Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda
A Trip Report from one of our Participants
Enjoy, it's great!
Hi All,
It’s the soup lady – off on another adventure. This time, it’s to Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas. For those not in the know about Mountain Gorillas (and I definitely qualify as not in the know) – there are only about 773 of these animals alive on the planet today – and they all – every single one – live in a national park that is shared between 3 countries – Rwanda, the Congo, and Uganda. You get to pick your poison when you decide which country to visit to see these animals – but we had our choice made for us – Joe and Mary-Ann Macdonald – the wildlife photographers we traveled with the Kenya – have made 50 gorilla treks (the most of any tourist) – and they are doing the Rwanda side.
First off – you have to get the gear. And a lot of gear is needed if you are going to be going into the rain forest at high altitude to photograph these huge animals. Mary-Ann emailed at least 3 times with different lists – from warm stuff (it gets cold at altitude – and there’s no heat in the inn we’re going to be staying in), to wet weather gear (you need a complete – top to bottom – waterproof – rain suit, plus multiple ponchos for the porters to use to cover your gear.)
And you need to be in shape. Joe suggests that you work out 3 times a week – an hour to an hour and a half. You need to be able to climb 20 flights of stairs without panting. Right. I can’t do that. And you need to be able to climb back down.
Turns out that the gorilla families live in the mountains – and you go to them in foot, through the rain forest. You don’t have to carry your gear (whew) – but your knees have to be up for this. And at 62 I’m not sure if my knees are up to much besides keeping me erect. But not to worry – that’s what Gyms are for. So Vic and I have been working out somewhat successfully. I’m up to at least 60 flights – I’m panting – but I can do it. Vic’s even better, he can do 70 flights – but neither of us would be prepared to run a marathon after that. We’re thinking that we’ll need all the shape we can get.
Our voyage starts – as all trips to Africa start – with a long boring plane ride. I dearly wish we could afford those first class seats with the beds – but at least this time we got seats with a footrest. That does help. The plane is one of those older ones – lousy movie options – you watch what we show you – but I don’t care. I’ve come prepared with an ipod and earphones. But I still watch the dumb movie. And eat the crummy food. Oh well – that’s what travel to Africa is all about.
24 hours from when we left Montreal – we arrive in Nairobi – and are met by the smiling face and thrilled welcoming hugs of Lydia. We met her last year – and she remembered us. Isn’t that totally flattering! Last year our conversation was all about Kenya – this year we’re catching up on news. Rosemary hasn’t had her kid yet, the weather’s been good – rain at the right times – and the harvest was awesome – so tourists are starting to return. Kenya is a happy place. That’s good. But we’re not staying here – we’re just spending 2 nights in Kenya before we hop on a plane to Kigali and Rwanda.
To get into the time zone – it’s 8 hours ahead – we spend a day in Nairobi. Vic opts for the pool – I go to the national Kenya museum and the Snake Museum. Both places are really interesting. Life in places like Kenya is – well – cheap. So the Snake museum is all about seriously poisonous snakes – Black mambos, boa constrictors, vipers, and the like. Some are in glass aquariums – but lots are in open sided pits. They keep them well fed – so they don’t bite the tourists. They say. Many of the snakes will not eat dead anything – so there’s a constant need for fresh food – rabbits for the boas, chameleons for most of the others. While I was there one viper caught a chameleon – fought with another for possession, and then lost it to a third. This is survival of the fittest – in the clearest possible terms – and a perfect introduction to Africa. At the national museum – they have the original skulls that people found and used to demonstrate the evolution of man from the apes. These skulls are anywhere from 1.2 to 3 million years old. Very cool. There’s also an interesting exhibit – so brand new that the paint smells – on the colonizing and recent history of Kenya. My driver and my guide and I spend a lot of time in this area – discussing how much each of us remembers. I’m 62, the driver is 45 and the guide is 22. As you can easily imagine – our memories really complement and complete each other’s. The driver’s memories are the most interesting – he experienced many of the events pictured, and his parents of course saw the rest. To the guide – it’s all learned history – he wasn’t there.
The next morning we get up early, eat quickly, and meet our fellow tourists. There are 6 of us, plus Mary-Ann and Joe. 2 friends (John and Petra) from the US – just 10 years younger than Vic and I, plus a pair of birders (Helen and Phil) from England. They are quite a bit younger – Helen is just 45. And they are in great shape. I’m more nervous about my ability to keep up then ever.
We board the propeller driven plane – and off we go. The scenery while we fly is magnificent. First we fly over the dry savannahs of the Masi Mara – then our magic carpet takes us across huge Lake Victoria. The plane stops quickly in Burundi – which is surprisingly green – and then it’s on to Rwanda. I don’t know what exactly I expected. But Rwanda was amazing. It’s a tiny (the size of Belgium) country – with 10 million inhabitants. It’s completely land locked – very hilly – with these huge volcanoes making up the entire northern area. Every single inch of land that can be farmed is terraced. And in many ways – it reminds me of what I thought I’d see in Africa on my first trip. Once outside of Kigali – which is actually a surprisingly modern city with huge hotels, shopping malls, and grocery stores (and the congestion that results) – Rwanda is green, green, green. And clean. The president is a bit of a benevolent dictator – and 5 years ago he mandated that everyone clean up the country one Saturday a month. So on the last Saturday of the month – everything stops while people clean. And the results are outstanding. Montreal likes to think it’s a clean city – man, we could learn a lot from Rwanda.
Out in the country side – people don’t have cars. They have bikes, and they have feet. And they walk. They walk everywhere – and keep in mind that this is a seriously hilly country – so we’re talking up and down and up and down. Carrying extremely heavy loads on the backs of their bikes if they are lucky, and on their heads if that’s all that’s available. Water is a problem – not so much the quantity – there’s lots, but the quality. So seeing women and children with yellow plastic water jugs on their heads – either empty on their way to a government inspected well, or full on their way home – is very common.
Clothes are African traditional – brightly colored wraps being far more popular than westernized pants, shirts, and jackets. It’s their winter – and it was a tad cool. So in the early morning and late afternoon you’d see fake fur lined winter coats. During the day – it got quite warm, so the coats would disappear. I have no idea what they would do with them – but it was rare to see them during the hotter parts of the day.
We continue to drive north towards Volcano National Park – the home of the Mountain Gorillas. The scenery continues to be astonishingly beautiful. The villages are perfectly clean, and the government is going to great lengths to supply them with public latrines (with hand washing facilities – plastic jugs on rope and branch structures – you press on a branch with your foot – the jug tilts – you wash your hands). Much more sophisticated than what I saw in China I might add. The government is also paying for people to build brick market stalls – hundreds of them. So seeing completed, partly completed, and just being started market areas was part of the fun. The main roads are all nicely paved – and according to Joe and Mary-Ann – far superior to what they had even 2 years ago. They have made huge strides in bringing comforts to people in the far flung regions. And again according to Joe and Mary-Ann- this is being done without some of the problems with rip-offs and 10 fingered discounts that plague construction projects in Montreal. Everyone is working together to try to bring the country up.
Rwanda bragging rights – they just got accepted into the British Commonwealth of Nations – that puts them on a footing with Canada. Wow. And everyone is trying hard to learn English – part of that –we’re fitting in if it kills us mentality. Pretty impressive, particularly in comparison with Kenya. And I’m not even going to mention places like Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – none of which are even getting close to that kind of team work attitude. Rwanda is really all about one for all, and all for the country.
According to Alex – our local guide, driver, and part owner of the company that is organizing this part of our trip – the president can do little wrong. He’s mandated that every child must go to school – even if only for part of the day – and in a country with an 85% illiteracy rate – that’s a huge step. Just consider – the parents have no education (if they survived the genocide) – but the kids are going to school. It’s not great – yet. But it will be if they can keep it up. Nothing educates like an education.
We finally arrive at Gorilla Nest Lodge. And the first surprise – our rooms are heated. This is brand new – and they are using radiant heaters that work quite well. So at least we won’t be sleeping cold. In the open to the air main lodge, dining room and bar – they use firepots to keep the chill off. I quickly learn to always sit next to a firepot – and our extremely friendly and helpful hosts quickly learn to put a firepot near me if I don’t manage to find a spot near one for myself. I’m really happy I brought my warm vest – and that extra heavy sweater. I’ll leave the sweater when we say goodbye – but for this week – it’s going to be very important. Also new at the resort – a 9 hole golf course, and they are now providing – free – water and all beverages consumed at dinner. Plus a free drink every night in the bar. Well – this is a nice surprise, even if we don’t drink a lot – getting the water is definitely a great idea.
Just a quick note on the golf – the team of the Gorilla Nest challenged the MacDonald team (that would be us) to a game of golf. How can we refuse? The Gorilla Nest team turns out to be almost every single employee – including the chefs in their whites, the chamber maids, the bar man – it’s a team building exercise for the Gorilla Nest and they make the most of it. Let me say – this was a hoot! We only manage one hole – when it rains – it pours. But it was definitely a highlight for the Gorilla Nest team – and one for us as well.
Our first meal is rather interesting. One of the birders is vegetarian – and I am totally reminded of the scene from ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ – you don’t eat no meat. No problem – I’ll make lamb. Unfortunately – Phil doesn’t think it’s funny. His dinner the first night is white rice – and the chefs at the Lodge get a quick lesson in what vegetarians who don’t like cheese can eat. They promise to do better tomorrow. We shall see about that.
Aside from an exploding hot water bottle that soaks Vic’s side of the bed – the evening passes without much incident, and we bundle off to bed. It will be an early day tomorrow.
We are up at 5:30 – eat a quick but delicious breakfast (more explanations about vegetarians – no, ham isn’t vegetarian – nor is bacon) – and then we’re off to the national park office. They open at 7:00, and everyone who is making a trek must check in. There are only 8 gorilla families that can be visited – with a max of 8 tourists per family – so 64 people a day get to visit. There are an additional 10 families in the mountains – but they don’t get visits from tourists. We get assigned our guide for the week (amazingly wonderful Francois – who actually came in on his day off to work with Joe and Mary-Ann – he loves them so much), and our first Gorilla Family.
Ok – some Mountain Gorilla facts. These are not pets – they aren’t tame – they aren’t fenced – they aren’t controlled in any way. The Silverback can stand 6 plus feet tall – and weigh up to 440 lbs. They are 8 to 9 times stronger than man, and have large teeth capable of stripping bamboo bark. They are so human like – except for the lack of speech – it’s actually rather frightening. They live in tight, clearly defined family groups, with each member having a name (given by the park rangers) – and a unique personality. Most of the rangers have grown up with these gorillas – Francois actually worked with Diane Fossey – and they know them better than they know their kids. The rangers communicate with the gorillas – and the gorillas answer them back. We are the strangers here – we are the interlopers. We have to be careful. This is their place, their homes – they let us visit – but we must behave. 3 rangers accompany each family every day, and being a ranger is an extremely well paying job. They protect the families from poachers – and keep their eyes open for snares set by poachers to catch the deer that live in the park. These are very nice guys – and a very key part of the entire set-up at the park. Their salaries are paid by the fees that are charged tourists to enter the park – and there are teams of 3 rangers with all the gorilla families in the park. If a family decides to wander into a different country – within the park – the rangers actually hand off responsibility. They are really trying hard to protect the last of this species – and good news – over 500 individuals is enough genetic variety to perhaps save them.
Mountain Gorillas are so close genetically to humans it is quite amazing. They do so many very human things that just watching their faces as they interact is intriguing. The Bad news - they can easily catch our colds. So we are not allowed to visit if we are not in good health. The national park has other rules – visitors are not allowed within 7 meters of the gorillas – visitors can only stay with the families for an hour, no family can have more than one group of visitors a day, under no circumstances can a visitor touch a gorilla, you can not leave anything – even a piece of toilet paper – in the rain forest. And no eating or drinking where the gorillas can see – they will try to copy you.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) – the gorillas don’t follow the rules. They love to play games – and I think they must at this point be totally aware that tourists are going to be arriving around 11:00 am every day. And they totally don’t worry about the 7 meter rule. So they get really really seriously – in your face – close. The rangers – because they know and respect Francois (he’s worked there for over 30 years), and often know Joe and Mary-Ann as well – expect us to behave responsibly – but don’t get uptight unless it appears that a gorilla is attempting to touch us! Then we must back off – and honestly – I’m happy to do so. I totally don’t need to say I shook hands with a gorilla. Even the hour rule is sometimes ‘bent’ – we always stayed over an hour – and once it was an hour and 45 minutes.
We did 5 treks in total – And we all did all 5. Only 2 other groups that Joe and Mary-Ann led can say the same. We were fortunate on many counts – the weather was amazing. No rain during the treks – but we had cloudy skies – so perfect for taking pictures. Not too hot – not too cold – so the gorillas were comfy – and the youngsters played around us with great enthusiasm. And we were lucky with where the families were when we found them. Often they were in bamboo forests with open glades – easy for us to move our tripods around in those conditions. A couple of times they were on steep hillsides – which made for more challenging photo ops – I ditched my tripod after the first trek and used only the mono pod – I was much more flexible and could move from position to position more easily.
We had two close encounters – one the very first day. The way these things work – you register at the national park office – get a quick intro to gorillas in general and your family of the day in particular. You are introduced by pictures to the lead Silverback of the family (aka – the father), his wives and his kids. Unlike many other wild animals – the head of a Gorilla family remains unchallenged all his life. He might have a 2nd in command – a Silverback in waiting as it were, but there’s no fighting to take over the family. That family is his. If the younger males, Silverbacks (12 yrs and older) and blackbacks (teenagers), want to get what Francois referred to as ‘ziggy – ziggy’, they must sneak off into the jungle with a willing ‘wife/daughter’ of the lead silverback. If they are caught – the wife is punished. If things really get out of hand, the male will leave the family, with the ‘wife/daughter’ and start up his own family.
One of the Silverback families that we visited had recently (in the last 5 years) been formed in exactly that way. A Silverback got bored waiting, left his family, and managed to snag an outstanding 9 wives from different families. His family now numbers 26 – huge by Gorilla family standards – mostly young children of course. (Do the math folks!)
Back to the schedule. Anyway – the allocation of which family goes to which group is a bit of a mystery, but certainly the better your guides, the better your allocation. Mary-Ann and Joe definitely wanted a group with a short walk for the first day – wanting to be sure we’d all be able to make the trek. They also wanted 5 different families over the 5 days. They fished their wishes in both cases – and we set out to our allocated family. Alex drove as far as he could in the direction of our family, parking in what they laughingly referred to as executive parking. We off loaded, and were met by a troop of young (20 – 29) year old porters. They were wearing uniforms – and if chosen as our porters – they would be paid by the national park. In addition, we were told to tip them – anywhere from $10 to $20 for the day’s work. We were not allowed to pick – in order to be fair, Francois – who was more aware of who had worked recently did the assignments. The idea was to spread the wealth thru as many different families as possible. ($10 to $20 doesn’t sound like a lot – but the average income in Rwanda is $3 a day. So clearly – these jobs are highly sought after)
We loaded up our designated porter (well – in my case, not that much of a load – I have a tiny camera and camera bag), and headed out. We walked for about 45 minutes thru fields – constantly heading up hill. The air was scented by eucalyptus, planted as per the president – and are not allowed to be cut – only dead branches can be gathered for burning. For me – that will truly be the smell of Africa.
About half-way up, Francois stopped us to give us a lecture on Gorilla speak. Grunts, groans, moans and whistles – chest beating and tree grabbing – Gorillas communicate in many ways – some of it rather frightening. Besides educating us, Francois was trying to be sure that we didn’t turn tail and run when the Gorillas started to speak. He was very effective – compared to him, the Gorillas were really quite tame!
There is a wall, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide that encircles the entire Volcano National Park. This is a really long wall – extending as it does thru 3 countries, and around 5 high Volcanoes. It serves as the clear demarcation between Jungle and farmland – and while it does not prevent the gorillas from visiting the farms, it does do a reasonable job of keeping the water buffalo in the park and off the farms – and it does an even better job of reminding the farmers of where not to farm! Seen from a distance – the line is extremely clear. Above the wall – jungle and rain forest, below the wall – rich farm land.
In any case – we walk till we reach the wall – and change into jungle walk gear. We climb over the wall – and continue upward – thru bamboo forest, and clearings filled with stinging thistles (don’t touch!). Sometimes we’d cross areas thick with fire ants or safari ants – the guides warning – walk quickly – ants – ants – ants. All through our walk the guide, the national park representative (aka – the gorilla tracker), and our porters would wield their machetes – hacking a path for us thru the jungle. All through this walk our guide was in constant communication with the 2 national park rangers that stayed with the gorilla family. This allowed us to quickly correct our heading if needed. When the park rangers judged that we were about 100 yards from the family, we’d stop and swap out our jungle gear with our photographer’s set-ups – including getting our cameras from the porters. Once everyone was ready – the idea was for the trackers to lead us to the family. This worked perfectly 3 out of 5 times – but the 2 times it didn’t work were the most exciting.
For our first trek, we had no sooner loaded up our camera gear than one of the black backs – aware of our presence – came running out of the bamboo forest – growling and showing his fangs. I had hung back a bit – afraid a bit of the whole gorilla on the lose thing – and naturally he headed straight for me. I’m only a bit afraid – ok maybe a bit more than a bit. But I bravely hold my ground and point my camera at the ‘attacking’ gorilla. My porter grabs me from the back and hauls me into the group. Gorillas don’t like large moving objects (or tightly gathered groups of people) – they think of these as elephants. Large and too be avoided. But – then the black back – having made his point (this is my home – knock before you enter) – he poses for us. Magnificent photo ops. Then, before you can say wow – the silverback decided to see what had the black back all upset. This is the 2nd in command silverback – so he’s only 300 lbs or so. Trust me – he’s quite big enough. He comes out of the woods – the black back, faced with a very upset with his behavior senior family member, retreats after a couple more growls and some chest thumping. Now the Silver back checks us out – poses for photos, and then gives the ok growl. To our amazement (and the astonishment of our trackers) the entire family now parades out of the bamboo forest – strides across the open field, and heads up into another bamboo forest. We get mom’s with kids on their backs, junior gorillas with playful poses, the pair of Silverbacks and several of the Black Backs. It’s a parade – and we’re the spectators.
