Advertisement
Published: June 22nd 2007
Edit Blog Post
Day 8 was Gorilla day - the day we had been looking forward to and a real once in a lifetime experience, although we were both a little nervous. There are 5 gorilla groups at the Volcano's National Park that range in size from 6 up to 32. Of course everyone of the 40 people trekking that day wanted to see the big group (Susa Group), they only take a small group of people and we didn't want to split up, so we got to see the second largest group, the Amahoro, which consists of 16 Gorilla's including 2 Silver backs, females and many young gorillas ready to show off for the camera.
We had 2 guides, plus 2 armed soldiers to look after us - following the murder by poachers of a group of tourists visiting the Gorillas a few years ago. Other than this we were actually very happy to be in Rwanda, instead of Uganda as originally in the trip itinerary, because this is where 'Dian Fossey' lived and worked, her grave was apparently somewhere close by on this mountain.
One of our guides was one of the team that habituated the Amahoro group a
few years ago, so the gorillas were used to him and trusted him. This would mean we would likely get very close to the group but officially you are supposed to stay 7m away from them. Of course they do not want you getting too close as Gorillas and humans share over 95% of DNA so they are very susceptible to catching human diseases... needless to say noone coughed all morning. Add to that the sheer power of the Gorillas that could inflict some serious damage to you if they desired, the 7m was going to be close enough for all of us!
We had about a 90 minute walk up the mountain (after a short drive to the start), and when we looked up, the volcano/mountain was indeed shrouded in mist, so this really was going to be our Gorillas in the Mist adventure. The Gorillas have to be found each day by trackers that go out early in the morning, but today they had not yet located them, so we kept on walking up the hills through the mud (ironically caused by herds of Buffalo that also call the mountain home), until we got the message that
they had found them and they were only a few minutes ahead of us.
They get you to leave all your bags and everything close by so as to not provide any temptation for the young Gorillas to come too close (apparently they love hats and bags). Then about 20 metres up the hill, just next to the path, was our first gorilla, happily sitting in the thick undergrowth eating its way through the plants. The group was apparently quite widely spread and they were moving down the hill, and we were about in the middle of them. As the first one munched away and a million photos were taken, the second Silverback came wandering down past us and then sat nearby eating away. As we moved about the path between them another large young male came wandering down the hill and we didn't have anywhere to go - it was a little scary for a moment, Rachel grabbed anyone standing near her, thinking that if she was attached to someone else she might not appear so small next to the gorilla. It didn't seem that bothered and walked within inches of us, brushing past one of our group
who literally did have nowhere to go, before walking off down the hill. We were briefed beforehand that this might happen and while your instinct is to run, if there is nowhere to move you just stand still and do not make eye contact. Which is quite hard as you don't actually want to take your eyes off the gorilla and we were so close that you could look deep into its eyes and you felt like you were indeed a honoured guest getting a brief glimpse into the animal world - wow! Our guides had found the main group only about 10-15 metres off the path (which I think was very fortunate for us) so we clambered up the hill to find the king of the group, the dominant Silverback, with about 4 other adults eating and a few young happily playing around. We spent most of the time viewing these as they were stationary and the young ones were acting up, thereby providing loads of entertainment for us. At one stage they got a little out of hand and the big Silverback got up from its spot and started over to them to sort them out. The sheer
size of him was amazing, with shoulders as wide as at least 2 big men, and muscles that could rip your head off in a flash. Apparently one contact with its arm would send an average person flying.
Sitting and watching these magnificent animals, so closely related to us, it's hard to wonder how anyone would want to poach them, but up until recently that was still the case - in fact the 'second' Silverback of the group was missing a hand due to a trap. It costs about US$350 each to get a permit to see the Gorillas, and they use this money to provide protection of both the Gorillas and the habitat they depend on for survival. We also found out that 10% of the permit fee goes to the local community and they use this to build clean water supplies, medical facilities and other necessities that would be hard to acquire without this money. You can tell by the smiles and the waves you get from locals on the street that the community like the tourists coming here. Obviously the money helps (equivalent of receiving an average annual salary, every day), not only the people but
the continuing existence of the Gorillas. Apparently now the biggest risk for potential poachers isn't being captured by the soldiers or authorities, it's the locals who will do much more damage to them. Conservation seems assured and the numbers of Gorillas are steadily growing with about 25 new babies being born each year from a population of about 700.
It truly was a day we will NEVER forget, to be so close to such powerful and rare creatures that we share so much in common with. It was long way to travel to get there, but worth every second and we hope to do it again one day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.195s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 25; qc: 100; dbt: 0.1318s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb