Gorillas revisited

Friday we left for the gorillas.

I had recovered from my GI upset but decided not to chance going to the hospital for half a day so I just hung around the apartment, read, checked the internet and at one point going a little stir crazy went for a walk.

At 1200 we walked across to the Merez gas station where we had agreed to meet our driver and just as agreed there he was. It is always gratifying when after wiring large amounts of money to a company, that they actually show up. Our vehicle was a large Toyota Land Cruiser which I remembered from our previous trip. Our driver's name was Magnifique. Really.

We pulled out on to the NR and around the mosque headed west down a very steep and narrow, cobbled street for about a km before joining an arterial road and heading out of town. This was my second trip so I remembered most of the route. Essentially we climbed a major fairly steep hill just out of Kigali. Climbing the hill, we noticed a couple of cyclists were hitching ride, holding onto a truck which was labouring up the hill. Reaching the top we proceeded along a ridge with views to the North and South of the valleys below and we were very high above the valley floor. It is the end of the dry season and a lot of the crops were harvested and so there were a lot of brown fields. As before terraced fields reached to the top of most of the hills.  Could have got some nice photos but our driver was no inclined to stop.

We eventually descended a little and after an hour stopped at collection of shops and restaurants. Our driver explained that the whole development was owned by one man who had a factory making banana wine. I said that I had never had banana wine and he directed me to where I could buy a bottle. After making sure it was okay for passengers to drink in Rwanda, I opened it and sipped it as we headed to Muzanze. It tasted somewhat like cheap port.

We arrived in Muzanze to the Muhabera Hotel. This hotel's claim to fame is that Dian Fossey kept a room there when she wasn't out with the gorillas. The room is still kept as she left it. Her room is number 12 and mine was 14 so we were quite close. They had pictures of her and she didn't look anything like Sigourney Weaver. Who knew

Otherwise there is nothing that impressive about the hotel. It is collection of square buildings, plastered and painted. My room had a large bed and not much else. There was an elaborate spray shower which the clerk who walked us to our rooms demonstrated.

I had a fairly substantial bowl of mushroom soup on the terrace as well as a beer. Then it was nap time after which I read a bit and checked the internet. Around 1900 I went down for supper with Simon and had a goat stew which was very good.

We were to be picked up at 0630 for the gorillas and the hotel advised me that they served a buffet breakfast from 0545. The buffet breakfast turned out to be a cellophane covered plate of fruit, some hard boiled eggs and white bread for toast. There was also coffee and hot milk. Thus fortified Magnifique picked us up at 0630 and it was a 20 minute drive to the staging area.

We all milled around watching some drummers and dancers and drinking more coffee. The drivers generally negotiate with the rangers as to which of the eight groups their charges will go to. The Susa group is the largest and most desired but it is a one hour drive plus a 3 hour hike each way, so generally only the fittest trekkers get to go there. I was eventually assigned to the Hirwa group.

Our ranger explained that the Hirwa group was a relatively new group. Its Silverback, nick-named Lucky had been the number 3 Silverback in the Susa group until his penchant for, as our ranger put it, doing jiggy-jiggy with the females in the troop resulted in multiple “punishments” by the dominant Silverback and his eventual exile from the group. He did take one female with him and picked up 4 from other groups, starting his own group.

By the way “punishment” consists of being bitten and in the last year 3 silverbacks have been killed in love triangles. Park policy is not to interfere in gorilla politics.

With the information Magnifique drove me to the starting point of our trek about 30 km away. I hired a porter for $10 US to carry my bag and our group of eight headed out thru potato fields towards the park. 

 We were given carved walking sticks to carry which proved to be very helpful. We arrived at a stone wall where we were met by 3 trackers, one carrying a submachine gun which the ranger advised me was for buffalo who lived in the forest (we never saw one, but they do use it as a bathroom). We all squeezed thru a narrow slit in the wall and walked gradually uphill along a path in a bamboo forest. After a while, it became less of a path and a steeper climb. Fortunately the footing was good, there was bamboo (and nettles) to grab onto and the porters where very helpful. After about an hour we got close to where the trackers had located the group and we were told to leave our packs and walking sticks which scare the gorillas. We walked about 50 metres before spotting our first gorilla and soon the rest of the troop. The troop were spread out around the ground, with some in the trees. There were many young gorillas who ran around crazily. There were very young gorillas including at least one still riding his mother's back but no babies. The silverback was lying on his back being groomed by a younger gorilla.  

You are supposed to stay 7 metres back from gorillas but our guides did not enforce this, in fact hacking vegetation away so we could get closer. It was a fascinating  hour in the company of our close relatives,watching them eat and play but eventually it came to and end and we hiked out and back to the meeting place where Magnifique was waiting for me.

In the past four years Rwanda has embraced the carving shop concept so common in Kenya. To get our gorilla certificates we had to stop at one of these, the goods of course all made by local cooperatives. I bought a basket which I had planned to do anyway. I also bought a book about the gorillas. The shop-keeper asked me if I was interested in one of the carved walking sticks. How am I going to get that on the plane, I asked. Simple it comes apart like a pool cue into three pieces. He knocked off $5 and I now have a walking stick. Most of the shops took credit cards or would give change in US$$.

Returning to the hotel, I got to try the elaborate spray shower. The spray feature shot out thin but painful jets of hot water but there was a least hot water. After I had a goat brochette on the terrace along with a beer. Off for another nap. Simon who had gone on another group wasn't back so I walked towards Muzanze about a km. The road was filled with people walking in both directions. As usual when I walk in Rwanda, people still seem surprised to see a Muzunga walking. Or maybe my fly was open. Simon was on the terrace when I got back so I had another beer with him.