Gorillas in the mist (minus the mist)

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Yesterday mornng we were in Uganda in a nice cosy private cottage room with proper beds and a bathroom! (luxury) - After Four hours of rough, pot hole filled road (in a very cramped mini-van with 11 other people - we whacked our heads probably half a dozen times!), and a one hour border crossing, we found ourselves in Rwanda and in a dorm room with 12 other people on bunks!

We woke this morning after a very disturbed sleep at 5am to travel to the Volcano National Parks office to start our Gorilla trek. Our group of 18 people split into three smaller groups as only a maximum of 8 people can visit one family group of Gorillas a day. We ended up in a group with 2 of our fellow travellers, and 2 other couples. We were then introduced to our guides who gave us some general information, and told us about the family we were going to see, and then off we went in our mini-van to the location of the Gorillas.

One hour of walking through farms, over a poorly constructed stone wall which the guides randomly threw rocks off the top to make steps for us, and some jungle, we came to the Gorilla family - Sabyinyo. Here we got our first sighting of the leader - the silverback Guhonda. He was a massive Gorilla and yet so placid. Didn't care that we were there, in fact he pretty much just ignored us! Soon after we were on the move following the Gorillas through the jungle. Normally they stay in the one spot browsing and sunning themselves, but not this group.

There are guidelines to follow when visiting the Gorillas, including staying 7 metres away from them. Good in theory, but they forgot to tell the Gorillas this! At my closest, one of the female gorillas walked right passed me brushing my leg. Except when we were following them, and trying to find them, I don't think we were ever 7 metres away when viewing.

At the end of the trek (you're only allowed 1 hour of viewing the Gorillas) We were told that a lone silverback was following the Sabyinyo family, and that was why they were constantly on the move. We then went to have a look at the lone silverback and found out that he had been rejected numerous times by a few different families and his "girl" had been back and forth with him and her family, and ended up staying with her family instead. This poor fella had been on his own since 2002 and was just trying to steal a girl for himself!

He was a little worse for wear though - He only had one eye, a bleeding wound on his hand possibly due to an earlier fight with Guhonda (we heard them beating their chests earlier in the trip) Or a little less interesting, it could have been just a bamboo cut! As we were all happily standing back and watching him, he suddenly got up onto his feet and charged the swedish girl whilst beating his chest. She luckily dived out of the way in time, but it was quite amusing. The guides informed us that he was just doing it to intimidate her as she was standing in the way of the direction he was wanting to go. If he were being aggressive, he would have been bearing his teeth and making threatening noises.

Then sadly our hour of Gorilla tracking was over, and we had to make our way back to the village in which our trek had begun. As we emerged from the thick jungle, we found that our one-eyed silverback friend had been following us out as he knew we were previously following the other group - He looked a bit confused when we got out into the open, poor thing! We ended up walking quite some distance to get back to the village where our minibus was awaiting us.

We rode the minibus back down the rock and pot-hole filled road, which is really only suitable for 4WD vehicles, to the hotel where we were staying. As the other groups arrived back, we all shared our amazing experiences and showed our hundreds upon hundreds of photos (Clinton took 175 alone). We'll get some uploaded soon - promise!!

Another funny 'highlight' was when the Gorilla's farted. It seriously was the loudest and longest farts I have ever heard (and I do live with Clinton) And all in Clinton's usual sense of humour, he turns to the guide and says "Was that you?" Luckily the guide had a sense of humour too, as he was the one carrying around the machette!

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Comments

[Marzia]

Hello from cold Melbourne
Hi Guys, Glad to hear you are having a great time, what an experience, it sounds fantastic! Can't wait to see all your photos! Marz.

[Mum]

Gorilla's
Very interesting it feels as though l am there with you. Just sounds fantastic you are both enjoying a wonderful experience. Luv ya Mum x0x0x