How close? Say 2 meters – max? Very close.
Mary-Ann and Joe are simply stunned – this is our first trek and already we’ve seen more than most people see in multiple attempts. We’ve seen stuff they have never seen in over 50 treks. Where can we go from here?
For us – the experience has simply been magical. And whetted our appetites for more. But now we must wait for tomorrow. We regroup – thank and tip our porters, reload them with the gear and head back to the car. Great first day – great for any day with the Mountain Gorillas.
In our next 4 treks – we have one more close encounter – this one on day 2. Again we’re in the process of changing from jungle gear to photographer’s gear when a pair of Black Backs who are clearly playing tag come running out of the forest. There is some debate on what happened next, but within seconds the female birder (Helen) is on her back – tossed by the 2nd Black Back as he ran past. She later tells us that he actually pinched her – but Mary-Ann says that he might have just reached out towards her – but given his strength, the gentle whack becomes a throw. I spot the gorillas running past – Helen on her back and immediate grab my charming porter and push him in front of me. I just want something between me and those gorillas – and somehow my camera just doesn’t seem large enough.
Day 3 is the most mellow of our treks. The gorillas are on the far side of a crater from us – so we must go down the steep side and then up the other side. The bottom of the crater (remember – we’re on an active Volcano area – craters are to be expected) at the bottom is amazing – it looks just like the source for some of the scenes in Avatar. Green moss, hanging plants, huge trees towering over large clearings that appears to have never seen the eyes of man. Joe and Mary-Ann get suitably excited. They have never seen this lovely magical canyon, and they take dozens and dozens of pictures. And that’s before we find the gorillas! The gorillas are preparing their day beds – lots of grooming going on, lots of mom and baby pictures, lots of movement in front of us, behind us, even along side of us.
To give you a feeling for just how close we are – at one point I’m focused on a mom and tot when my view goes completely black. A Black Back is just walking in front of me. Close enough to touch, but I didn’t. And he didn’t turn to stare at me either. Whew.
Day 4 and Day 5 are equally lovely – On Day 5 the family is so relaxed about our presence that a mom nurses her baby, two infants play tag, and the Silver Back parades back and forth watching to be sure his family is well taken care of.
In the afternoons, we explore the surrounding area. We spend 2 days taking people pictures – Joe demonstrates how to get people to pose for you – and suggests some key points – pose people in the shade to avoid too much contrast, show them the pictures to get past the communication barrier, if you want a silhouette– make sure it’s the entire silhouette. Making sure the eyes are open – and looking in an interesting direction is also critical. We never do get to go to the market – but we do get to go shopping at the local craft store – and I stock up on some of their lovely woven baskets, and tall thin wood carvings. After every trek, the local kids gather where we will be leaving the guides to sell us their pictures and wooden carvings. I make sure to buy one thing from each group. More sharing of the wealth.
Evening of day 5 – around our last supper in the mountains we all agree on what a wonderful experience this has been. We are only the 3rd group of the 11 that Joe and Mary-Ann have led that had everyone complete all 5 of the treks. Vegetarian issues aside, the food has been good, the lodge bent over backwards to make us feel welcome, and the gorilla treks were outstanding. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kigali for a day there – then the next day we fly back to Nairobi and the official end of the tour.
But we’re not finished with the excitement. In the past – the healthiest person has always been Mary-Ann – but this time she’s been a bit (for her) under the weather. On the evening of Day 5 she and Joe go to bed – and she wakes up in the middle of the night – terribly ill. Plans are made to be changed. We go with Alex to head back slowly to Nairobi – stopping as needed for people to take photos. Joe and Mary-Ann head back as fast as they can – stopping reroute at a pharmacist to get Mary-Ann some medicine. It is a credit to the robustness of her system that, while she looked like a weak white sheet in the morning – but dinner she feels good enough to join us. I’m extremely relieved. You form strong friendships on these kinds of adventures – and I was really worried about her.
We tour the Genocide museum in Kigali – it’s amazing – disturbing – and in some ways a positive experience. It ends by saying – if we don’t figure out why these things happen – ‘Never Again’ will become ‘Again and Again’. Strong words, those.
Speaking of Genocide – I’ve been in two countries that went thru a recent Genocide now – Rwanda and Cambodia. In Cambodia, they have attempted to deal with the experience by almost pretending that it didn’t actually happen. Everyone knows who did the killing – but not one has been officially punished. Compare this to Rwanda. Unlike the museum in Cambodia which is clearly an after thought made to keep tourists informed, the museum in Rwanda represents a multi-media, high tech, and extremely sophisticated attempt to not only explain what happened – but to address some of the underling issues. They have created courts in all of the local villages – courts that are manned by locals. People who participated in the Genocide – and everyone knows who they are – are welcome to go to these courts – confess what they did – and they must find the families of the people they hurt and formally beg forgiveness. Then, depending on how ‘depraved’ what they did was, the court gives out punishments. They might sentence the person to jail, but more likely the person is remanded to a work camp. There they do work for the government 3 or 4 days a week – and are able to work for their family the rest of the time. But key to the process is the asking of forgiveness – and the confession.
All of this, I think, will help Rwanda get over what happened – far faster than ignoring it like Cambodia is doing.
Part of the tour of Kigali consists of some of the famous places where fighting occurred – We even saw the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ of the movie - and in many cases – the places have been carefully restored to keep the bullet holes visible. Very interesting – I’m really glad I came. Rwanda exceeded expectations – I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Basically – I loved it. Good food, exciting wildlife, great photo oops, awesome scenery – and interesting to boot. What’s not to recommend?
We return to Nairobi, and from there we fly on to Malindi – we’ve arranged to spend several days relaxing on the coast of Kenya, snorkeling, swimming, walking – and getting back our mojo for the return trip, an uneventful – but way too long – 27 hour air ride. Sigh – wouldn’t it be nice if Africa was closer.
Signing off – The Soup Lady
Leslie Eiser
aka - the soup Lady
http://www.ed-foods.com
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Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda
A Trip Report from one of our Participants
Enjoy, it's great!
Hi All,
It’s the soup lady – off on another adventure. This time, it’s to Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas. For those not in the know about Mountain Gorillas (and I definitely qualify as not in the know) – there are only about 773 of these animals alive on the planet today – and they all – every single one – live in a national park that is shared between 3 countries – Rwanda, the Congo, and Uganda. You get to pick your poison when you decide which country to visit to see these animals – but we had our choice made for us – Joe and Mary-Ann Macdonald – the wildlife photographers we traveled with the Kenya – have made 50 gorilla treks (the most of any tourist) – and they are doing the Rwanda side.
First off – you have to get the gear. And a lot of gear is needed if you are going to be going into the rain forest at high altitude to photograph these huge animals. Mary-Ann emailed at least 3 times with different lists – from warm stuff (it gets cold at altitude – and there’s no heat in the inn we’re going to be staying in), to wet weather gear (you need a complete – top to bottom – waterproof – rain suit, plus multiple ponchos for the porters to use to cover your gear.)
And you need to be in shape. Joe suggests that you work out 3 times a week – an hour to an hour and a half. You need to be able to climb 20 flights of stairs without panting. Right. I can’t do that. And you need to be able to climb back down.
Turns out that the gorilla families live in the mountains – and you go to them in foot, through the rain forest. You don’t have to carry your gear (whew) – but your knees have to be up for this. And at 62 I’m not sure if my knees are up to much besides keeping me erect. But not to worry – that’s what Gyms are for. So Vic and I have been working out somewhat successfully. I’m up to at least 60 flights – I’m panting – but I can do it. Vic’s even better, he can do 70 flights – but neither of us would be prepared to run a marathon after that. We’re thinking that we’ll need all the shape we can get.
Our voyage starts – as all trips to Africa start – with a long boring plane ride. I dearly wish we could afford those first class seats with the beds – but at least this time we got seats with a footrest. That does help. The plane is one of those older ones – lousy movie options – you watch what we show you – but I don’t care. I’ve come prepared with an ipod and earphones. But I still watch the dumb movie. And eat the crummy food. Oh well – that’s what travel to Africa is all about.
24 hours from when we left Montreal – we arrive in Nairobi – and are met by the smiling face and thrilled welcoming hugs of Lydia. We met her last year – and she remembered us. Isn’t that totally flattering! Last year our conversation was all about Kenya – this year we’re catching up on news. Rosemary hasn’t had her kid yet, the weather’s been good – rain at the right times – and the harvest was awesome – so tourists are starting to return. Kenya is a happy place. That’s good. But we’re not staying here – we’re just spending 2 nights in Kenya before we hop on a plane to Kigali and Rwanda.
To get into the time zone – it’s 8 hours ahead – we spend a day in Nairobi. Vic opts for the pool – I go to the national Kenya museum and the Snake Museum. Both places are really interesting. Life in places like Kenya is – well – cheap. So the Snake museum is all about seriously poisonous snakes – Black mambos, boa constrictors, vipers, and the like. Some are in glass aquariums – but lots are in open sided pits. They keep them well fed – so they don’t bite the tourists. They say. Many of the snakes will not eat dead anything – so there’s a constant need for fresh food – rabbits for the boas, chameleons for most of the others. While I was there one viper caught a chameleon – fought with another for possession, and then lost it to a third. This is survival of the fittest – in the clearest possible terms – and a perfect introduction to Africa. At the national museum – they have the original skulls that people found and used to demonstrate the evolution of man from the apes. These skulls are anywhere from 1.2 to 3 million years old. Very cool. There’s also an interesting exhibit – so brand new that the paint smells – on the colonizing and recent history of Kenya. My driver and my guide and I spend a lot of time in this area – discussing how much each of us remembers. I’m 62, the driver is 45 and the guide is 22. As you can easily imagine – our memories really complement and complete each other’s. The driver’s memories are the most interesting – he experienced many of the events pictured, and his parents of course saw the rest. To the guide – it’s all learned history – he wasn’t there.
The next morning we get up early, eat quickly, and meet our fellow tourists. There are 6 of us, plus Mary-Ann and Joe. 2 friends (John and Petra) from the US – just 10 years younger than Vic and I, plus a pair of birders (Helen and Phil) from England. They are quite a bit younger – Helen is just 45. And they are in great shape. I’m more nervous about my ability to keep up then ever.
We board the propeller driven plane – and off we go. The scenery while we fly is magnificent. First we fly over the dry savannahs of the Masi Mara – then our magic carpet takes us across huge Lake Victoria. The plane stops quickly in Burundi – which is surprisingly green – and then it’s on to Rwanda. I don’t know what exactly I expected. But Rwanda was amazing. It’s a tiny (the size of Belgium) country – with 10 million inhabitants. It’s completely land locked – very hilly – with these huge volcanoes making up the entire northern area. Every single inch of land that can be farmed is terraced. And in many ways – it reminds me of what I thought I’d see in Africa on my first trip. Once outside of Kigali – which is actually a surprisingly modern city with huge hotels, shopping malls, and grocery stores (and the congestion that results) – Rwanda is green, green, green. And clean. The president is a bit of a benevolent dictator – and 5 years ago he mandated that everyone clean up the country one Saturday a month. So on the last Saturday of the month – everything stops while people clean. And the results are outstanding. Montreal likes to think it’s a clean city – man, we could learn a lot from Rwanda.
Out in the country side – people don’t have cars. They have bikes, and they have feet. And they walk. They walk everywhere – and keep in mind that this is a seriously hilly country – so we’re talking up and down and up and down. Carrying extremely heavy loads on the backs of their bikes if they are lucky, and on their heads if that’s all that’s available. Water is a problem – not so much the quantity – there’s lots, but the quality. So seeing women and children with yellow plastic water jugs on their heads – either empty on their way to a government inspected well, or full on their way home – is very common.
Clothes are African traditional – brightly colored wraps being far more popular than westernized pants, shirts, and jackets. It’s their winter – and it was a tad cool. So in the early morning and late afternoon you’d see fake fur lined winter coats. During the day – it got quite warm, so the coats would disappear. I have no idea what they would do with them – but it was rare to see them during the hotter parts of the day.
We continue to drive north towards Volcano National Park – the home of the Mountain Gorillas. The scenery continues to be astonishingly beautiful. The villages are perfectly clean, and the government is going to great lengths to supply them with public latrines (with hand washing facilities – plastic jugs on rope and branch structures – you press on a branch with your foot – the jug tilts – you wash your hands). Much more sophisticated than what I saw in China I might add. The government is also paying for people to build brick market stalls – hundreds of them. So seeing completed, partly completed, and just being started market areas was part of the fun. The main roads are all nicely paved – and according to Joe and Mary-Ann – far superior to what they had even 2 years ago. They have made huge strides in bringing comforts to people in the far flung regions. And again according to Joe and Mary-Ann- this is being done without some of the problems with rip-offs and 10 fingered discounts that plague construction projects in Montreal. Everyone is working together to try to bring the country up.
Rwanda bragging rights – they just got accepted into the British Commonwealth of Nations – that puts them on a footing with Canada. Wow. And everyone is trying hard to learn English – part of that –we’re fitting in if it kills us mentality. Pretty impressive, particularly in comparison with Kenya. And I’m not even going to mention places like Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – none of which are even getting close to that kind of team work attitude. Rwanda is really all about one for all, and all for the country.
According to Alex – our local guide, driver, and part owner of the company that is organizing this part of our trip – the president can do little wrong. He’s mandated that every child must go to school – even if only for part of the day – and in a country with an 85% illiteracy rate – that’s a huge step. Just consider – the parents have no education (if they survived the genocide) – but the kids are going to school. It’s not great – yet. But it will be if they can keep it up. Nothing educates like an education.
We finally arrive at Gorilla Nest Lodge. And the first surprise – our rooms are heated. This is brand new – and they are using radiant heaters that work quite well. So at least we won’t be sleeping cold. In the open to the air main lodge, dining room and bar – they use firepots to keep the chill off. I quickly learn to always sit next to a firepot – and our extremely friendly and helpful hosts quickly learn to put a firepot near me if I don’t manage to find a spot near one for myself. I’m really happy I brought my warm vest – and that extra heavy sweater. I’ll leave the sweater when we say goodbye – but for this week – it’s going to be very important. Also new at the resort – a 9 hole golf course, and they are now providing – free – water and all beverages consumed at dinner. Plus a free drink every night in the bar. Well – this is a nice surprise, even if we don’t drink a lot – getting the water is definitely a great idea.
Just a quick note on the golf – the team of the Gorilla Nest challenged the MacDonald team (that would be us) to a game of golf. How can we refuse? The Gorilla Nest team turns out to be almost every single employee – including the chefs in their whites, the chamber maids, the bar man – it’s a team building exercise for the Gorilla Nest and they make the most of it. Let me say – this was a hoot! We only manage one hole – when it rains – it pours. But it was definitely a highlight for the Gorilla Nest team – and one for us as well.
Our first meal is rather interesting. One of the birders is vegetarian – and I am totally reminded of the scene from ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ – you don’t eat no meat. No problem – I’ll make lamb. Unfortunately – Phil doesn’t think it’s funny. His dinner the first night is white rice – and the chefs at the Lodge get a quick lesson in what vegetarians who don’t like cheese can eat. They promise to do better tomorrow. We shall see about that.
Aside from an exploding hot water bottle that soaks Vic’s side of the bed – the evening passes without much incident, and we bundle off to bed. It will be an early day tomorrow.
We are up at 5:30 – eat a quick but delicious breakfast (more explanations about vegetarians – no, ham isn’t vegetarian – nor is bacon) – and then we’re off to the national park office. They open at 7:00, and everyone who is making a trek must check in. There are only 8 gorilla families that can be visited – with a max of 8 tourists per family – so 64 people a day get to visit. There are an additional 10 families in the mountains – but they don’t get visits from tourists. We get assigned our guide for the week (amazingly wonderful Francois – who actually came in on his day off to work with Joe and Mary-Ann – he loves them so much), and our first Gorilla Family.
Ok – some Mountain Gorilla facts. These are not pets – they aren’t tame – they aren’t fenced – they aren’t controlled in any way. The Silverback can stand 6 plus feet tall – and weigh up to 440 lbs. They are 8 to 9 times stronger than man, and have large teeth capable of stripping bamboo bark. They are so human like – except for the lack of speech – it’s actually rather frightening. They live in tight, clearly defined family groups, with each member having a name (given by the park rangers) – and a unique personality. Most of the rangers have grown up with these gorillas – Francois actually worked with Diane Fossey – and they know them better than they know their kids. The rangers communicate with the gorillas – and the gorillas answer them back. We are the strangers here – we are the interlopers. We have to be careful. This is their place, their homes – they let us visit – but we must behave. 3 rangers accompany each family every day, and being a ranger is an extremely well paying job. They protect the families from poachers – and keep their eyes open for snares set by poachers to catch the deer that live in the park. These are very nice guys – and a very key part of the entire set-up at the park. Their salaries are paid by the fees that are charged tourists to enter the park – and there are teams of 3 rangers with all the gorilla families in the park. If a family decides to wander into a different country – within the park – the rangers actually hand off responsibility. They are really trying hard to protect the last of this species – and good news – over 500 individuals is enough genetic variety to perhaps save them.
Mountain Gorillas are so close genetically to humans it is quite amazing. They do so many very human things that just watching their faces as they interact is intriguing. The Bad news - they can easily catch our colds. So we are not allowed to visit if we are not in good health. The national park has other rules – visitors are not allowed within 7 meters of the gorillas – visitors can only stay with the families for an hour, no family can have more than one group of visitors a day, under no circumstances can a visitor touch a gorilla, you can not leave anything – even a piece of toilet paper – in the rain forest. And no eating or drinking where the gorillas can see – they will try to copy you.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) – the gorillas don’t follow the rules. They love to play games – and I think they must at this point be totally aware that tourists are going to be arriving around 11:00 am every day. And they totally don’t worry about the 7 meter rule. So they get really really seriously – in your face – close. The rangers – because they know and respect Francois (he’s worked there for over 30 years), and often know Joe and Mary-Ann as well – expect us to behave responsibly – but don’t get uptight unless it appears that a gorilla is attempting to touch us! Then we must back off – and honestly – I’m happy to do so. I totally don’t need to say I shook hands with a gorilla. Even the hour rule is sometimes ‘bent’ – we always stayed over an hour – and once it was an hour and 45 minutes.
