July 4th... Independence Day in America and
Liberation Day in Rwanda
and for us today is
Meet the Mountain Gorillas Day!
Last night when we returned to our rooms someone had started
a charcoal fire in the fireplace and it was really kicking off the heat.
Later in the evening when we were in our room and right before
it was time to sleep, a young man came with another round of coals.
The fire kept that big room almost toasty all night!
It was wonderful!
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| But the greater surprise was getting into bed and finding 2 very hot water bottles! They were down around our feet to keep us even toastier all night! I think this has given me a new idea for house guests that visit in the winter! It was the ultimate in hospitality on a cold evening. True luxury. |
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| But our night didn't last long since we had to be at the Park Station at 7am, ready to go.... So we all got up around 5:30, had breakfast and drove to where we were to meet. |
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| Standing in the cool morning air waiting to hear if we had been assigned to an easy, moderate or difficult trail to blaze. |
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| While we waited we were entertained by the Intore Dancers.... the older more experienced group! |
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| Shorty after they were done we met our guides and the other 3 people in our group. No group is greater than 8 and there are never more than 50 people allowed to go trekking on any given day. There are several gorilla families on each of the Volcanoes. We found out we were headed to see the Ugenda Family on the Volcano Bisoke--A moderately difficult trek. |
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| The roads themselves were very difficult! We drove to the head of the trail and took off from there. We drove about 30 minutes closer and closer to the volcano. |
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| Children are always greeting us everywhere we go! Kristi thinks that most of the population here is under 10. She might be right on that! |
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| Once we arrived at the head of the trail.... we were given walking sticks and boy, did we need those. |
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| This is the Bisoke Volcano and the one we are going to hike up.... but not to the top. But if we could have gotten to the top we would have found a crater lake. In the foreground are "Irish" potatoes.. but they have been growing here so long now that they are Rwandan Potatoes (the guide said). We walked through a path in the field. |
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| Starting to climb a little here. But before we all collapse... a group picture of our "family", us and a guy from England and a couple from California! |
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| Our "gunner"... just in case we encounter stray buffalo. |
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| We had 2-3 porters that helped us maneuver the ups and downs of the volcano. They were worth way more that $10.00. |
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| Every ounce of land is farmed BY HAND in Rwanda... We were encased by fields on all sides... all the way up the trek until we got into the National Park. |
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| Crossing over the wall and into the Park. This was a bit scary --It was a little ledge with ravines on both sides. |
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| More fields. |
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| Monstrous old trees! The elevation is getting higher. |
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| I held everyone up since I had forgotten my inhaler and when the altitude got higher my breathing got a lot more labored. The slowest one went first so they wouldn't lose you. ( that was me) |
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| Our guide... taking us up into the undergrowth of the mountain. |
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| What it looked like as we climbed up higher. |
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| Everyone is coming along behind me..... |
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| Still coming. |
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| Fortunate for us, the gorillas weren't too far into the park... It felt like about 5 minutes once we crossed the wall but maybe it was further than that. These guys are the trackers. They find the gorillas the night before and see where they are bedded down...The next morning then they go back and follow them so that the guides can bring us right to them. Walkie-Talkies keep the guide informed. |
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| This is the type of undergrowth that the trackers and guides cut through with their machetes to make a path for all of us. And then all of a sudden THERE THEY ARE.... |
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| This 1/2 of the family was on one side of a small ravine. There were about 7-8 of them.. All the females and babies! We were instructed to be quiet, not to touch them, and not to sneeze on them. Although one of the gorillas was sneezing the entire hour we were with them. That is how much time you are allotted. One hour with them ... after your trek. No more talking now... just pictures... |
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| Bottoms up! Sorry... "but" i couldn't resist this shot! |
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| This 1/2 of the family wasn't doing very much but we kept hearing rustling on the other side of the small ravine. So, our trackers cut a path and took us across and THERE WERE THE TWO SILVERBACKS! |
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| Smaller, younger silverback, first! Just lying right there in front of us... This is a zoom but we were no more than 8' away from him. |
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| He gave us a grin... |
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| and then a yawn. Did you know that Mountain Gorillas have black tongues??? Maybe they need a teeth cleaning, too! |
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| Captivated by being so close to a silverback! Kristi looking at the other 1/2 of the family across the way. |
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| Still resting as we all stand there. The gorillas paying us no mind! |
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| The beautiful floor of the volcano! |
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| Still hearing rustling in the bushes and seeing a tree swaying ---being pulled back and forth. After much chopping and cutting by the trackers.... THE BIG SILVERBACK APPEARED.... |
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| Bruce capturing the moment. Daddy-0 won't turn around though.... |
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| He was literally stuffing his face!!!! Look how greens keep him Slim Jim!!! ha! |
Cute picture, huh?
Our guide was taking pictures for us.
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| Check out his mouth! He loves his "veggietation"! |
He just kept stuffing it in and stuffing it in...
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| A little later, I was down below by the small silverback when this little lady came walking right through Bruce, Kristi, Amy and Nelda. Just like they weren't even there! I have pictures of it but they told me not to use them... So, these pictures were taken by Bruce... right next to her! |
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| She, too, acted like we weren't there even though"she walked among us"! |
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| Then she laid down on the greens and put her hands under her head and just chilled. It was too cute and reminded me of Isaac when he watches TV. Do you still do that, Isaac? |
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| "AHHHHHHHH...Catchin' Rays is GREAT!" |
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| In the meantime... Big Daddy was done eating but he looks like he got a little indigestion! He did not have a happy face! |
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| After he had finished eating the whole tree... he crawled over to where the young Silverback was. His head was huge! |
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| They are only about 5 feet apart. |
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| The young one! |
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| Looking right at me. |
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| The older one! What a mug, huh? |
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I think the younger one will soon take over the family.
He is so way better looking! The guides didn't say that... just an observation.
 them. It was really cute. We are nearing the end of our hour at this point so we walked back over to the other side. Somewhere in all of this either coming or going, Bruce hit a slick spot and took a spill. He was fine but didn't discover until later that his glasses spilled out somewhere on the volcano. So, someday on some one's pictures a gorilla will have his glasses on and it will be a prize photo. Can't you just imagine that?  leaves! Mama was either cold or mad.... What do you think?  whole time we were with them. Look at her little feet curled up together. 
This is a close up of them... Even though it is a little fuzzy i wanted you to see
the little fingernails. Amazing, isn't it?
This was our hour with the Gorilla Family and then we started down the mountain
to finish our day. We left about 8 this morning... and at this point it is about 12:30.
This page is to be continued......
to see what happened the rest of the day!
Hope you feel like you have an idea of what a gorilla trek is all about in Rwanda.
It was an amazing experience and tomorrow you will see our hike down
the volcano and what happened next.
See you then..
love,
margie
P.S. Started this Blog at 9 am... I have really not done much else today.. except wait for pictures to load.
Our Internet is so great! It is now 4:30.
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Wow! I'm going to post this to Facebook. AMAZING!!! We really do need to come visit.
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