesterday,
Susa group was close to the park boundary but today they had moved
nearly an hour's trek further uphill where we located them in
a relatively open area with, unfortunately, a lot of gorilla-high
vegetation. There are 41 members of the Susa troop and we saw
several of the silverbacks, Poppy, a 37 year old female named
by Diana Fossey years ago, a three week old infant, and numerous
juveniles. The light was fairly good, alternating between ISO
800 and 400, but at either speed our shutter speeds were almost
always above 1/250th.
The hike, despite the vertical nature, was rated between a 6 and
7, still fairly easy on everyone's account, but the nature of
the one guide really spoiled the experience. We got back to our
vehicle about 3PM, and headed for lunch, not returning back to
our lodge until almost 5:30PM, after a huge lunch where all of
us decided upon foregoing dinner.
Day Five - I had a good feeling about today,
and whether or not that was just wishful thinking or, playing
the odds that we normally have, it was time for us to have some
real luck and a knock out shoot. As it turned out, we had exactly
that.
The day started clear, but even as our breakfast half-hour progressed
some clouds collected over Karasimi and we hoped the other volcanoes
would do likewise. The hike to the Sabyinyo group was easy, a
3 on our scale, but when we entered the forest it suggested we
move quickly as the gorilla troop had taken an early siesta. Still,
we paused for plant demonstrations and talks, so the timing could
not have been too critical.
After reaching the trackers the hike went from a 3 to about an
8 or 9, as we headed uphill through low growth where, quite frequently,
we simply walked across mats of vegetation. When we reached the
gorillas the footing only got worse, as the small troop of nine
were parked on the side of a steep hill. Gahunda, the silverback
leader, lay stretched out on his back, with three younger gorillas
at his feet, playing, wrestling, and periodically rolling off
the hillside in their battles. Gahunda got up once and did a pseudo-charge,
standing and beating his chest but simply circling his resting
spot, and quickly dropped down for another rest.
About half way through the hour he rose and climbed further uphill,
where he broke off young bamboo shoots and ate them, carrot-like,
in good view. After several minutes of this he moved further uphill
where he sat down and ate 'salad,' this time in clear view and
facing us. When he moved on, circling the bush and mostly out
of sight, a female with a young baby replaced him, and we had
several opportunities for close-up mother and baby.
Our time was exactly one hour, but the shooting was superb, a
9 on our scale, and just missing a perfect score because the light
alternated between cloudy-bright and sunny, and Gahunda, while
providing some excellent portraits, was a bit lazy. Still, perhaps
my favorite shot of the trip to date is of this silverback, the
largest male of all the habituated troops in Volcanoes National
Park, when he posed on all fours with the crater and bamboo-lined
slopes visible behind him - the quintessential animal in habitat
view.
We had a relatively early lunch where Alex discussed the events
leading up to the Genocide, and afterwards we headed west for
some landscape and people pictures. We were mildly successful
here, as a low and black cloud that swirled around the volcano
slopes finally enveloped us in rain.
Day 6 -Kwitonda
Our last trek, and our guide suggested Kwitonda, since it has
several babies and everyone felt they had good coverage of silverbacks
but not enough babies. The skies started overcast but eventually
cleared, and our easy walk across the farm fields got us to the
gorillas very early, perhaps too early for the mid-morning siesta.
We tried stalling, hoping that clouds would cover the bright,
contrasty sky but inevitably we headed in, and our first group
of gorillas, several young and mothers, were sitting out in the
open, in bright light, but directional enough that there was actually
good shooting. Feisty black-backs came into the clearing, beating
their chest and pushing the troop into the bamboo, where we followed.
From that point on the light was marginal, as we were in forest,
a mixture of bamboo and tropical trees that created a glade-like,
park-like arena. The silverback strolled through, parking himself
on the periphery and separated from us by several females and
black-backs. These put on quite a show, charging about or resting
nearby. One black-back was seriously interested in me, and as
I backed off our guide had to get between us and try pushing him
away. Our other guide, at one point, was grabbed and pulled across
the clearing until he spun clear. At one point, as I tried avoiding
the over-zealous black-back, the male rose, beat its chest, and
'charged' toward me while I followed our guide and stepped out
of the way, and, while doing so, I held my 16-35 at waist level
and fired away as I walked. Unfortunately I had the top sensor
active and most of the shots locked on the trees behind, but in
a small view the 'charging,' beating chest gorilla was sure dramatic!
The shooting on this final trek was probably the poorest, because
of the light and the contrast, but the experience was so thrilling
and intimate that it was the best of all of our encounters. The
others, in comparison, were merely 'shoots,' but this one was
an encounter where so much was happening, in so many places at
once, that it was the highlight of the trip for everyone.
That afternoon we headed into R to the market for our sandals,
and then on towards the Susa area where we filmed people in the
late afternoon light. In town, beggars with various disabilities
approached us for handouts, with the worse a man whose feet were
so distorted by elephantiasis that he appeared to be wearing shagging
boats. His toes flopped forward, huge and wart like and completely
unrecognizable as human, and although as a stock shot it would
be valuable I couldn't bring myself to shoot him, even though,
for money, I'm sure he'd have been happy to oblige.
Day 7 - Return to Kilgali
We had a late breakfast and after a final round of shopping at
the lodge we headed to HDQ to photograph the Susa group's identification
sheet. From there we headed toward Kilgali, taking a side road
that leads to a church on a hilltop we've visited frequently for
the terraced hillside views it offers. Church was just breaking
out - it was Sunday - and kids were everywhere, but amongst them
was an apparently crazy man, with one arm wearing shackles, who
scribbled meaningless lines of notes in a torn notebook and, in
rapid gibberish that was a mixture of French and Rwandese, he
verbally abused us and our guide, Alex. At one point as the man
pushed forward Alex stumbled and retreated a few steps and the
lunatic, emboldened by an apparent show of fear, grew even more
aggressive. I thought we were in for some physical confrontations
and I anticipated giving the guy an uppercut or roundhouse punch
in the head to drop him, but fortunately nothing happened. Afterwards,
privately I fretted over the possible aftermath of defending or
helping Alex, wondering how several hundred Rwandans would view
knocking out one of their fellows, even if crazy. I didn't like
my imagined scenarios.
Our drive back to Kilgali was uneventful, the weather great and
the scenic opportunities good, as the skies were clear and we
had great visibility. After an early dinner all of us went to
bed beat, for our 5AM flight back to Nairobi required our leaving
the hotel by 3AM.