We did 5 treks in total – And we all did all 5. Only 2 other groups that Joe and Mary-Ann led can say the same. We were fortunate on many counts – the weather was amazing. No rain during the treks – but we had cloudy skies – so perfect for taking pictures. Not too hot – not too cold – so the gorillas were comfy – and the youngsters played around us with great enthusiasm. And we were lucky with where the families were when we found them. Often they were in bamboo forests with open glades – easy for us to move our tripods around in those conditions. A couple of times they were on steep hillsides – which made for more challenging photo ops – I ditched my tripod after the first trek and used only the mono pod – I was much more flexible and could move from position to position more easily.
We had two close encounters – one the very first day. The way these things work – you register at the national park office – get a quick intro to gorillas in general and your family of the day in particular. You are introduced by pictures to the lead Silverback of the family (aka – the father), his wives and his kids. Unlike many other wild animals – the head of a Gorilla family remains unchallenged all his life. He might have a 2nd in command – a Silverback in waiting as it were, but there’s no fighting to take over the family. That family is his. If the younger males, Silverbacks (12 yrs and older) and blackbacks (teenagers), want to get what Francois referred to as ‘ziggy – ziggy’, they must sneak off into the jungle with a willing ‘wife/daughter’ of the lead silverback. If they are caught – the wife is punished. If things really get out of hand, the male will leave the family, with the ‘wife/daughter’ and start up his own family.
One of the Silverback families that we visited had recently (in the last 5 years) been formed in exactly that way. A Silverback got bored waiting, left his family, and managed to snag an outstanding 9 wives from different families. His family now numbers 26 – huge by Gorilla family standards – mostly young children of course. (Do the math folks!)
Back to the schedule. Anyway – the allocation of which family goes to which group is a bit of a mystery, but certainly the better your guides, the better your allocation. Mary-Ann and Joe definitely wanted a group with a short walk for the first day – wanting to be sure we’d all be able to make the trek. They also wanted 5 different families over the 5 days. They fished their wishes in both cases – and we set out to our allocated family. Alex drove as far as he could in the direction of our family, parking in what they laughingly referred to as executive parking. We off loaded, and were met by a troop of young (20 – 29) year old porters. They were wearing uniforms – and if chosen as our porters – they would be paid by the national park. In addition, we were told to tip them – anywhere from $10 to $20 for the day’s work. We were not allowed to pick – in order to be fair, Francois – who was more aware of who had worked recently did the assignments. The idea was to spread the wealth thru as many different families as possible. ($10 to $20 doesn’t sound like a lot – but the average income in Rwanda is $3 a day. So clearly – these jobs are highly sought after)
We loaded up our designated porter (well – in my case, not that much of a load – I have a tiny camera and camera bag), and headed out. We walked for about 45 minutes thru fields – constantly heading up hill. The air was scented by eucalyptus, planted as per the president – and are not allowed to be cut – only dead branches can be gathered for burning. For me – that will truly be the smell of Africa.
About half-way up, Francois stopped us to give us a lecture on Gorilla speak. Grunts, groans, moans and whistles – chest beating and tree grabbing – Gorillas communicate in many ways – some of it rather frightening. Besides educating us, Francois was trying to be sure that we didn’t turn tail and run when the Gorillas started to speak. He was very effective – compared to him, the Gorillas were really quite tame!
There is a wall, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide that encircles the entire Volcano National Park. This is a really long wall – extending as it does thru 3 countries, and around 5 high Volcanoes. It serves as the clear demarcation between Jungle and farmland – and while it does not prevent the gorillas from visiting the farms, it does do a reasonable job of keeping the water buffalo in the park and off the farms – and it does an even better job of reminding the farmers of where not to farm! Seen from a distance – the line is extremely clear. Above the wall – jungle and rain forest, below the wall – rich farm land.
In any case – we walk till we reach the wall – and change into jungle walk gear. We climb over the wall – and continue upward – thru bamboo forest, and clearings filled with stinging thistles (don’t touch!). Sometimes we’d cross areas thick with fire ants or safari ants – the guides warning – walk quickly – ants – ants – ants. All through our walk the guide, the national park representative (aka – the gorilla tracker), and our porters would wield their machetes – hacking a path for us thru the jungle. All through this walk our guide was in constant communication with the 2 national park rangers that stayed with the gorilla family. This allowed us to quickly correct our heading if needed. When the park rangers judged that we were about 100 yards from the family, we’d stop and swap out our jungle gear with our photographer’s set-ups – including getting our cameras from the porters. Once everyone was ready – the idea was for the trackers to lead us to the family. This worked perfectly 3 out of 5 times – but the 2 times it didn’t work were the most exciting.
For our first trek, we had no sooner loaded up our camera gear than one of the black backs – aware of our presence – came running out of the bamboo forest – growling and showing his fangs. I had hung back a bit – afraid a bit of the whole gorilla on the lose thing – and naturally he headed straight for me. I’m only a bit afraid – ok maybe a bit more than a bit. But I bravely hold my ground and point my camera at the ‘attacking’ gorilla. My porter grabs me from the back and hauls me into the group. Gorillas don’t like large moving objects (or tightly gathered groups of people) – they think of these as elephants. Large and too be avoided. But – then the black back – having made his point (this is my home – knock before you enter) – he poses for us. Magnificent photo ops. Then, before you can say wow – the silverback decided to see what had the black back all upset. This is the 2nd in command silverback – so he’s only 300 lbs or so. Trust me – he’s quite big enough. He comes out of the woods – the black back, faced with a very upset with his behavior senior family member, retreats after a couple more growls and some chest thumping. Now the Silver back checks us out – poses for photos, and then gives the ok growl. To our amazement (and the astonishment of our trackers) the entire family now parades out of the bamboo forest – strides across the open field, and heads up into another bamboo forest. We get mom’s with kids on their backs, junior gorillas with playful poses, the pair of Silverbacks and several of the Black Backs. It’s a parade – and we’re the spectators.
How close? Say 2 meters – max? Very close.
Mary-Ann and Joe are simply stunned – this is our first trek and already we’ve seen more than most people see in multiple attempts. We’ve seen stuff they have never seen in over 50 treks. Where can we go from here?
For us – the experience has simply been magical. And whetted our appetites for more. But now we must wait for tomorrow. We regroup – thank and tip our porters, reload them with the gear and head back to the car. Great first day – great for any day with the Mountain Gorillas.
In our next 4 treks – we have one more close encounter – this one on day 2. Again we’re in the process of changing from jungle gear to photographer’s gear when a pair of Black Backs who are clearly playing tag come running out of the forest. There is some debate on what happened next, but within seconds the female birder (Helen) is on her back – tossed by the 2nd Black Back as he ran past. She later tells us that he actually pinched her – but Mary-Ann says that he might have just reached out towards her – but given his strength, the gentle whack becomes a throw. I spot the gorillas running past – Helen on her back and immediate grab my charming porter and push him in front of me. I just want something between me and those gorillas – and somehow my camera just doesn’t seem large enough.
Day 3 is the most mellow of our treks. The gorillas are on the far side of a crater from us – so we must go down the steep side and then up the other side. The bottom of the crater (remember – we’re on an active Volcano area – craters are to be expected) at the bottom is amazing – it looks just like the source for some of the scenes in Avatar. Green moss, hanging plants, huge trees towering over large clearings that appears to have never seen the eyes of man. Joe and Mary-Ann get suitably excited. They have never seen this lovely magical canyon, and they take dozens and dozens of pictures. And that’s before we find the gorillas! The gorillas are preparing their day beds – lots of grooming going on, lots of mom and baby pictures, lots of movement in front of us, behind us, even along side of us.
To give you a feeling for just how close we are – at one point I’m focused on a mom and tot when my view goes completely black. A Black Back is just walking in front of me. Close enough to touch, but I didn’t. And he didn’t turn to stare at me either. Whew.
Day 4 and Day 5 are equally lovely – On Day 5 the family is so relaxed about our presence that a mom nurses her baby, two infants play tag, and the Silver Back parades back and forth watching to be sure his family is well taken care of.
In the afternoons, we explore the surrounding area. We spend 2 days taking people pictures – Joe demonstrates how to get people to pose for you – and suggests some key points – pose people in the shade to avoid too much contrast, show them the pictures to get past the communication barrier, if you want a silhouette– make sure it’s the entire silhouette. Making sure the eyes are open – and looking in an interesting direction is also critical. We never do get to go to the market – but we do get to go shopping at the local craft store – and I stock up on some of their lovely woven baskets, and tall thin wood carvings. After every trek, the local kids gather where we will be leaving the guides to sell us their pictures and wooden carvings. I make sure to buy one thing from each group. More sharing of the wealth.
Evening of day 5 – around our last supper in the mountains we all agree on what a wonderful experience this has been. We are only the 3rd group of the 11 that Joe and Mary-Ann have led that had everyone complete all 5 of the treks. Vegetarian issues aside, the food has been good, the lodge bent over backwards to make us feel welcome, and the gorilla treks were outstanding. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kigali for a day there – then the next day we fly back to Nairobi and the official end of the tour.
But we’re not finished with the excitement. In the past – the healthiest person has always been Mary-Ann – but this time she’s been a bit (for her) under the weather. On the evening of Day 5 she and Joe go to bed – and she wakes up in the middle of the night – terribly ill. Plans are made to be changed. We go with Alex to head back slowly to Nairobi – stopping as needed for people to take photos. Joe and Mary-Ann head back as fast as they can – stopping reroute at a pharmacist to get Mary-Ann some medicine. It is a credit to the robustness of her system that, while she looked like a weak white sheet in the morning – but dinner she feels good enough to join us. I’m extremely relieved. You form strong friendships on these kinds of adventures – and I was really worried about her.
We tour the Genocide museum in Kigali – it’s amazing – disturbing – and in some ways a positive experience. It ends by saying – if we don’t figure out why these things happen – ‘Never Again’ will become ‘Again and Again’. Strong words, those.
Speaking of Genocide – I’ve been in two countries that went thru a recent Genocide now – Rwanda and Cambodia. In Cambodia, they have attempted to deal with the experience by almost pretending that it didn’t actually happen. Everyone knows who did the killing – but not one has been officially punished. Compare this to Rwanda. Unlike the museum in Cambodia which is clearly an after thought made to keep tourists informed, the museum in Rwanda represents a multi-media, high tech, and extremely sophisticated attempt to not only explain what happened – but to address some of the underling issues. They have created courts in all of the local villages – courts that are manned by locals. People who participated in the Genocide – and everyone knows who they are – are welcome to go to these courts – confess what they did – and they must find the families of the people they hurt and formally beg forgiveness. Then, depending on how ‘depraved’ what they did was, the court gives out punishments. They might sentence the person to jail, but more likely the person is remanded to a work camp. There they do work for the government 3 or 4 days a week – and are able to work for their family the rest of the time. But key to the process is the asking of forgiveness – and the confession.
All of this, I think, will help Rwanda get over what happened – far faster than ignoring it like Cambodia is doing.
Part of the tour of Kigali consists of some of the famous places where fighting occurred – We even saw the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ of the movie - and in many cases – the places have been carefully restored to keep the bullet holes visible. Very interesting – I’m really glad I came. Rwanda exceeded expectations – I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Basically – I loved it. Good food, exciting wildlife, great photo oops, awesome scenery – and interesting to boot. What’s not to recommend?
We return to Nairobi, and from there we fly on to Malindi – we’ve arranged to spend several days relaxing on the coast of Kenya, snorkeling, swimming, walking – and getting back our mojo for the return trip, an uneventful – but way too long – 27 hour air ride. Sigh – wouldn’t it be nice if Africa was closer.
Signing off – The Soup Lady
Leslie Eiser
aka - the soup Lady
http://www.ed-foods.com
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Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda
A Trip Report from one of our Participants
Enjoy, it's great!
Hi All,
It’s the soup lady – off on another adventure. This time, it’s to Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas. For those not in the know about Mountain Gorillas (and I definitely qualify as not in the know) – there are only about 773 of these animals alive on the planet today – and they all – every single one – live in a national park that is shared between 3 countries – Rwanda, the Congo, and Uganda. You get to pick your poison when you decide which country to visit to see these animals – but we had our choice made for us – Joe and Mary-Ann Macdonald – the wildlife photographers we traveled with the Kenya – have made 50 gorilla treks (the most of any tourist) – and they are doing the Rwanda side.
First off – you have to get the gear. And a lot of gear is needed if you are going to be going into the rain forest at high altitude to photograph these huge animals. Mary-Ann emailed at least 3 times with different lists – from warm stuff (it gets cold at altitude – and there’s no heat in the inn we’re going to be staying in), to wet weather gear (you need a complete – top to bottom – waterproof – rain suit, plus multiple ponchos for the porters to use to cover your gear.)
And you need to be in shape. Joe suggests that you work out 3 times a week – an hour to an hour and a half. You need to be able to climb 20 flights of stairs without panting. Right. I can’t do that. And you need to be able to climb back down.
Turns out that the gorilla families live in the mountains – and you go to them in foot, through the rain forest. You don’t have to carry your gear (whew) – but your knees have to be up for this. And at 62 I’m not sure if my knees are up to much besides keeping me erect. But not to worry – that’s what Gyms are for. So Vic and I have been working out somewhat successfully. I’m up to at least 60 flights – I’m panting – but I can do it. Vic’s even better, he can do 70 flights – but neither of us would be prepared to run a marathon after that. We’re thinking that we’ll need all the shape we can get.
Our voyage starts – as all trips to Africa start – with a long boring plane ride. I dearly wish we could afford those first class seats with the beds – but at least this time we got seats with a footrest. That does help. The plane is one of those older ones – lousy movie options – you watch what we show you – but I don’t care. I’ve come prepared with an ipod and earphones. But I still watch the dumb movie. And eat the crummy food. Oh well – that’s what travel to Africa is all about.
24 hours from when we left Montreal – we arrive in Nairobi – and are met by the smiling face and thrilled welcoming hugs of Lydia. We met her last year – and she remembered us. Isn’t that totally flattering! Last year our conversation was all about Kenya – this year we’re catching up on news. Rosemary hasn’t had her kid yet, the weather’s been good – rain at the right times – and the harvest was awesome – so tourists are starting to return. Kenya is a happy place. That’s good. But we’re not staying here – we’re just spending 2 nights in Kenya before we hop on a plane to Kigali and Rwanda.
To get into the time zone – it’s 8 hours ahead – we spend a day in Nairobi. Vic opts for the pool – I go to the national Kenya museum and the Snake Museum. Both places are really interesting. Life in places like Kenya is – well – cheap. So the Snake museum is all about seriously poisonous snakes – Black mambos, boa constrictors, vipers, and the like. Some are in glass aquariums – but lots are in open sided pits. They keep them well fed – so they don’t bite the tourists. They say. Many of the snakes will not eat dead anything – so there’s a constant need for fresh food – rabbits for the boas, chameleons for most of the others. While I was there one viper caught a chameleon – fought with another for possession, and then lost it to a third. This is survival of the fittest – in the clearest possible terms – and a perfect introduction to Africa. At the national museum – they have the original skulls that people found and used to demonstrate the evolution of man from the apes. These skulls are anywhere from 1.2 to 3 million years old. Very cool. There’s also an interesting exhibit – so brand new that the paint smells – on the colonizing and recent history of Kenya. My driver and my guide and I spend a lot of time in this area – discussing how much each of us remembers. I’m 62, the driver is 45 and the guide is 22. As you can easily imagine – our memories really complement and complete each other’s. The driver’s memories are the most interesting – he experienced many of the events pictured, and his parents of course saw the rest. To the guide – it’s all learned history – he wasn’t there.
The next morning we get up early, eat quickly, and meet our fellow tourists. There are 6 of us, plus Mary-Ann and Joe. 2 friends (John and Petra) from the US – just 10 years younger than Vic and I, plus a pair of birders (Helen and Phil) from England. They are quite a bit younger – Helen is just 45. And they are in great shape. I’m more nervous about my ability to keep up then ever.
We board the propeller driven plane – and off we go. The scenery while we fly is magnificent. First we fly over the dry savannahs of the Masi Mara – then our magic carpet takes us across huge Lake Victoria. The plane stops quickly in Burundi – which is surprisingly green – and then it’s on to Rwanda. I don’t know what exactly I expected. But Rwanda was amazing. It’s a tiny (the size of Belgium) country – with 10 million inhabitants. It’s completely land locked – very hilly – with these huge volcanoes making up the entire northern area. Every single inch of land that can be farmed is terraced. And in many ways – it reminds me of what I thought I’d see in Africa on my first trip. Once outside of Kigali – which is actually a surprisingly modern city with huge hotels, shopping malls, and grocery stores (and the congestion that results) – Rwanda is green, green, green. And clean. The president is a bit of a benevolent dictator – and 5 years ago he mandated that everyone clean up the country one Saturday a month. So on the last Saturday of the month – everything stops while people clean. And the results are outstanding. Montreal likes to think it’s a clean city – man, we could learn a lot from Rwanda.
Out in the country side – people don’t have cars. They have bikes, and they have feet. And they walk. They walk everywhere – and keep in mind that this is a seriously hilly country – so we’re talking up and down and up and down. Carrying extremely heavy loads on the backs of their bikes if they are lucky, and on their heads if that’s all that’s available. Water is a problem – not so much the quantity – there’s lots, but the quality. So seeing women and children with yellow plastic water jugs on their heads – either empty on their way to a government inspected well, or full on their way home – is very common.
Clothes are African traditional – brightly colored wraps being far more popular than westernized pants, shirts, and jackets. It’s their winter – and it was a tad cool. So in the early morning and late afternoon you’d see fake fur lined winter coats. During the day – it got quite warm, so the coats would disappear. I have no idea what they would do with them – but it was rare to see them during the hotter parts of the day.
We continue to drive north towards Volcano National Park – the home of the Mountain Gorillas. The scenery continues to be astonishingly beautiful. The villages are perfectly clean, and the government is going to great lengths to supply them with public latrines (with hand washing facilities – plastic jugs on rope and branch structures – you press on a branch with your foot – the jug tilts – you wash your hands). Much more sophisticated than what I saw in China I might add. The government is also paying for people to build brick market stalls – hundreds of them. So seeing completed, partly completed, and just being started market areas was part of the fun. The main roads are all nicely paved – and according to Joe and Mary-Ann – far superior to what they had even 2 years ago. They have made huge strides in bringing comforts to people in the far flung regions. And again according to Joe and Mary-Ann- this is being done without some of the problems with rip-offs and 10 fingered discounts that plague construction projects in Montreal. Everyone is working together to try to bring the country up.
Rwanda bragging rights – they just got accepted into the British Commonwealth of Nations – that puts them on a footing with Canada. Wow. And everyone is trying hard to learn English – part of that –we’re fitting in if it kills us mentality. Pretty impressive, particularly in comparison with Kenya. And I’m not even going to mention places like Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – none of which are even getting close to that kind of team work attitude. Rwanda is really all about one for all, and all for the country.
According to Alex – our local guide, driver, and part owner of the company that is organizing this part of our trip – the president can do little wrong. He’s mandated that every child must go to school – even if only for part of the day – and in a country with an 85% illiteracy rate – that’s a huge step. Just consider – the parents have no education (if they survived the genocide) – but the kids are going to school. It’s not great – yet. But it will be if they can keep it up. Nothing educates like an education.
We finally arrive at Gorilla Nest Lodge. And the first surprise – our rooms are heated. This is brand new – and they are using radiant heaters that work quite well. So at least we won’t be sleeping cold. In the open to the air main lodge, dining room and bar – they use firepots to keep the chill off. I quickly learn to always sit next to a firepot – and our extremely friendly and helpful hosts quickly learn to put a firepot near me if I don’t manage to find a spot near one for myself. I’m really happy I brought my warm vest – and that extra heavy sweater. I’ll leave the sweater when we say goodbye – but for this week – it’s going to be very important. Also new at the resort – a 9 hole golf course, and they are now providing – free – water and all beverages consumed at dinner. Plus a free drink every night in the bar. Well – this is a nice surprise, even if we don’t drink a lot – getting the water is definitely a great idea.
Just a quick note on the golf – the team of the Gorilla Nest challenged the MacDonald team (that would be us) to a game of golf. How can we refuse? The Gorilla Nest team turns out to be almost every single employee – including the chefs in their whites, the chamber maids, the bar man – it’s a team building exercise for the Gorilla Nest and they make the most of it. Let me say – this was a hoot! We only manage one hole – when it rains – it pours. But it was definitely a highlight for the Gorilla Nest team – and one for us as well.
Our first meal is rather interesting. One of the birders is vegetarian – and I am totally reminded of the scene from ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ – you don’t eat no meat. No problem – I’ll make lamb. Unfortunately – Phil doesn’t think it’s funny. His dinner the first night is white rice – and the chefs at the Lodge get a quick lesson in what vegetarians who don’t like cheese can eat. They promise to do better tomorrow. We shall see about that.
Aside from an exploding hot water bottle that soaks Vic’s side of the bed – the evening passes without much incident, and we bundle off to bed. It will be an early day tomorrow.
We are up at 5:30 – eat a quick but delicious breakfast (more explanations about vegetarians – no, ham isn’t vegetarian – nor is bacon) – and then we’re off to the national park office. They open at 7:00, and everyone who is making a trek must check in. There are only 8 gorilla families that can be visited – with a max of 8 tourists per family – so 64 people a day get to visit. There are an additional 10 families in the mountains – but they don’t get visits from tourists. We get assigned our guide for the week (amazingly wonderful Francois – who actually came in on his day off to work with Joe and Mary-Ann – he loves them so much), and our first Gorilla Family.
Ok – some Mountain Gorilla facts. These are not pets – they aren’t tame – they aren’t fenced – they aren’t controlled in any way. The Silverback can stand 6 plus feet tall – and weigh up to 440 lbs. They are 8 to 9 times stronger than man, and have large teeth capable of stripping bamboo bark. They are so human like – except for the lack of speech – it’s actually rather frightening. They live in tight, clearly defined family groups, with each member having a name (given by the park rangers) – and a unique personality. Most of the rangers have grown up with these gorillas – Francois actually worked with Diane Fossey – and they know them better than they know their kids. The rangers communicate with the gorillas – and the gorillas answer them back. We are the strangers here – we are the interlopers. We have to be careful. This is their place, their homes – they let us visit – but we must behave. 3 rangers accompany each family every day, and being a ranger is an extremely well paying job. They protect the families from poachers – and keep their eyes open for snares set by poachers to catch the deer that live in the park. These are very nice guys – and a very key part of the entire set-up at the park. Their salaries are paid by the fees that are charged tourists to enter the park – and there are teams of 3 rangers with all the gorilla families in the park. If a family decides to wander into a different country – within the park – the rangers actually hand off responsibility. They are really trying hard to protect the last of this species – and good news – over 500 individuals is enough genetic variety to perhaps save them.
Mountain Gorillas are so close genetically to humans it is quite amazing. They do so many very human things that just watching their faces as they interact is intriguing. The Bad news - they can easily catch our colds. So we are not allowed to visit if we are not in good health. The national park has other rules – visitors are not allowed within 7 meters of the gorillas – visitors can only stay with the families for an hour, no family can have more than one group of visitors a day, under no circumstances can a visitor touch a gorilla, you can not leave anything – even a piece of toilet paper – in the rain forest. And no eating or drinking where the gorillas can see – they will try to copy you.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) – the gorillas don’t follow the rules. They love to play games – and I think they must at this point be totally aware that tourists are going to be arriving around 11:00 am every day. And they totally don’t worry about the 7 meter rule. So they get really really seriously – in your face – close. The rangers – because they know and respect Francois (he’s worked there for over 30 years), and often know Joe and Mary-Ann as well – expect us to behave responsibly – but don’t get uptight unless it appears that a gorilla is attempting to touch us! Then we must back off – and honestly – I’m happy to do so. I totally don’t need to say I shook hands with a gorilla. Even the hour rule is sometimes ‘bent’ – we always stayed over an hour – and once it was an hour and 45 minutes.
We did 5 treks in total – And we all did all 5. Only 2 other groups that Joe and Mary-Ann led can say the same. We were fortunate on many counts – the weather was amazing. No rain during the treks – but we had cloudy skies – so perfect for taking pictures. Not too hot – not too cold – so the gorillas were comfy – and the youngsters played around us with great enthusiasm. And we were lucky with where the families were when we found them. Often they were in bamboo forests with open glades – easy for us to move our tripods around in those conditions. A couple of times they were on steep hillsides – which made for more challenging photo ops – I ditched my tripod after the first trek and used only the mono pod – I was much more flexible and could move from position to position more easily.
We had two close encounters – one the very first day. The way these things work – you register at the national park office – get a quick intro to gorillas in general and your family of the day in particular. You are introduced by pictures to the lead Silverback of the family (aka – the father), his wives and his kids. Unlike many other wild animals – the head of a Gorilla family remains unchallenged all his life. He might have a 2nd in command – a Silverback in waiting as it were, but there’s no fighting to take over the family. That family is his. If the younger males, Silverbacks (12 yrs and older) and blackbacks (teenagers), want to get what Francois referred to as ‘ziggy – ziggy’, they must sneak off into the jungle with a willing ‘wife/daughter’ of the lead silverback. If they are caught – the wife is punished. If things really get out of hand, the male will leave the family, with the ‘wife/daughter’ and start up his own family.
One of the Silverback families that we visited had recently (in the last 5 years) been formed in exactly that way. A Silverback got bored waiting, left his family, and managed to snag an outstanding 9 wives from different families. His family now numbers 26 – huge by Gorilla family standards – mostly young children of course. (Do the math folks!)
Back to the schedule. Anyway – the allocation of which family goes to which group is a bit of a mystery, but certainly the better your guides, the better your allocation. Mary-Ann and Joe definitely wanted a group with a short walk for the first day – wanting to be sure we’d all be able to make the trek. They also wanted 5 different families over the 5 days. They fished their wishes in both cases – and we set out to our allocated family. Alex drove as far as he could in the direction of our family, parking in what they laughingly referred to as executive parking. We off loaded, and were met by a troop of young (20 – 29) year old porters. They were wearing uniforms – and if chosen as our porters – they would be paid by the national park. In addition, we were told to tip them – anywhere from $10 to $20 for the day’s work. We were not allowed to pick – in order to be fair, Francois – who was more aware of who had worked recently did the assignments. The idea was to spread the wealth thru as many different families as possible. ($10 to $20 doesn’t sound like a lot – but the average income in Rwanda is $3 a day. So clearly – these jobs are highly sought after)
We loaded up our designated porter (well – in my case, not that much of a load – I have a tiny camera and camera bag), and headed out. We walked for about 45 minutes thru fields – constantly heading up hill. The air was scented by eucalyptus, planted as per the president – and are not allowed to be cut – only dead branches can be gathered for burning. For me – that will truly be the smell of Africa.
About half-way up, Francois stopped us to give us a lecture on Gorilla speak. Grunts, groans, moans and whistles – chest beating and tree grabbing – Gorillas communicate in many ways – some of it rather frightening. Besides educating us, Francois was trying to be sure that we didn’t turn tail and run when the Gorillas started to speak. He was very effective – compared to him, the Gorillas were really quite tame!
There is a wall, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide that encircles the entire Volcano National Park. This is a really long wall – extending as it does thru 3 countries, and around 5 high Volcanoes. It serves as the clear demarcation between Jungle and farmland – and while it does not prevent the gorillas from visiting the farms, it does do a reasonable job of keeping the water buffalo in the park and off the farms – and it does an even better job of reminding the farmers of where not to farm! Seen from a distance – the line is extremely clear. Above the wall – jungle and rain forest, below the wall – rich farm land.
In any case – we walk till we reach the wall – and change into jungle walk gear. We climb over the wall – and continue upward – thru bamboo forest, and clearings filled with stinging thistles (don’t touch!). Sometimes we’d cross areas thick with fire ants or safari ants – the guides warning – walk quickly – ants – ants – ants. All through our walk the guide, the national park representative (aka – the gorilla tracker), and our porters would wield their machetes – hacking a path for us thru the jungle. All through this walk our guide was in constant communication with the 2 national park rangers that stayed with the gorilla family. This allowed us to quickly correct our heading if needed. When the park rangers judged that we were about 100 yards from the family, we’d stop and swap out our jungle gear with our photographer’s set-ups – including getting our cameras from the porters. Once everyone was ready – the idea was for the trackers to lead us to the family. This worked perfectly 3 out of 5 times – but the 2 times it didn’t work were the most exciting.
For our first trek, we had no sooner loaded up our camera gear than one of the black backs – aware of our presence – came running out of the bamboo forest – growling and showing his fangs. I had hung back a bit – afraid a bit of the whole gorilla on the lose thing – and naturally he headed straight for me. I’m only a bit afraid – ok maybe a bit more than a bit. But I bravely hold my ground and point my camera at the ‘attacking’ gorilla. My porter grabs me from the back and hauls me into the group. Gorillas don’t like large moving objects (or tightly gathered groups of people) – they think of these as elephants. Large and too be avoided. But – then the black back – having made his point (this is my home – knock before you enter) – he poses for us. Magnificent photo ops. Then, before you can say wow – the silverback decided to see what had the black back all upset. This is the 2nd in command silverback – so he’s only 300 lbs or so. Trust me – he’s quite big enough. He comes out of the woods – the black back, faced with a very upset with his behavior senior family member, retreats after a couple more growls and some chest thumping. Now the Silver back checks us out – poses for photos, and then gives the ok growl. To our amazement (and the astonishment of our trackers) the entire family now parades out of the bamboo forest – strides across the open field, and heads up into another bamboo forest. We get mom’s with kids on their backs, junior gorillas with playful poses, the pair of Silverbacks and several of the Black Backs. It’s a parade – and we’re the spectators.
How close? Say 2 meters – max? Very close.
Mary-Ann and Joe are simply stunned – this is our first trek and already we’ve seen more than most people see in multiple attempts. We’ve seen stuff they have never seen in over 50 treks. Where can we go from here?
For us – the experience has simply been magical. And whetted our appetites for more. But now we must wait for tomorrow. We regroup – thank and tip our porters, reload them with the gear and head back to the car. Great first day – great for any day with the Mountain Gorillas.
In our next 4 treks – we have one more close encounter – this one on day 2. Again we’re in the process of changing from jungle gear to photographer’s gear when a pair of Black Backs who are clearly playing tag come running out of the forest. There is some debate on what happened next, but within seconds the female birder (Helen) is on her back – tossed by the 2nd Black Back as he ran past. She later tells us that he actually pinched her – but Mary-Ann says that he might have just reached out towards her – but given his strength, the gentle whack becomes a throw. I spot the gorillas running past – Helen on her back and immediate grab my charming porter and push him in front of me. I just want something between me and those gorillas – and somehow my camera just doesn’t seem large enough.
Day 3 is the most mellow of our treks. The gorillas are on the far side of a crater from us – so we must go down the steep side and then up the other side. The bottom of the crater (remember – we’re on an active Volcano area – craters are to be expected) at the bottom is amazing – it looks just like the source for some of the scenes in Avatar. Green moss, hanging plants, huge trees towering over large clearings that appears to have never seen the eyes of man. Joe and Mary-Ann get suitably excited. They have never seen this lovely magical canyon, and they take dozens and dozens of pictures. And that’s before we find the gorillas! The gorillas are preparing their day beds – lots of grooming going on, lots of mom and baby pictures, lots of movement in front of us, behind us, even along side of us.
To give you a feeling for just how close we are – at one point I’m focused on a mom and tot when my view goes completely black. A Black Back is just walking in front of me. Close enough to touch, but I didn’t. And he didn’t turn to stare at me either. Whew.
Day 4 and Day 5 are equally lovely – On Day 5 the family is so relaxed about our presence that a mom nurses her baby, two infants play tag, and the Silver Back parades back and forth watching to be sure his family is well taken care of.
In the afternoons, we explore the surrounding area. We spend 2 days taking people pictures – Joe demonstrates how to get people to pose for you – and suggests some key points – pose people in the shade to avoid too much contrast, show them the pictures to get past the communication barrier, if you want a silhouette– make sure it’s the entire silhouette. Making sure the eyes are open – and looking in an interesting direction is also critical. We never do get to go to the market – but we do get to go shopping at the local craft store – and I stock up on some of their lovely woven baskets, and tall thin wood carvings. After every trek, the local kids gather where we will be leaving the guides to sell us their pictures and wooden carvings. I make sure to buy one thing from each group. More sharing of the wealth.
Evening of day 5 – around our last supper in the mountains we all agree on what a wonderful experience this has been. We are only the 3rd group of the 11 that Joe and Mary-Ann have led that had everyone complete all 5 of the treks. Vegetarian issues aside, the food has been good, the lodge bent over backwards to make us feel welcome, and the gorilla treks were outstanding. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kigali for a day there – then the next day we fly back to Nairobi and the official end of the tour.
But we’re not finished with the excitement. In the past – the healthiest person has always been Mary-Ann – but this time she’s been a bit (for her) under the weather. On the evening of Day 5 she and Joe go to bed – and she wakes up in the middle of the night – terribly ill. Plans are made to be changed. We go with Alex to head back slowly to Nairobi – stopping as needed for people to take photos. Joe and Mary-Ann head back as fast as they can – stopping reroute at a pharmacist to get Mary-Ann some medicine. It is a credit to the robustness of her system that, while she looked like a weak white sheet in the morning – but dinner she feels good enough to join us. I’m extremely relieved. You form strong friendships on these kinds of adventures – and I was really worried about her.
We tour the Genocide museum in Kigali – it’s amazing – disturbing – and in some ways a positive experience. It ends by saying – if we don’t figure out why these things happen – ‘Never Again’ will become ‘Again and Again’. Strong words, those.
Speaking of Genocide – I’ve been in two countries that went thru a recent Genocide now – Rwanda and Cambodia. In Cambodia, they have attempted to deal with the experience by almost pretending that it didn’t actually happen. Everyone knows who did the killing – but not one has been officially punished. Compare this to Rwanda. Unlike the museum in Cambodia which is clearly an after thought made to keep tourists informed, the museum in Rwanda represents a multi-media, high tech, and extremely sophisticated attempt to not only explain what happened – but to address some of the underling issues. They have created courts in all of the local villages – courts that are manned by locals. People who participated in the Genocide – and everyone knows who they are – are welcome to go to these courts – confess what they did – and they must find the families of the people they hurt and formally beg forgiveness. Then, depending on how ‘depraved’ what they did was, the court gives out punishments. They might sentence the person to jail, but more likely the person is remanded to a work camp. There they do work for the government 3 or 4 days a week – and are able to work for their family the rest of the time. But key to the process is the asking of forgiveness – and the confession.
All of this, I think, will help Rwanda get over what happened – far faster than ignoring it like Cambodia is doing.
Part of the tour of Kigali consists of some of the famous places where fighting occurred – We even saw the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ of the movie - and in many cases – the places have been carefully restored to keep the bullet holes visible. Very interesting – I’m really glad I came. Rwanda exceeded expectations – I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Basically – I loved it. Good food, exciting wildlife, great photo oops, awesome scenery – and interesting to boot. What’s not to recommend?
We return to Nairobi, and from there we fly on to Malindi – we’ve arranged to spend several days relaxing on the coast of Kenya, snorkeling, swimming, walking – and getting back our mojo for the return trip, an uneventful – but way too long – 27 hour air ride. Sigh – wouldn’t it be nice if Africa was closer.
Signing off – The Soup Lady
Leslie Eiser
aka - the soup Lady
http://www.ed-foods.com
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Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda
A Trip Report from one of our Participants
Enjoy, it's great!
