So, my Grand Gorilla Adventure turned out to be pretty much a bust! It was 10 minutes of “Gorillas in the Mist” followed by 30 minutes of “Gorillas in the Torrential Downpour”. I didn’t get many good photos at all and not a single photo of me with a gorilla in the background. The more evolved, philosophical, Buddish side of me says “that’s the way it goes”, “who can predict nature?”, “at least I saw 10 good minutes of Rwandan mountain gorillas which is more than most people ever get”. The other 70% of me (it’s a [View Full Entry]

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I saw gorillas today. As close to me, from my seat at the bar, as the barman is now, with the silverback about as far away as the TV on the other side of the bar. And they were the most unfazed wildlife I’ve ever encountered, ignoring us even when the guides spoke in low voices. The youngster nearest me watched me change the battery in my camera at one point, but that was one of the very few times I saw any indication that they were even aware of our presence. But I get ahead of myself. I knew three [View Full Entry]

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Today we enter Rwanda, a country filled with excitement because they represent the home of the gorillas for us, but a place also filled with distant recollections of the Rwandan genocide which happened only 15 years ago. Driving into the country, the scenery changes dramatically, the low-lying plains of Uganda replaced with narrow valleys and steep hillsides - all utilised for agriculture. Rarely have I seen cultivated land so high up... the land is filled with tea plantations and other food crops, and the locals toiling in the fields stop their work and watch us as we pass. Our first stop [View Full Entry]

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Woke up this morning at 5:15 to see the gorillas. After an hour car ride to the national park office, we signed in and were put in a group with a dual American/Rwandan citizen who lives in Richmond. We were assigned our two rangers, who told us about the family of gorillas which we were going to see as well as about the mountain gorillas in general. Volcanoes National Park is right up against the borders with the DRC and Uganda. Both the DRC and Uganda have national parks on the other side of these borders. I use the term "national [View Full Entry]

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Wow, oog in oog met de mountain gorilla’s in Volcanous National Park. Wat een ervaring! Na wat wikken en wegen hebben we toch besloten dat het bezoeken van de gorilla’s een must do in Rwanda is. Het mag dan extreem duur zijn, dat vergeet je en de ervaring is onvergetelijk. Gisteren zijn we eerst naar de immigratie dienst geweest voor informatie over ons visum, we wilden van ons single entry visum een multiple entry visum maken. Dit bleek toch iets ingewikkelder dan gedacht. Maar we gaan hoogstwaarschijnlijk nog wel een buurland bezoeken. Daarna hebben we de bus genomen naar [View Full Entry]

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24th February On Tuesday morning I started my journey in anticipation of going gorilla trekking the next day. Colin dropped me off in Kabale in the morning so that I could walk to the petrol station where the taxis departed to the border. I say taxis but in reality they are actually men who own cars and charge a couple of pounds to take people to the border of Rwanda! So I load my bags into the boot of this man’s car and jump inside. There are two women sitting in the car. “Aghandi,” I said, which means: Hello, how are [View Full Entry]

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Po 9 godzinach marszu przez jakies 17 ekosystemow, w tym pole, babmusowy zagajnik, dzungle, potem znow bambusowy zagajnik, potem znow dzungle, krzaki, lokalne jalowce, upal, mgle, mrzawk i ulewe, bloto, pokrzywy, malpie odchody, moge powiedziec, ze wdzialam najwieksza w Rwandzie grupe goryli gorskich - Susa. A zaczelo sie tak.. Tak jak pisalam wczoraj, Susa to najwieksza grupa, do ktorej najdalej sie idzie, niektorzy bardzo chca tam isc, inni mnej, bo z gory sie boja, jeszcze inni chca isc, a potem zawracaja w polowie drogi, bo sie okazuje , ze za daleko i nie daja rady. Ta grupa ma okolo 4 [View Full Entry]

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Wczorajszy dzien mial polegac tylko na przejezdzie kilka godzin wyboista droga, ktorej przedsmak mielismy juz poprzedniego dnia - wczoraj mialo byc dwa razy dluzej. Okazalo sie jednak, ze byl to jeden z najciekawszych dni - a tu wsrod dni konkurencja duza, bo w sumie codziennie dzieje sie cos ciekawego. Otoz wczoraj wyruszylismy z Moriah Hill Resort nad jeziorem Kivu - pieknego miejsca z plaza, gdzie zebrala sie na swieta miejscowa elita - including tuzin tlustych nieznosnych murzynskich dzieci. Pierwszy dzien swiat - wiec ulicami przechadzaly sie eleganckie tlumy. Wiedzac, ze tego dnia n [View Full Entry]

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Mighty mountain gorillas Day 258 Christmas Eve After much anticipation Mountain Gorilla Day had arrived. We had the privilege of staying in a dorm that evening complete with bunk beds. However, the sleep was short lived as we were up at 5.30. After a short drive from the small Rwandan town of Musanzi we arrived at the mountain gorilla sight, a part of the Warandi massive, home to seven volcano’s and approximately 280 Mountain Gorillas. Our group split into two groups a medium trek and long trek group. Given that Carly had been feeling unwell for a few days we decided [View Full Entry]

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We arrived into Kigali at night - again. Arriving into a major centre late isn't too bad, as there are always lots of taxi's waiting to take you anywhere. The trip from Kigoma was long as we had to change vehicles several times and of course had the usual delays. The border was easy to navigate, and the border guards friendly - YAY! The very next morning Mike was up early and had already visited the National Park office and found out that we could get three permits for two days later. When he came back we were just getting up, [View Full Entry]

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