Hi All,
It’s the soup lady – off on another adventure. This time, it’s to Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas. For those not in the know about Mountain Gorillas (and I definitely qualify as not in the know) – there are only about 773 of these animals alive on the planet today – and they all – every single one – live in a national park that is shared between 3 countries – Rwanda, the Congo, and Uganda. You get to pick your poison when you decide which country to visit to see these animals – but we had our choice made for us – Joe and Mary-Ann Macdonald – the wildlife photographers we traveled with the Kenya – have made 50 gorilla treks (the most of any tourist) – and they are doing the Rwanda side.
First off – you have to get the gear. And a lot of gear is needed if you are going to be going into the rain forest at high altitude to photograph these huge animals. Mary-Ann emailed at least 3 times with different lists – from warm stuff (it gets cold at altitude – and there’s no heat in the inn we’re going to be staying in), to wet weather gear (you need a complete – top to bottom – waterproof – rain suit, plus multiple ponchos for the porters to use to cover your gear.)
And you need to be in shape. Joe suggests that you work out 3 times a week – an hour to an hour and a half. You need to be able to climb 20 flights of stairs without panting. Right. I can’t do that. And you need to be able to climb back down.
Turns out that the gorilla families live in the mountains – and you go to them in foot, through the rain forest. You don’t have to carry your gear (whew) – but your knees have to be up for this. And at 62 I’m not sure if my knees are up to much besides keeping me erect. But not to worry – that’s what Gyms are for. So Vic and I have been working out somewhat successfully. I’m up to at least 60 flights – I’m panting – but I can do it. Vic’s even better, he can do 70 flights – but neither of us would be prepared to run a marathon after that. We’re thinking that we’ll need all the shape we can get.
Our voyage starts – as all trips to Africa start – with a long boring plane ride. I dearly wish we could afford those first class seats with the beds – but at least this time we got seats with a footrest. That does help. The plane is one of those older ones – lousy movie options – you watch what we show you – but I don’t care. I’ve come prepared with an ipod and earphones. But I still watch the dumb movie. And eat the crummy food. Oh well – that’s what travel to Africa is all about.
24 hours from when we left Montreal – we arrive in Nairobi – and are met by the smiling face and thrilled welcoming hugs of Lydia. We met her last year – and she remembered us. Isn’t that totally flattering! Last year our conversation was all about Kenya – this year we’re catching up on news. Rosemary hasn’t had her kid yet, the weather’s been good – rain at the right times – and the harvest was awesome – so tourists are starting to return. Kenya is a happy place. That’s good. But we’re not staying here – we’re just spending 2 nights in Kenya before we hop on a plane to Kigali and Rwanda.
To get into the time zone – it’s 8 hours ahead – we spend a day in Nairobi. Vic opts for the pool – I go to the national Kenya museum and the Snake Museum. Both places are really interesting. Life in places like Kenya is – well – cheap. So the Snake museum is all about seriously poisonous snakes – Black mambos, boa constrictors, vipers, and the like. Some are in glass aquariums – but lots are in open sided pits. They keep them well fed – so they don’t bite the tourists. They say. Many of the snakes will not eat dead anything – so there’s a constant need for fresh food – rabbits for the boas, chameleons for most of the others. While I was there one viper caught a chameleon – fought with another for possession, and then lost it to a third. This is survival of the fittest – in the clearest possible terms – and a perfect introduction to Africa. At the national museum – they have the original skulls that people found and used to demonstrate the evolution of man from the apes. These skulls are anywhere from 1.2 to 3 million years old. Very cool. There’s also an interesting exhibit – so brand new that the paint smells – on the colonizing and recent history of Kenya. My driver and my guide and I spend a lot of time in this area – discussing how much each of us remembers. I’m 62, the driver is 45 and the guide is 22. As you can easily imagine – our memories really complement and complete each other’s. The driver’s memories are the most interesting – he experienced many of the events pictured, and his parents of course saw the rest. To the guide – it’s all learned history – he wasn’t there.
The next morning we get up early, eat quickly, and meet our fellow tourists. There are 6 of us, plus Mary-Ann and Joe. 2 friends (John and Petra) from the US – just 10 years younger than Vic and I, plus a pair of birders (Helen and Phil) from England. They are quite a bit younger – Helen is just 45. And they are in great shape. I’m more nervous about my ability to keep up then ever.
We board the propeller driven plane – and off we go. The scenery while we fly is magnificent. First we fly over the dry savannahs of the Masi Mara – then our magic carpet takes us across huge Lake Victoria. The plane stops quickly in Burundi – which is surprisingly green – and then it’s on to Rwanda. I don’t know what exactly I expected. But Rwanda was amazing. It’s a tiny (the size of Belgium) country – with 10 million inhabitants. It’s completely land locked – very hilly – with these huge volcanoes making up the entire northern area. Every single inch of land that can be farmed is terraced. And in many ways – it reminds me of what I thought I’d see in Africa on my first trip. Once outside of Kigali – which is actually a surprisingly modern city with huge hotels, shopping malls, and grocery stores (and the congestion that results) – Rwanda is green, green, green. And clean. The president is a bit of a benevolent dictator – and 5 years ago he mandated that everyone clean up the country one Saturday a month. So on the last Saturday of the month – everything stops while people clean. And the results are outstanding. Montreal likes to think it’s a clean city – man, we could learn a lot from Rwanda.
Out in the country side – people don’t have cars. They have bikes, and they have feet. And they walk. They walk everywhere – and keep in mind that this is a seriously hilly country – so we’re talking up and down and up and down. Carrying extremely heavy loads on the backs of their bikes if they are lucky, and on their heads if that’s all that’s available. Water is a problem – not so much the quantity – there’s lots, but the quality. So seeing women and children with yellow plastic water jugs on their heads – either empty on their way to a government inspected well, or full on their way home – is very common.
Clothes are African traditional – brightly colored wraps being far more popular than westernized pants, shirts, and jackets. It’s their winter – and it was a tad cool. So in the early morning and late afternoon you’d see fake fur lined winter coats. During the day – it got quite warm, so the coats would disappear. I have no idea what they would do with them – but it was rare to see them during the hotter parts of the day.
We continue to drive north towards Volcano National Park – the home of the Mountain Gorillas. The scenery continues to be astonishingly beautiful. The villages are perfectly clean, and the government is going to great lengths to supply them with public latrines (with hand washing facilities – plastic jugs on rope and branch structures – you press on a branch with your foot – the jug tilts – you wash your hands). Much more sophisticated than what I saw in China I might add. The government is also paying for people to build brick market stalls – hundreds of them. So seeing completed, partly completed, and just being started market areas was part of the fun. The main roads are all nicely paved – and according to Joe and Mary-Ann – far superior to what they had even 2 years ago. They have made huge strides in bringing comforts to people in the far flung regions. And again according to Joe and Mary-Ann- this is being done without some of the problems with rip-offs and 10 fingered discounts that plague construction projects in Montreal. Everyone is working together to try to bring the country up.
Rwanda bragging rights – they just got accepted into the British Commonwealth of Nations – that puts them on a footing with Canada. Wow. And everyone is trying hard to learn English – part of that –we’re fitting in if it kills us mentality. Pretty impressive, particularly in comparison with Kenya. And I’m not even going to mention places like Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – none of which are even getting close to that kind of team work attitude. Rwanda is really all about one for all, and all for the country.
According to Alex – our local guide, driver, and part owner of the company that is organizing this part of our trip – the president can do little wrong. He’s mandated that every child must go to school – even if only for part of the day – and in a country with an 85% illiteracy rate – that’s a huge step. Just consider – the parents have no education (if they survived the genocide) – but the kids are going to school. It’s not great – yet. But it will be if they can keep it up. Nothing educates like an education.
We finally arrive at Gorilla Nest Lodge. And the first surprise – our rooms are heated. This is brand new – and they are using radiant heaters that work quite well. So at least we won’t be sleeping cold. In the open to the air main lodge, dining room and bar – they use firepots to keep the chill off. I quickly learn to always sit next to a firepot – and our extremely friendly and helpful hosts quickly learn to put a firepot near me if I don’t manage to find a spot near one for myself. I’m really happy I brought my warm vest – and that extra heavy sweater. I’ll leave the sweater when we say goodbye – but for this week – it’s going to be very important. Also new at the resort – a 9 hole golf course, and they are now providing – free – water and all beverages consumed at dinner. Plus a free drink every night in the bar. Well – this is a nice surprise, even if we don’t drink a lot – getting the water is definitely a great idea.
Just a quick note on the golf – the team of the Gorilla Nest challenged the MacDonald team (that would be us) to a game of golf. How can we refuse? The Gorilla Nest team turns out to be almost every single employee – including the chefs in their whites, the chamber maids, the bar man – it’s a team building exercise for the Gorilla Nest and they make the most of it. Let me say – this was a hoot! We only manage one hole – when it rains – it pours. But it was definitely a highlight for the Gorilla Nest team – and one for us as well.
Our first meal is rather interesting. One of the birders is vegetarian – and I am totally reminded of the scene from ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ – you don’t eat no meat. No problem – I’ll make lamb. Unfortunately – Phil doesn’t think it’s funny. His dinner the first night is white rice – and the chefs at the Lodge get a quick lesson in what vegetarians who don’t like cheese can eat. They promise to do better tomorrow. We shall see about that.
Aside from an exploding hot water bottle that soaks Vic’s side of the bed – the evening passes without much incident, and we bundle off to bed. It will be an early day tomorrow.
We are up at 5:30 – eat a quick but delicious breakfast (more explanations about vegetarians – no, ham isn’t vegetarian – nor is bacon) – and then we’re off to the national park office. They open at 7:00, and everyone who is making a trek must check in. There are only 8 gorilla families that can be visited – with a max of 8 tourists per family – so 64 people a day get to visit. There are an additional 10 families in the mountains – but they don’t get visits from tourists. We get assigned our guide for the week (amazingly wonderful Francois – who actually came in on his day off to work with Joe and Mary-Ann – he loves them so much), and our first Gorilla Family.
Ok – some Mountain Gorilla facts. These are not pets – they aren’t tame – they aren’t fenced – they aren’t controlled in any way. The Silverback can stand 6 plus feet tall – and weigh up to 440 lbs. They are 8 to 9 times stronger than man, and have large teeth capable of stripping bamboo bark. They are so human like – except for the lack of speech – it’s actually rather frightening. They live in tight, clearly defined family groups, with each member having a name (given by the park rangers) – and a unique personality. Most of the rangers have grown up with these gorillas – Francois actually worked with Diane Fossey – and they know them better than they know their kids. The rangers communicate with the gorillas – and the gorillas answer them back. We are the strangers here – we are the interlopers. We have to be careful. This is their place, their homes – they let us visit – but we must behave. 3 rangers accompany each family every day, and being a ranger is an extremely well paying job. They protect the families from poachers – and keep their eyes open for snares set by poachers to catch the deer that live in the park. These are very nice guys – and a very key part of the entire set-up at the park. Their salaries are paid by the fees that are charged tourists to enter the park – and there are teams of 3 rangers with all the gorilla families in the park. If a family decides to wander into a different country – within the park – the rangers actually hand off responsibility. They are really trying hard to protect the last of this species – and good news – over 500 individuals is enough genetic variety to perhaps save them.
Mountain Gorillas are so close genetically to humans it is quite amazing. They do so many very human things that just watching their faces as they interact is intriguing. The Bad news - they can easily catch our colds. So we are not allowed to visit if we are not in good health. The national park has other rules – visitors are not allowed within 7 meters of the gorillas – visitors can only stay with the families for an hour, no family can have more than one group of visitors a day, under no circumstances can a visitor touch a gorilla, you can not leave anything – even a piece of toilet paper – in the rain forest. And no eating or drinking where the gorillas can see – they will try to copy you.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) – the gorillas don’t follow the rules. They love to play games – and I think they must at this point be totally aware that tourists are going to be arriving around 11:00 am every day. And they totally don’t worry about the 7 meter rule. So they get really really seriously – in your face – close. The rangers – because they know and respect Francois (he’s worked there for over 30 years), and often know Joe and Mary-Ann as well – expect us to behave responsibly – but don’t get uptight unless it appears that a gorilla is attempting to touch us! Then we must back off – and honestly – I’m happy to do so. I totally don’t need to say I shook hands with a gorilla. Even the hour rule is sometimes ‘bent’ – we always stayed over an hour – and once it was an hour and 45 minutes.
We did 5 treks in total – And we all did all 5. Only 2 other groups that Joe and Mary-Ann led can say the same. We were fortunate on many counts – the weather was amazing. No rain during the treks – but we had cloudy skies – so perfect for taking pictures. Not too hot – not too cold – so the gorillas were comfy – and the youngsters played around us with great enthusiasm. And we were lucky with where the families were when we found them. Often they were in bamboo forests with open glades – easy for us to move our tripods around in those conditions. A couple of times they were on steep hillsides – which made for more challenging photo ops – I ditched my tripod after the first trek and used only the mono pod – I was much more flexible and could move from position to position more easily.
We had two close encounters – one the very first day. The way these things work – you register at the national park office – get a quick intro to gorillas in general and your family of the day in particular. You are introduced by pictures to the lead Silverback of the family (aka – the father), his wives and his kids. Unlike many other wild animals – the head of a Gorilla family remains unchallenged all his life. He might have a 2nd in command – a Silverback in waiting as it were, but there’s no fighting to take over the family. That family is his. If the younger males, Silverbacks (12 yrs and older) and blackbacks (teenagers), want to get what Francois referred to as ‘ziggy – ziggy’, they must sneak off into the jungle with a willing ‘wife/daughter’ of the lead silverback. If they are caught – the wife is punished. If things really get out of hand, the male will leave the family, with the ‘wife/daughter’ and start up his own family.
One of the Silverback families that we visited had recently (in the last 5 years) been formed in exactly that way. A Silverback got bored waiting, left his family, and managed to snag an outstanding 9 wives from different families. His family now numbers 26 – huge by Gorilla family standards – mostly young children of course. (Do the math folks!)
Back to the schedule. Anyway – the allocation of which family goes to which group is a bit of a mystery, but certainly the better your guides, the better your allocation. Mary-Ann and Joe definitely wanted a group with a short walk for the first day – wanting to be sure we’d all be able to make the trek. They also wanted 5 different families over the 5 days. They fished their wishes in both cases – and we set out to our allocated family. Alex drove as far as he could in the direction of our family, parking in what they laughingly referred to as executive parking. We off loaded, and were met by a troop of young (20 – 29) year old porters. They were wearing uniforms – and if chosen as our porters – they would be paid by the national park. In addition, we were told to tip them – anywhere from $10 to $20 for the day’s work. We were not allowed to pick – in order to be fair, Francois – who was more aware of who had worked recently did the assignments. The idea was to spread the wealth thru as many different families as possible. ($10 to $20 doesn’t sound like a lot – but the average income in Rwanda is $3 a day. So clearly – these jobs are highly sought after)
We loaded up our designated porter (well – in my case, not that much of a load – I have a tiny camera and camera bag), and headed out. We walked for about 45 minutes thru fields – constantly heading up hill. The air was scented by eucalyptus, planted as per the president – and are not allowed to be cut – only dead branches can be gathered for burning. For me – that will truly be the smell of Africa.
About half-way up, Francois stopped us to give us a lecture on Gorilla speak. Grunts, groans, moans and whistles – chest beating and tree grabbing – Gorillas communicate in many ways – some of it rather frightening. Besides educating us, Francois was trying to be sure that we didn’t turn tail and run when the Gorillas started to speak. He was very effective – compared to him, the Gorillas were really quite tame!
There is a wall, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide that encircles the entire Volcano National Park. This is a really long wall – extending as it does thru 3 countries, and around 5 high Volcanoes. It serves as the clear demarcation between Jungle and farmland – and while it does not prevent the gorillas from visiting the farms, it does do a reasonable job of keeping the water buffalo in the park and off the farms – and it does an even better job of reminding the farmers of where not to farm! Seen from a distance – the line is extremely clear. Above the wall – jungle and rain forest, below the wall – rich farm land.
In any case – we walk till we reach the wall – and change into jungle walk gear. We climb over the wall – and continue upward – thru bamboo forest, and clearings filled with stinging thistles (don’t touch!). Sometimes we’d cross areas thick with fire ants or safari ants – the guides warning – walk quickly – ants – ants – ants. All through our walk the guide, the national park representative (aka – the gorilla tracker), and our porters would wield their machetes – hacking a path for us thru the jungle. All through this walk our guide was in constant communication with the 2 national park rangers that stayed with the gorilla family. This allowed us to quickly correct our heading if needed. When the park rangers judged that we were about 100 yards from the family, we’d stop and swap out our jungle gear with our photographer’s set-ups – including getting our cameras from the porters. Once everyone was ready – the idea was for the trackers to lead us to the family. This worked perfectly 3 out of 5 times – but the 2 times it didn’t work were the most exciting.
For our first trek, we had no sooner loaded up our camera gear than one of the black backs – aware of our presence – came running out of the bamboo forest – growling and showing his fangs. I had hung back a bit – afraid a bit of the whole gorilla on the lose thing – and naturally he headed straight for me. I’m only a bit afraid – ok maybe a bit more than a bit. But I bravely hold my ground and point my camera at the ‘attacking’ gorilla. My porter grabs me from the back and hauls me into the group. Gorillas don’t like large moving objects (or tightly gathered groups of people) – they think of these as elephants. Large and too be avoided. But – then the black back – having made his point (this is my home – knock before you enter) – he poses for us. Magnificent photo ops. Then, before you can say wow – the silverback decided to see what had the black back all upset. This is the 2nd in command silverback – so he’s only 300 lbs or so. Trust me – he’s quite big enough. He comes out of the woods – the black back, faced with a very upset with his behavior senior family member, retreats after a couple more growls and some chest thumping. Now the Silver back checks us out – poses for photos, and then gives the ok growl. To our amazement (and the astonishment of our trackers) the entire family now parades out of the bamboo forest – strides across the open field, and heads up into another bamboo forest. We get mom’s with kids on their backs, junior gorillas with playful poses, the pair of Silverbacks and several of the Black Backs. It’s a parade – and we’re the spectators.
How close? Say 2 meters – max? Very close.
Mary-Ann and Joe are simply stunned – this is our first trek and already we’ve seen more than most people see in multiple attempts. We’ve seen stuff they have never seen in over 50 treks. Where can we go from here?
For us – the experience has simply been magical. And whetted our appetites for more. But now we must wait for tomorrow. We regroup – thank and tip our porters, reload them with the gear and head back to the car. Great first day – great for any day with the Mountain Gorillas.
In our next 4 treks – we have one more close encounter – this one on day 2. Again we’re in the process of changing from jungle gear to photographer’s gear when a pair of Black Backs who are clearly playing tag come running out of the forest. There is some debate on what happened next, but within seconds the female birder (Helen) is on her back – tossed by the 2nd Black Back as he ran past. She later tells us that he actually pinched her – but Mary-Ann says that he might have just reached out towards her – but given his strength, the gentle whack becomes a throw. I spot the gorillas running past – Helen on her back and immediate grab my charming porter and push him in front of me. I just want something between me and those gorillas – and somehow my camera just doesn’t seem large enough.
Day 3 is the most mellow of our treks. The gorillas are on the far side of a crater from us – so we must go down the steep side and then up the other side. The bottom of the crater (remember – we’re on an active Volcano area – craters are to be expected) at the bottom is amazing – it looks just like the source for some of the scenes in Avatar. Green moss, hanging plants, huge trees towering over large clearings that appears to have never seen the eyes of man. Joe and Mary-Ann get suitably excited. They have never seen this lovely magical canyon, and they take dozens and dozens of pictures. And that’s before we find the gorillas! The gorillas are preparing their day beds – lots of grooming going on, lots of mom and baby pictures, lots of movement in front of us, behind us, even along side of us.
To give you a feeling for just how close we are – at one point I’m focused on a mom and tot when my view goes completely black. A Black Back is just walking in front of me. Close enough to touch, but I didn’t. And he didn’t turn to stare at me either. Whew.
Day 4 and Day 5 are equally lovely – On Day 5 the family is so relaxed about our presence that a mom nurses her baby, two infants play tag, and the Silver Back parades back and forth watching to be sure his family is well taken care of.
In the afternoons, we explore the surrounding area. We spend 2 days taking people pictures – Joe demonstrates how to get people to pose for you – and suggests some key points – pose people in the shade to avoid too much contrast, show them the pictures to get past the communication barrier, if you want a silhouette– make sure it’s the entire silhouette. Making sure the eyes are open – and looking in an interesting direction is also critical. We never do get to go to the market – but we do get to go shopping at the local craft store – and I stock up on some of their lovely woven baskets, and tall thin wood carvings. After every trek, the local kids gather where we will be leaving the guides to sell us their pictures and wooden carvings. I make sure to buy one thing from each group. More sharing of the wealth.
Evening of day 5 – around our last supper in the mountains we all agree on what a wonderful experience this has been. We are only the 3rd group of the 11 that Joe and Mary-Ann have led that had everyone complete all 5 of the treks. Vegetarian issues aside, the food has been good, the lodge bent over backwards to make us feel welcome, and the gorilla treks were outstanding. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kigali for a day there – then the next day we fly back to Nairobi and the official end of the tour.
But we’re not finished with the excitement. In the past – the healthiest person has always been Mary-Ann – but this time she’s been a bit (for her) under the weather. On the evening of Day 5 she and Joe go to bed – and she wakes up in the middle of the night – terribly ill. Plans are made to be changed. We go with Alex to head back slowly to Nairobi – stopping as needed for people to take photos. Joe and Mary-Ann head back as fast as they can – stopping reroute at a pharmacist to get Mary-Ann some medicine. It is a credit to the robustness of her system that, while she looked like a weak white sheet in the morning – but dinner she feels good enough to join us. I’m extremely relieved. You form strong friendships on these kinds of adventures – and I was really worried about her.
We tour the Genocide museum in Kigali – it’s amazing – disturbing – and in some ways a positive experience. It ends by saying – if we don’t figure out why these things happen – ‘Never Again’ will become ‘Again and Again’. Strong words, those.
Speaking of Genocide – I’ve been in two countries that went thru a recent Genocide now – Rwanda and Cambodia. In Cambodia, they have attempted to deal with the experience by almost pretending that it didn’t actually happen. Everyone knows who did the killing – but not one has been officially punished. Compare this to Rwanda. Unlike the museum in Cambodia which is clearly an after thought made to keep tourists informed, the museum in Rwanda represents a multi-media, high tech, and extremely sophisticated attempt to not only explain what happened – but to address some of the underling issues. They have created courts in all of the local villages – courts that are manned by locals. People who participated in the Genocide – and everyone knows who they are – are welcome to go to these courts – confess what they did – and they must find the families of the people they hurt and formally beg forgiveness. Then, depending on how ‘depraved’ what they did was, the court gives out punishments. They might sentence the person to jail, but more likely the person is remanded to a work camp. There they do work for the government 3 or 4 days a week – and are able to work for their family the rest of the time. But key to the process is the asking of forgiveness – and the confession.
All of this, I think, will help Rwanda get over what happened – far faster than ignoring it like Cambodia is doing.
Part of the tour of Kigali consists of some of the famous places where fighting occurred – We even saw the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ of the movie - and in many cases – the places have been carefully restored to keep the bullet holes visible. Very interesting – I’m really glad I came. Rwanda exceeded expectations – I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Basically – I loved it. Good food, exciting wildlife, great photo oops, awesome scenery – and interesting to boot. What’s not to recommend?
We return to Nairobi, and from there we fly on to Malindi – we’ve arranged to spend several days relaxing on the coast of Kenya, snorkeling, swimming, walking – and getting back our mojo for the return trip, an uneventful – but way too long – 27 hour air ride. Sigh – wouldn’t it be nice if Africa was closer.
Signing off – The Soup Lady
Leslie Eiser
aka - the soup Lady
http://www.ed-foods.com
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Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda
A Trip Report from one of our Participants
Enjoy, it's great!
Hi All,
It’s the soup lady – off on another adventure. This time, it’s to Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas. For those not in the know about Mountain Gorillas (and I definitely qualify as not in the know) – there are only about 773 of these animals alive on the planet today – and they all – every single one – live in a national park that is shared between 3 countries – Rwanda, the Congo, and Uganda. You get to pick your poison when you decide which country to visit to see these animals – but we had our choice made for us – Joe and Mary-Ann Macdonald – the wildlife photographers we traveled with the Kenya – have made 50 gorilla treks (the most of any tourist) – and they are doing the Rwanda side.
First off – you have to get the gear. And a lot of gear is needed if you are going to be going into the rain forest at high altitude to photograph these huge animals. Mary-Ann emailed at least 3 times with different lists – from warm stuff (it gets cold at altitude – and there’s no heat in the inn we’re going to be staying in), to wet weather gear (you need a complete – top to bottom – waterproof – rain suit, plus multiple ponchos for the porters to use to cover your gear.)
And you need to be in shape. Joe suggests that you work out 3 times a week – an hour to an hour and a half. You need to be able to climb 20 flights of stairs without panting. Right. I can’t do that. And you need to be able to climb back down.
Turns out that the gorilla families live in the mountains – and you go to them in foot, through the rain forest. You don’t have to carry your gear (whew) – but your knees have to be up for this. And at 62 I’m not sure if my knees are up to much besides keeping me erect. But not to worry – that’s what Gyms are for. So Vic and I have been working out somewhat successfully. I’m up to at least 60 flights – I’m panting – but I can do it. Vic’s even better, he can do 70 flights – but neither of us would be prepared to run a marathon after that. We’re thinking that we’ll need all the shape we can get.
Our voyage starts – as all trips to Africa start – with a long boring plane ride. I dearly wish we could afford those first class seats with the beds – but at least this time we got seats with a footrest. That does help. The plane is one of those older ones – lousy movie options – you watch what we show you – but I don’t care. I’ve come prepared with an ipod and earphones. But I still watch the dumb movie. And eat the crummy food. Oh well – that’s what travel to Africa is all about.
24 hours from when we left Montreal – we arrive in Nairobi – and are met by the smiling face and thrilled welcoming hugs of Lydia. We met her last year – and she remembered us. Isn’t that totally flattering! Last year our conversation was all about Kenya – this year we’re catching up on news. Rosemary hasn’t had her kid yet, the weather’s been good – rain at the right times – and the harvest was awesome – so tourists are starting to return. Kenya is a happy place. That’s good. But we’re not staying here – we’re just spending 2 nights in Kenya before we hop on a plane to Kigali and Rwanda.
To get into the time zone – it’s 8 hours ahead – we spend a day in Nairobi. Vic opts for the pool – I go to the national Kenya museum and the Snake Museum. Both places are really interesting. Life in places like Kenya is – well – cheap. So the Snake museum is all about seriously poisonous snakes – Black mambos, boa constrictors, vipers, and the like. Some are in glass aquariums – but lots are in open sided pits. They keep them well fed – so they don’t bite the tourists. They say. Many of the snakes will not eat dead anything – so there’s a constant need for fresh food – rabbits for the boas, chameleons for most of the others. While I was there one viper caught a chameleon – fought with another for possession, and then lost it to a third. This is survival of the fittest – in the clearest possible terms – and a perfect introduction to Africa. At the national museum – they have the original skulls that people found and used to demonstrate the evolution of man from the apes. These skulls are anywhere from 1.2 to 3 million years old. Very cool. There’s also an interesting exhibit – so brand new that the paint smells – on the colonizing and recent history of Kenya. My driver and my guide and I spend a lot of time in this area – discussing how much each of us remembers. I’m 62, the driver is 45 and the guide is 22. As you can easily imagine – our memories really complement and complete each other’s. The driver’s memories are the most interesting – he experienced many of the events pictured, and his parents of course saw the rest. To the guide – it’s all learned history – he wasn’t there.
The next morning we get up early, eat quickly, and meet our fellow tourists. There are 6 of us, plus Mary-Ann and Joe. 2 friends (John and Petra) from the US – just 10 years younger than Vic and I, plus a pair of birders (Helen and Phil) from England. They are quite a bit younger – Helen is just 45. And they are in great shape. I’m more nervous about my ability to keep up then ever.
We board the propeller driven plane – and off we go. The scenery while we fly is magnificent. First we fly over the dry savannahs of the Masi Mara – then our magic carpet takes us across huge Lake Victoria. The plane stops quickly in Burundi – which is surprisingly green – and then it’s on to Rwanda. I don’t know what exactly I expected. But Rwanda was amazing. It’s a tiny (the size of Belgium) country – with 10 million inhabitants. It’s completely land locked – very hilly – with these huge volcanoes making up the entire northern area. Every single inch of land that can be farmed is terraced. And in many ways – it reminds me of what I thought I’d see in Africa on my first trip. Once outside of Kigali – which is actually a surprisingly modern city with huge hotels, shopping malls, and grocery stores (and the congestion that results) – Rwanda is green, green, green. And clean. The president is a bit of a benevolent dictator – and 5 years ago he mandated that everyone clean up the country one Saturday a month. So on the last Saturday of the month – everything stops while people clean. And the results are outstanding. Montreal likes to think it’s a clean city – man, we could learn a lot from Rwanda.
Out in the country side – people don’t have cars. They have bikes, and they have feet. And they walk. They walk everywhere – and keep in mind that this is a seriously hilly country – so we’re talking up and down and up and down. Carrying extremely heavy loads on the backs of their bikes if they are lucky, and on their heads if that’s all that’s available. Water is a problem – not so much the quantity – there’s lots, but the quality. So seeing women and children with yellow plastic water jugs on their heads – either empty on their way to a government inspected well, or full on their way home – is very common.
Clothes are African traditional – brightly colored wraps being far more popular than westernized pants, shirts, and jackets. It’s their winter – and it was a tad cool. So in the early morning and late afternoon you’d see fake fur lined winter coats. During the day – it got quite warm, so the coats would disappear. I have no idea what they would do with them – but it was rare to see them during the hotter parts of the day.
We continue to drive north towards Volcano National Park – the home of the Mountain Gorillas. The scenery continues to be astonishingly beautiful. The villages are perfectly clean, and the government is going to great lengths to supply them with public latrines (with hand washing facilities – plastic jugs on rope and branch structures – you press on a branch with your foot – the jug tilts – you wash your hands). Much more sophisticated than what I saw in China I might add. The government is also paying for people to build brick market stalls – hundreds of them. So seeing completed, partly completed, and just being started market areas was part of the fun. The main roads are all nicely paved – and according to Joe and Mary-Ann – far superior to what they had even 2 years ago. They have made huge strides in bringing comforts to people in the far flung regions. And again according to Joe and Mary-Ann- this is being done without some of the problems with rip-offs and 10 fingered discounts that plague construction projects in Montreal. Everyone is working together to try to bring the country up.
Rwanda bragging rights – they just got accepted into the British Commonwealth of Nations – that puts them on a footing with Canada. Wow. And everyone is trying hard to learn English – part of that –we’re fitting in if it kills us mentality. Pretty impressive, particularly in comparison with Kenya. And I’m not even going to mention places like Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – none of which are even getting close to that kind of team work attitude. Rwanda is really all about one for all, and all for the country.
According to Alex – our local guide, driver, and part owner of the company that is organizing this part of our trip – the president can do little wrong. He’s mandated that every child must go to school – even if only for part of the day – and in a country with an 85% illiteracy rate – that’s a huge step. Just consider – the parents have no education (if they survived the genocide) – but the kids are going to school. It’s not great – yet. But it will be if they can keep it up. Nothing educates like an education.
We finally arrive at Gorilla Nest Lodge. And the first surprise – our rooms are heated. This is brand new – and they are using radiant heaters that work quite well. So at least we won’t be sleeping cold. In the open to the air main lodge, dining room and bar – they use firepots to keep the chill off. I quickly learn to always sit next to a firepot – and our extremely friendly and helpful hosts quickly learn to put a firepot near me if I don’t manage to find a spot near one for myself. I’m really happy I brought my warm vest – and that extra heavy sweater. I’ll leave the sweater when we say goodbye – but for this week – it’s going to be very important. Also new at the resort – a 9 hole golf course, and they are now providing – free – water and all beverages consumed at dinner. Plus a free drink every night in the bar. Well – this is a nice surprise, even if we don’t drink a lot – getting the water is definitely a great idea.
Just a quick note on the golf – the team of the Gorilla Nest challenged the MacDonald team (that would be us) to a game of golf. How can we refuse? The Gorilla Nest team turns out to be almost every single employee – including the chefs in their whites, the chamber maids, the bar man – it’s a team building exercise for the Gorilla Nest and they make the most of it. Let me say – this was a hoot! We only manage one hole – when it rains – it pours. But it was definitely a highlight for the Gorilla Nest team – and one for us as well.
Our first meal is rather interesting. One of the birders is vegetarian – and I am totally reminded of the scene from ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ – you don’t eat no meat. No problem – I’ll make lamb. Unfortunately – Phil doesn’t think it’s funny. His dinner the first night is white rice – and the chefs at the Lodge get a quick lesson in what vegetarians who don’t like cheese can eat. They promise to do better tomorrow. We shall see about that.
Aside from an exploding hot water bottle that soaks Vic’s side of the bed – the evening passes without much incident, and we bundle off to bed. It will be an early day tomorrow.
We are up at 5:30 – eat a quick but delicious breakfast (more explanations about vegetarians – no, ham isn’t vegetarian – nor is bacon) – and then we’re off to the national park office. They open at 7:00, and everyone who is making a trek must check in. There are only 8 gorilla families that can be visited – with a max of 8 tourists per family – so 64 people a day get to visit. There are an additional 10 families in the mountains – but they don’t get visits from tourists. We get assigned our guide for the week (amazingly wonderful Francois – who actually came in on his day off to work with Joe and Mary-Ann – he loves them so much), and our first Gorilla Family.
Ok – some Mountain Gorilla facts. These are not pets – they aren’t tame – they aren’t fenced – they aren’t controlled in any way. The Silverback can stand 6 plus feet tall – and weigh up to 440 lbs. They are 8 to 9 times stronger than man, and have large teeth capable of stripping bamboo bark. They are so human like – except for the lack of speech – it’s actually rather frightening. They live in tight, clearly defined family groups, with each member having a name (given by the park rangers) – and a unique personality. Most of the rangers have grown up with these gorillas – Francois actually worked with Diane Fossey – and they know them better than they know their kids. The rangers communicate with the gorillas – and the gorillas answer them back. We are the strangers here – we are the interlopers. We have to be careful. This is their place, their homes – they let us visit – but we must behave. 3 rangers accompany each family every day, and being a ranger is an extremely well paying job. They protect the families from poachers – and keep their eyes open for snares set by poachers to catch the deer that live in the park. These are very nice guys – and a very key part of the entire set-up at the park. Their salaries are paid by the fees that are charged tourists to enter the park – and there are teams of 3 rangers with all the gorilla families in the park. If a family decides to wander into a different country – within the park – the rangers actually hand off responsibility. They are really trying hard to protect the last of this species – and good news – over 500 individuals is enough genetic variety to perhaps save them.
Mountain Gorillas are so close genetically to humans it is quite amazing. They do so many very human things that just watching their faces as they interact is intriguing. The Bad news - they can easily catch our colds. So we are not allowed to visit if we are not in good health. The national park has other rules – visitors are not allowed within 7 meters of the gorillas – visitors can only stay with the families for an hour, no family can have more than one group of visitors a day, under no circumstances can a visitor touch a gorilla, you can not leave anything – even a piece of toilet paper – in the rain forest. And no eating or drinking where the gorillas can see – they will try to copy you.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) – the gorillas don’t follow the rules. They love to play games – and I think they must at this point be totally aware that tourists are going to be arriving around 11:00 am every day. And they totally don’t worry about the 7 meter rule. So they get really really seriously – in your face – close. The rangers – because they know and respect Francois (he’s worked there for over 30 years), and often know Joe and Mary-Ann as well – expect us to behave responsibly – but don’t get uptight unless it appears that a gorilla is attempting to touch us! Then we must back off – and honestly – I’m happy to do so. I totally don’t need to say I shook hands with a gorilla. Even the hour rule is sometimes ‘bent’ – we always stayed over an hour – and once it was an hour and 45 minutes.
We did 5 treks in total – And we all did all 5. Only 2 other groups that Joe and Mary-Ann led can say the same. We were fortunate on many counts – the weather was amazing. No rain during the treks – but we had cloudy skies – so perfect for taking pictures. Not too hot – not too cold – so the gorillas were comfy – and the youngsters played around us with great enthusiasm. And we were lucky with where the families were when we found them. Often they were in bamboo forests with open glades – easy for us to move our tripods around in those conditions. A couple of times they were on steep hillsides – which made for more challenging photo ops – I ditched my tripod after the first trek and used only the mono pod – I was much more flexible and could move from position to position more easily.
We had two close encounters – one the very first day. The way these things work – you register at the national park office – get a quick intro to gorillas in general and your family of the day in particular. You are introduced by pictures to the lead Silverback of the family (aka – the father), his wives and his kids. Unlike many other wild animals – the head of a Gorilla family remains unchallenged all his life. He might have a 2nd in command – a Silverback in waiting as it were, but there’s no fighting to take over the family. That family is his. If the younger males, Silverbacks (12 yrs and older) and blackbacks (teenagers), want to get what Francois referred to as ‘ziggy – ziggy’, they must sneak off into the jungle with a willing ‘wife/daughter’ of the lead silverback. If they are caught – the wife is punished. If things really get out of hand, the male will leave the family, with the ‘wife/daughter’ and start up his own family.
One of the Silverback families that we visited had recently (in the last 5 years) been formed in exactly that way. A Silverback got bored waiting, left his family, and managed to snag an outstanding 9 wives from different families. His family now numbers 26 – huge by Gorilla family standards – mostly young children of course. (Do the math folks!)
Back to the schedule. Anyway – the allocation of which family goes to which group is a bit of a mystery, but certainly the better your guides, the better your allocation. Mary-Ann and Joe definitely wanted a group with a short walk for the first day – wanting to be sure we’d all be able to make the trek. They also wanted 5 different families over the 5 days. They fished their wishes in both cases – and we set out to our allocated family. Alex drove as far as he could in the direction of our family, parking in what they laughingly referred to as executive parking. We off loaded, and were met by a troop of young (20 – 29) year old porters. They were wearing uniforms – and if chosen as our porters – they would be paid by the national park. In addition, we were told to tip them – anywhere from $10 to $20 for the day’s work. We were not allowed to pick – in order to be fair, Francois – who was more aware of who had worked recently did the assignments. The idea was to spread the wealth thru as many different families as possible. ($10 to $20 doesn’t sound like a lot – but the average income in Rwanda is $3 a day. So clearly – these jobs are highly sought after)
We loaded up our designated porter (well – in my case, not that much of a load – I have a tiny camera and camera bag), and headed out. We walked for about 45 minutes thru fields – constantly heading up hill. The air was scented by eucalyptus, planted as per the president – and are not allowed to be cut – only dead branches can be gathered for burning. For me – that will truly be the smell of Africa.
About half-way up, Francois stopped us to give us a lecture on Gorilla speak. Grunts, groans, moans and whistles – chest beating and tree grabbing – Gorillas communicate in many ways – some of it rather frightening. Besides educating us, Francois was trying to be sure that we didn’t turn tail and run when the Gorillas started to speak. He was very effective – compared to him, the Gorillas were really quite tame!
There is a wall, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide that encircles the entire Volcano National Park. This is a really long wall – extending as it does thru 3 countries, and around 5 high Volcanoes. It serves as the clear demarcation between Jungle and farmland – and while it does not prevent the gorillas from visiting the farms, it does do a reasonable job of keeping the water buffalo in the park and off the farms – and it does an even better job of reminding the farmers of where not to farm! Seen from a distance – the line is extremely clear. Above the wall – jungle and rain forest, below the wall – rich farm land.
In any case – we walk till we reach the wall – and change into jungle walk gear. We climb over the wall – and continue upward – thru bamboo forest, and clearings filled with stinging thistles (don’t touch!). Sometimes we’d cross areas thick with fire ants or safari ants – the guides warning – walk quickly – ants – ants – ants. All through our walk the guide, the national park representative (aka – the gorilla tracker), and our porters would wield their machetes – hacking a path for us thru the jungle. All through this walk our guide was in constant communication with the 2 national park rangers that stayed with the gorilla family. This allowed us to quickly correct our heading if needed. When the park rangers judged that we were about 100 yards from the family, we’d stop and swap out our jungle gear with our photographer’s set-ups – including getting our cameras from the porters. Once everyone was ready – the idea was for the trackers to lead us to the family. This worked perfectly 3 out of 5 times – but the 2 times it didn’t work were the most exciting.
For our first trek, we had no sooner loaded up our camera gear than one of the black backs – aware of our presence – came running out of the bamboo forest – growling and showing his fangs. I had hung back a bit – afraid a bit of the whole gorilla on the lose thing – and naturally he headed straight for me. I’m only a bit afraid – ok maybe a bit more than a bit. But I bravely hold my ground and point my camera at the ‘attacking’ gorilla. My porter grabs me from the back and hauls me into the group. Gorillas don’t like large moving objects (or tightly gathered groups of people) – they think of these as elephants. Large and too be avoided. But – then the black back – having made his point (this is my home – knock before you enter) – he poses for us. Magnificent photo ops. Then, before you can say wow – the silverback decided to see what had the black back all upset. This is the 2nd in command silverback – so he’s only 300 lbs or so. Trust me – he’s quite big enough. He comes out of the woods – the black back, faced with a very upset with his behavior senior family member, retreats after a couple more growls and some chest thumping. Now the Silver back checks us out – poses for photos, and then gives the ok growl. To our amazement (and the astonishment of our trackers) the entire family now parades out of the bamboo forest – strides across the open field, and heads up into another bamboo forest. We get mom’s with kids on their backs, junior gorillas with playful poses, the pair of Silverbacks and several of the Black Backs. It’s a parade – and we’re the spectators.
How close? Say 2 meters – max? Very close.
Mary-Ann and Joe are simply stunned – this is our first trek and already we’ve seen more than most people see in multiple attempts. We’ve seen stuff they have never seen in over 50 treks. Where can we go from here?
For us – the experience has simply been magical. And whetted our appetites for more. But now we must wait for tomorrow. We regroup – thank and tip our porters, reload them with the gear and head back to the car. Great first day – great for any day with the Mountain Gorillas.
In our next 4 treks – we have one more close encounter – this one on day 2. Again we’re in the process of changing from jungle gear to photographer’s gear when a pair of Black Backs who are clearly playing tag come running out of the forest. There is some debate on what happened next, but within seconds the female birder (Helen) is on her back – tossed by the 2nd Black Back as he ran past. She later tells us that he actually pinched her – but Mary-Ann says that he might have just reached out towards her – but given his strength, the gentle whack becomes a throw. I spot the gorillas running past – Helen on her back and immediate grab my charming porter and push him in front of me. I just want something between me and those gorillas – and somehow my camera just doesn’t seem large enough.
Day 3 is the most mellow of our treks. The gorillas are on the far side of a crater from us – so we must go down the steep side and then up the other side. The bottom of the crater (remember – we’re on an active Volcano area – craters are to be expected) at the bottom is amazing – it looks just like the source for some of the scenes in Avatar. Green moss, hanging plants, huge trees towering over large clearings that appears to have never seen the eyes of man. Joe and Mary-Ann get suitably excited. They have never seen this lovely magical canyon, and they take dozens and dozens of pictures. And that’s before we find the gorillas! The gorillas are preparing their day beds – lots of grooming going on, lots of mom and baby pictures, lots of movement in front of us, behind us, even along side of us.
To give you a feeling for just how close we are – at one point I’m focused on a mom and tot when my view goes completely black. A Black Back is just walking in front of me. Close enough to touch, but I didn’t. And he didn’t turn to stare at me either. Whew.
Day 4 and Day 5 are equally lovely – On Day 5 the family is so relaxed about our presence that a mom nurses her baby, two infants play tag, and the Silver Back parades back and forth watching to be sure his family is well taken care of.
In the afternoons, we explore the surrounding area. We spend 2 days taking people pictures – Joe demonstrates how to get people to pose for you – and suggests some key points – pose people in the shade to avoid too much contrast, show them the pictures to get past the communication barrier, if you want a silhouette– make sure it’s the entire silhouette. Making sure the eyes are open – and looking in an interesting direction is also critical. We never do get to go to the market – but we do get to go shopping at the local craft store – and I stock up on some of their lovely woven baskets, and tall thin wood carvings. After every trek, the local kids gather where we will be leaving the guides to sell us their pictures and wooden carvings. I make sure to buy one thing from each group. More sharing of the wealth.
Evening of day 5 – around our last supper in the mountains we all agree on what a wonderful experience this has been. We are only the 3rd group of the 11 that Joe and Mary-Ann have led that had everyone complete all 5 of the treks. Vegetarian issues aside, the food has been good, the lodge bent over backwards to make us feel welcome, and the gorilla treks were outstanding. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kigali for a day there – then the next day we fly back to Nairobi and the official end of the tour.
But we’re not finished with the excitement. In the past – the healthiest person has always been Mary-Ann – but this time she’s been a bit (for her) under the weather. On the evening of Day 5 she and Joe go to bed – and she wakes up in the middle of the night – terribly ill. Plans are made to be changed. We go with Alex to head back slowly to Nairobi – stopping as needed for people to take photos. Joe and Mary-Ann head back as fast as they can – stopping reroute at a pharmacist to get Mary-Ann some medicine. It is a credit to the robustness of her system that, while she looked like a weak white sheet in the morning – but dinner she feels good enough to join us. I’m extremely relieved. You form strong friendships on these kinds of adventures – and I was really worried about her.
We tour the Genocide museum in Kigali – it’s amazing – disturbing – and in some ways a positive experience. It ends by saying – if we don’t figure out why these things happen – ‘Never Again’ will become ‘Again and Again’. Strong words, those.
Speaking of Genocide – I’ve been in two countries that went thru a recent Genocide now – Rwanda and Cambodia. In Cambodia, they have attempted to deal with the experience by almost pretending that it didn’t actually happen. Everyone knows who did the killing – but not one has been officially punished. Compare this to Rwanda. Unlike the museum in Cambodia which is clearly an after thought made to keep tourists informed, the museum in Rwanda represents a multi-media, high tech, and extremely sophisticated attempt to not only explain what happened – but to address some of the underling issues. They have created courts in all of the local villages – courts that are manned by locals. People who participated in the Genocide – and everyone knows who they are – are welcome to go to these courts – confess what they did – and they must find the families of the people they hurt and formally beg forgiveness. Then, depending on how ‘depraved’ what they did was, the court gives out punishments. They might sentence the person to jail, but more likely the person is remanded to a work camp. There they do work for the government 3 or 4 days a week – and are able to work for their family the rest of the time. But key to the process is the asking of forgiveness – and the confession.
All of this, I think, will help Rwanda get over what happened – far faster than ignoring it like Cambodia is doing.
Part of the tour of Kigali consists of some of the famous places where fighting occurred – We even saw the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ of the movie - and in many cases – the places have been carefully restored to keep the bullet holes visible. Very interesting – I’m really glad I came. Rwanda exceeded expectations – I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Basically – I loved it. Good food, exciting wildlife, great photo oops, awesome scenery – and interesting to boot. What’s not to recommend?
We return to Nairobi, and from there we fly on to Malindi – we’ve arranged to spend several days relaxing on the coast of Kenya, snorkeling, swimming, walking – and getting back our mojo for the return trip, an uneventful – but way too long – 27 hour air ride. Sigh – wouldn’t it be nice if Africa was closer.
Signing off – The Soup Lady
Leslie Eiser
aka - the soup Lady
http://www.ed-foods.com
Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda
A Trip Report from one of our Participants
Enjoy, it's great!
Hi All,
It’s the soup lady – off on another adventure. This time, it’s to Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas. For those not in the know about Mountain Gorillas (and I definitely qualify as not in the know) – there are only about 773 of these animals alive on the planet today – and they all – every single one – live in a national park that is shared between 3 countries – Rwanda, the Congo, and Uganda. You get to pick your poison when you decide which country to visit to see these animals – but we had our choice made for us – Joe and Mary-Ann Macdonald – the wildlife photographers we traveled with the Kenya – have made 50 gorilla treks (the most of any tourist) – and they are doing the Rwanda side.
First off – you have to get the gear. And a lot of gear is needed if you are going to be going into the rain forest at high altitude to photograph these huge animals. Mary-Ann emailed at least 3 times with different lists – from warm stuff (it gets cold at altitude – and there’s no heat in the inn we’re going to be staying in), to wet weather gear (you need a complete – top to bottom – waterproof – rain suit, plus multiple ponchos for the porters to use to cover your gear.)
And you need to be in shape. Joe suggests that you work out 3 times a week – an hour to an hour and a half. You need to be able to climb 20 flights of stairs without panting. Right. I can’t do that. And you need to be able to climb back down.
Turns out that the gorilla families live in the mountains – and you go to them in foot, through the rain forest. You don’t have to carry your gear (whew) – but your knees have to be up for this. And at 62 I’m not sure if my knees are up to much besides keeping me erect. But not to worry – that’s what Gyms are for. So Vic and I have been working out somewhat successfully. I’m up to at least 60 flights – I’m panting – but I can do it. Vic’s even better, he can do 70 flights – but neither of us would be prepared to run a marathon after that. We’re thinking that we’ll need all the shape we can get.
Our voyage starts – as all trips to Africa start – with a long boring plane ride. I dearly wish we could afford those first class seats with the beds – but at least this time we got seats with a footrest. That does help. The plane is one of those older ones – lousy movie options – you watch what we show you – but I don’t care. I’ve come prepared with an ipod and earphones. But I still watch the dumb movie. And eat the crummy food. Oh well – that’s what travel to Africa is all about.
24 hours from when we left Montreal – we arrive in Nairobi – and are met by the smiling face and thrilled welcoming hugs of Lydia. We met her last year – and she remembered us. Isn’t that totally flattering! Last year our conversation was all about Kenya – this year we’re catching up on news. Rosemary hasn’t had her kid yet, the weather’s been good – rain at the right times – and the harvest was awesome – so tourists are starting to return. Kenya is a happy place. That’s good. But we’re not staying here – we’re just spending 2 nights in Kenya before we hop on a plane to Kigali and Rwanda.
To get into the time zone – it’s 8 hours ahead – we spend a day in Nairobi. Vic opts for the pool – I go to the national Kenya museum and the Snake Museum. Both places are really interesting. Life in places like Kenya is – well – cheap. So the Snake museum is all about seriously poisonous snakes – Black mambos, boa constrictors, vipers, and the like. Some are in glass aquariums – but lots are in open sided pits. They keep them well fed – so they don’t bite the tourists. They say. Many of the snakes will not eat dead anything – so there’s a constant need for fresh food – rabbits for the boas, chameleons for most of the others. While I was there one viper caught a chameleon – fought with another for possession, and then lost it to a third. This is survival of the fittest – in the clearest possible terms – and a perfect introduction to Africa. At the national museum – they have the original skulls that people found and used to demonstrate the evolution of man from the apes. These skulls are anywhere from 1.2 to 3 million years old. Very cool. There’s also an interesting exhibit – so brand new that the paint smells – on the colonizing and recent history of Kenya. My driver and my guide and I spend a lot of time in this area – discussing how much each of us remembers. I’m 62, the driver is 45 and the guide is 22. As you can easily imagine – our memories really complement and complete each other’s. The driver’s memories are the most interesting – he experienced many of the events pictured, and his parents of course saw the rest. To the guide – it’s all learned history – he wasn’t there.
The next morning we get up early, eat quickly, and meet our fellow tourists. There are 6 of us, plus Mary-Ann and Joe. 2 friends (John and Petra) from the US – just 10 years younger than Vic and I, plus a pair of birders (Helen and Phil) from England. They are quite a bit younger – Helen is just 45. And they are in great shape. I’m more nervous about my ability to keep up then ever.
We board the propeller driven plane – and off we go. The scenery while we fly is magnificent. First we fly over the dry savannahs of the Masi Mara – then our magic carpet takes us across huge Lake Victoria. The plane stops quickly in Burundi – which is surprisingly green – and then it’s on to Rwanda. I don’t know what exactly I expected. But Rwanda was amazing. It’s a tiny (the size of Belgium) country – with 10 million inhabitants. It’s completely land locked – very hilly – with these huge volcanoes making up the entire northern area. Every single inch of land that can be farmed is terraced. And in many ways – it reminds me of what I thought I’d see in Africa on my first trip. Once outside of Kigali – which is actually a surprisingly modern city with huge hotels, shopping malls, and grocery stores (and the congestion that results) – Rwanda is green, green, green. And clean. The president is a bit of a benevolent dictator – and 5 years ago he mandated that everyone clean up the country one Saturday a month. So on the last Saturday of the month – everything stops while people clean. And the results are outstanding. Montreal likes to think it’s a clean city – man, we could learn a lot from Rwanda.
Out in the country side – people don’t have cars. They have bikes, and they have feet. And they walk. They walk everywhere – and keep in mind that this is a seriously hilly country – so we’re talking up and down and up and down. Carrying extremely heavy loads on the backs of their bikes if they are lucky, and on their heads if that’s all that’s available. Water is a problem – not so much the quantity – there’s lots, but the quality. So seeing women and children with yellow plastic water jugs on their heads – either empty on their way to a government inspected well, or full on their way home – is very common.
Clothes are African traditional – brightly colored wraps being far more popular than westernized pants, shirts, and jackets. It’s their winter – and it was a tad cool. So in the early morning and late afternoon you’d see fake fur lined winter coats. During the day – it got quite warm, so the coats would disappear. I have no idea what they would do with them – but it was rare to see them during the hotter parts of the day.
We continue to drive north towards Volcano National Park – the home of the Mountain Gorillas. The scenery continues to be astonishingly beautiful. The villages are perfectly clean, and the government is going to great lengths to supply them with public latrines (with hand washing facilities – plastic jugs on rope and branch structures – you press on a branch with your foot – the jug tilts – you wash your hands). Much more sophisticated than what I saw in China I might add. The government is also paying for people to build brick market stalls – hundreds of them. So seeing completed, partly completed, and just being started market areas was part of the fun. The main roads are all nicely paved – and according to Joe and Mary-Ann – far superior to what they had even 2 years ago. They have made huge strides in bringing comforts to people in the far flung regions. And again according to Joe and Mary-Ann- this is being done without some of the problems with rip-offs and 10 fingered discounts that plague construction projects in Montreal. Everyone is working together to try to bring the country up.
Rwanda bragging rights – they just got accepted into the British Commonwealth of Nations – that puts them on a footing with Canada. Wow. And everyone is trying hard to learn English – part of that –we’re fitting in if it kills us mentality. Pretty impressive, particularly in comparison with Kenya. And I’m not even going to mention places like Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – none of which are even getting close to that kind of team work attitude. Rwanda is really all about one for all, and all for the country.
According to Alex – our local guide, driver, and part owner of the company that is organizing this part of our trip – the president can do little wrong. He’s mandated that every child must go to school – even if only for part of the day – and in a country with an 85% illiteracy rate – that’s a huge step. Just consider – the parents have no education (if they survived the genocide) – but the kids are going to school. It’s not great – yet. But it will be if they can keep it up. Nothing educates like an education.
We finally arrive at Gorilla Nest Lodge. And the first surprise – our rooms are heated. This is brand new – and they are using radiant heaters that work quite well. So at least we won’t be sleeping cold. In the open to the air main lodge, dining room and bar – they use firepots to keep the chill off. I quickly learn to always sit next to a firepot – and our extremely friendly and helpful hosts quickly learn to put a firepot near me if I don’t manage to find a spot near one for myself. I’m really happy I brought my warm vest – and that extra heavy sweater. I’ll leave the sweater when we say goodbye – but for this week – it’s going to be very important. Also new at the resort – a 9 hole golf course, and they are now providing – free – water and all beverages consumed at dinner. Plus a free drink every night in the bar. Well – this is a nice surprise, even if we don’t drink a lot – getting the water is definitely a great idea.
Just a quick note on the golf – the team of the Gorilla Nest challenged the MacDonald team (that would be us) to a game of golf. How can we refuse? The Gorilla Nest team turns out to be almost every single employee – including the chefs in their whites, the chamber maids, the bar man – it’s a team building exercise for the Gorilla Nest and they make the most of it. Let me say – this was a hoot! We only manage one hole – when it rains – it pours. But it was definitely a highlight for the Gorilla Nest team – and one for us as well.
Our first meal is rather interesting. One of the birders is vegetarian – and I am totally reminded of the scene from ‘My Fat Greek Wedding’ – you don’t eat no meat. No problem – I’ll make lamb. Unfortunately – Phil doesn’t think it’s funny. His dinner the first night is white rice – and the chefs at the Lodge get a quick lesson in what vegetarians who don’t like cheese can eat. They promise to do better tomorrow. We shall see about that.
Aside from an exploding hot water bottle that soaks Vic’s side of the bed – the evening passes without much incident, and we bundle off to bed. It will be an early day tomorrow.
We are up at 5:30 – eat a quick but delicious breakfast (more explanations about vegetarians – no, ham isn’t vegetarian – nor is bacon) – and then we’re off to the national park office. They open at 7:00, and everyone who is making a trek must check in. There are only 8 gorilla families that can be visited – with a max of 8 tourists per family – so 64 people a day get to visit. There are an additional 10 families in the mountains – but they don’t get visits from tourists. We get assigned our guide for the week (amazingly wonderful Francois – who actually came in on his day off to work with Joe and Mary-Ann – he loves them so much), and our first Gorilla Family.
Ok – some Mountain Gorilla facts. These are not pets – they aren’t tame – they aren’t fenced – they aren’t controlled in any way. The Silverback can stand 6 plus feet tall – and weigh up to 440 lbs. They are 8 to 9 times stronger than man, and have large teeth capable of stripping bamboo bark. They are so human like – except for the lack of speech – it’s actually rather frightening. They live in tight, clearly defined family groups, with each member having a name (given by the park rangers) – and a unique personality. Most of the rangers have grown up with these gorillas – Francois actually worked with Diane Fossey – and they know them better than they know their kids. The rangers communicate with the gorillas – and the gorillas answer them back. We are the strangers here – we are the interlopers. We have to be careful. This is their place, their homes – they let us visit – but we must behave. 3 rangers accompany each family every day, and being a ranger is an extremely well paying job. They protect the families from poachers – and keep their eyes open for snares set by poachers to catch the deer that live in the park. These are very nice guys – and a very key part of the entire set-up at the park. Their salaries are paid by the fees that are charged tourists to enter the park – and there are teams of 3 rangers with all the gorilla families in the park. If a family decides to wander into a different country – within the park – the rangers actually hand off responsibility. They are really trying hard to protect the last of this species – and good news – over 500 individuals is enough genetic variety to perhaps save them.
Mountain Gorillas are so close genetically to humans it is quite amazing. They do so many very human things that just watching their faces as they interact is intriguing. The Bad news - they can easily catch our colds. So we are not allowed to visit if we are not in good health. The national park has other rules – visitors are not allowed within 7 meters of the gorillas – visitors can only stay with the families for an hour, no family can have more than one group of visitors a day, under no circumstances can a visitor touch a gorilla, you can not leave anything – even a piece of toilet paper – in the rain forest. And no eating or drinking where the gorillas can see – they will try to copy you.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) – the gorillas don’t follow the rules. They love to play games – and I think they must at this point be totally aware that tourists are going to be arriving around 11:00 am every day. And they totally don’t worry about the 7 meter rule. So they get really really seriously – in your face – close. The rangers – because they know and respect Francois (he’s worked there for over 30 years), and often know Joe and Mary-Ann as well – expect us to behave responsibly – but don’t get uptight unless it appears that a gorilla is attempting to touch us! Then we must back off – and honestly – I’m happy to do so. I totally don’t need to say I shook hands with a gorilla. Even the hour rule is sometimes ‘bent’ – we always stayed over an hour – and once it was an hour and 45 minutes.
We did 5 treks in total – And we all did all 5. Only 2 other groups that Joe and Mary-Ann led can say the same. We were fortunate on many counts – the weather was amazing. No rain during the treks – but we had cloudy skies – so perfect for taking pictures. Not too hot – not too cold – so the gorillas were comfy – and the youngsters played around us with great enthusiasm. And we were lucky with where the families were when we found them. Often they were in bamboo forests with open glades – easy for us to move our tripods around in those conditions. A couple of times they were on steep hillsides – which made for more challenging photo ops – I ditched my tripod after the first trek and used only the mono pod – I was much more flexible and could move from position to position more easily.
We had two close encounters – one the very first day. The way these things work – you register at the national park office – get a quick intro to gorillas in general and your family of the day in particular. You are introduced by pictures to the lead Silverback of the family (aka – the father), his wives and his kids. Unlike many other wild animals – the head of a Gorilla family remains unchallenged all his life. He might have a 2nd in command – a Silverback in waiting as it were, but there’s no fighting to take over the family. That family is his. If the younger males, Silverbacks (12 yrs and older) and blackbacks (teenagers), want to get what Francois referred to as ‘ziggy – ziggy’, they must sneak off into the jungle with a willing ‘wife/daughter’ of the lead silverback. If they are caught – the wife is punished. If things really get out of hand, the male will leave the family, with the ‘wife/daughter’ and start up his own family.
One of the Silverback families that we visited had recently (in the last 5 years) been formed in exactly that way. A Silverback got bored waiting, left his family, and managed to snag an outstanding 9 wives from different families. His family now numbers 26 – huge by Gorilla family standards – mostly young children of course. (Do the math folks!)
Back to the schedule. Anyway – the allocation of which family goes to which group is a bit of a mystery, but certainly the better your guides, the better your allocation. Mary-Ann and Joe definitely wanted a group with a short walk for the first day – wanting to be sure we’d all be able to make the trek. They also wanted 5 different families over the 5 days. They fished their wishes in both cases – and we set out to our allocated family. Alex drove as far as he could in the direction of our family, parking in what they laughingly referred to as executive parking. We off loaded, and were met by a troop of young (20 – 29) year old porters. They were wearing uniforms – and if chosen as our porters – they would be paid by the national park. In addition, we were told to tip them – anywhere from $10 to $20 for the day’s work. We were not allowed to pick – in order to be fair, Francois – who was more aware of who had worked recently did the assignments. The idea was to spread the wealth thru as many different families as possible. ($10 to $20 doesn’t sound like a lot – but the average income in Rwanda is $3 a day. So clearly – these jobs are highly sought after)
We loaded up our designated porter (well – in my case, not that much of a load – I have a tiny camera and camera bag), and headed out. We walked for about 45 minutes thru fields – constantly heading up hill. The air was scented by eucalyptus, planted as per the president – and are not allowed to be cut – only dead branches can be gathered for burning. For me – that will truly be the smell of Africa.
About half-way up, Francois stopped us to give us a lecture on Gorilla speak. Grunts, groans, moans and whistles – chest beating and tree grabbing – Gorillas communicate in many ways – some of it rather frightening. Besides educating us, Francois was trying to be sure that we didn’t turn tail and run when the Gorillas started to speak. He was very effective – compared to him, the Gorillas were really quite tame!
There is a wall, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide that encircles the entire Volcano National Park. This is a really long wall – extending as it does thru 3 countries, and around 5 high Volcanoes. It serves as the clear demarcation between Jungle and farmland – and while it does not prevent the gorillas from visiting the farms, it does do a reasonable job of keeping the water buffalo in the park and off the farms – and it does an even better job of reminding the farmers of where not to farm! Seen from a distance – the line is extremely clear. Above the wall – jungle and rain forest, below the wall – rich farm land.
In any case – we walk till we reach the wall – and change into jungle walk gear. We climb over the wall – and continue upward – thru bamboo forest, and clearings filled with stinging thistles (don’t touch!). Sometimes we’d cross areas thick with fire ants or safari ants – the guides warning – walk quickly – ants – ants – ants. All through our walk the guide, the national park representative (aka – the gorilla tracker), and our porters would wield their machetes – hacking a path for us thru the jungle. All through this walk our guide was in constant communication with the 2 national park rangers that stayed with the gorilla family. This allowed us to quickly correct our heading if needed. When the park rangers judged that we were about 100 yards from the family, we’d stop and swap out our jungle gear with our photographer’s set-ups – including getting our cameras from the porters. Once everyone was ready – the idea was for the trackers to lead us to the family. This worked perfectly 3 out of 5 times – but the 2 times it didn’t work were the most exciting.
For our first trek, we had no sooner loaded up our camera gear than one of the black backs – aware of our presence – came running out of the bamboo forest – growling and showing his fangs. I had hung back a bit – afraid a bit of the whole gorilla on the lose thing – and naturally he headed straight for me. I’m only a bit afraid – ok maybe a bit more than a bit. But I bravely hold my ground and point my camera at the ‘attacking’ gorilla. My porter grabs me from the back and hauls me into the group. Gorillas don’t like large moving objects (or tightly gathered groups of people) – they think of these as elephants. Large and too be avoided. But – then the black back – having made his point (this is my home – knock before you enter) – he poses for us. Magnificent photo ops. Then, before you can say wow – the silverback decided to see what had the black back all upset. This is the 2nd in command silverback – so he’s only 300 lbs or so. Trust me – he’s quite big enough. He comes out of the woods – the black back, faced with a very upset with his behavior senior family member, retreats after a couple more growls and some chest thumping. Now the Silver back checks us out – poses for photos, and then gives the ok growl. To our amazement (and the astonishment of our trackers) the entire family now parades out of the bamboo forest – strides across the open field, and heads up into another bamboo forest. We get mom’s with kids on their backs, junior gorillas with playful poses, the pair of Silverbacks and several of the Black Backs. It’s a parade – and we’re the spectators.
How close? Say 2 meters – max? Very close.
Mary-Ann and Joe are simply stunned – this is our first trek and already we’ve seen more than most people see in multiple attempts. We’ve seen stuff they have never seen in over 50 treks. Where can we go from here?
For us – the experience has simply been magical. And whetted our appetites for more. But now we must wait for tomorrow. We regroup – thank and tip our porters, reload them with the gear and head back to the car. Great first day – great for any day with the Mountain Gorillas.
In our next 4 treks – we have one more close encounter – this one on day 2. Again we’re in the process of changing from jungle gear to photographer’s gear when a pair of Black Backs who are clearly playing tag come running out of the forest. There is some debate on what happened next, but within seconds the female birder (Helen) is on her back – tossed by the 2nd Black Back as he ran past. She later tells us that he actually pinched her – but Mary-Ann says that he might have just reached out towards her – but given his strength, the gentle whack becomes a throw. I spot the gorillas running past – Helen on her back and immediate grab my charming porter and push him in front of me. I just want something between me and those gorillas – and somehow my camera just doesn’t seem large enough.
Day 3 is the most mellow of our treks. The gorillas are on the far side of a crater from us – so we must go down the steep side and then up the other side. The bottom of the crater (remember – we’re on an active Volcano area – craters are to be expected) at the bottom is amazing – it looks just like the source for some of the scenes in Avatar. Green moss, hanging plants, huge trees towering over large clearings that appears to have never seen the eyes of man. Joe and Mary-Ann get suitably excited. They have never seen this lovely magical canyon, and they take dozens and dozens of pictures. And that’s before we find the gorillas! The gorillas are preparing their day beds – lots of grooming going on, lots of mom and baby pictures, lots of movement in front of us, behind us, even along side of us.
To give you a feeling for just how close we are – at one point I’m focused on a mom and tot when my view goes completely black. A Black Back is just walking in front of me. Close enough to touch, but I didn’t. And he didn’t turn to stare at me either. Whew.
Day 4 and Day 5 are equally lovely – On Day 5 the family is so relaxed about our presence that a mom nurses her baby, two infants play tag, and the Silver Back parades back and forth watching to be sure his family is well taken care of.
In the afternoons, we explore the surrounding area. We spend 2 days taking people pictures – Joe demonstrates how to get people to pose for you – and suggests some key points – pose people in the shade to avoid too much contrast, show them the pictures to get past the communication barrier, if you want a silhouette– make sure it’s the entire silhouette. Making sure the eyes are open – and looking in an interesting direction is also critical. We never do get to go to the market – but we do get to go shopping at the local craft store – and I stock up on some of their lovely woven baskets, and tall thin wood carvings. After every trek, the local kids gather where we will be leaving the guides to sell us their pictures and wooden carvings. I make sure to buy one thing from each group. More sharing of the wealth.
Evening of day 5 – around our last supper in the mountains we all agree on what a wonderful experience this has been. We are only the 3rd group of the 11 that Joe and Mary-Ann have led that had everyone complete all 5 of the treks. Vegetarian issues aside, the food has been good, the lodge bent over backwards to make us feel welcome, and the gorilla treks were outstanding. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kigali for a day there – then the next day we fly back to Nairobi and the official end of the tour.
But we’re not finished with the excitement. In the past – the healthiest person has always been Mary-Ann – but this time she’s been a bit (for her) under the weather. On the evening of Day 5 she and Joe go to bed – and she wakes up in the middle of the night – terribly ill. Plans are made to be changed. We go with Alex to head back slowly to Nairobi – stopping as needed for people to take photos. Joe and Mary-Ann head back as fast as they can – stopping reroute at a pharmacist to get Mary-Ann some medicine. It is a credit to the robustness of her system that, while she looked like a weak white sheet in the morning – but dinner she feels good enough to join us. I’m extremely relieved. You form strong friendships on these kinds of adventures – and I was really worried about her.
We tour the Genocide museum in Kigali – it’s amazing – disturbing – and in some ways a positive experience. It ends by saying – if we don’t figure out why these things happen – ‘Never Again’ will become ‘Again and Again’. Strong words, those.
Speaking of Genocide – I’ve been in two countries that went thru a recent Genocide now – Rwanda and Cambodia. In Cambodia, they have attempted to deal with the experience by almost pretending that it didn’t actually happen. Everyone knows who did the killing – but not one has been officially punished. Compare this to Rwanda. Unlike the museum in Cambodia which is clearly an after thought made to keep tourists informed, the museum in Rwanda represents a multi-media, high tech, and extremely sophisticated attempt to not only explain what happened – but to address some of the underling issues. They have created courts in all of the local villages – courts that are manned by locals. People who participated in the Genocide – and everyone knows who they are – are welcome to go to these courts – confess what they did – and they must find the families of the people they hurt and formally beg forgiveness. Then, depending on how ‘depraved’ what they did was, the court gives out punishments. They might sentence the person to jail, but more likely the person is remanded to a work camp. There they do work for the government 3 or 4 days a week – and are able to work for their family the rest of the time. But key to the process is the asking of forgiveness – and the confession.
All of this, I think, will help Rwanda get over what happened – far faster than ignoring it like Cambodia is doing.
Part of the tour of Kigali consists of some of the famous places where fighting occurred – We even saw the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ of the movie - and in many cases – the places have been carefully restored to keep the bullet holes visible. Very interesting – I’m really glad I came. Rwanda exceeded expectations – I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Basically – I loved it. Good food, exciting wildlife, great photo oops, awesome scenery – and interesting to boot. What’s not to recommend?
We return to Nairobi, and from there we fly on to Malindi – we’ve arranged to spend several days relaxing on the coast of Kenya, snorkeling, swimming, walking – and getting back our mojo for the return trip, an uneventful – but way too long – 27 hour air ride. Sigh – wouldn’t it be nice if Africa was closer.
Signing off – The Soup Lady
Leslie Eiser
aka - the soup Lady
http://www.ed-foods.com
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