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Published: March 7th 2010
Having been told yesterday by the guy who had previously volunteered at my project that he trekked for 15 mins to see the gorillas and then went home, we were all a bit deflated expecting a proper trek to find the 'wild' animals! So when we set off in our 4 wheel drive at the crack of dawn i got chatting to our driver and a guide we picked up about the different groups and how we were keen walkers and wanted a proper trek... there's no harm in putting in a plug (if that is even an expression!); if you don't try you won't get as they say.
We were first to arrive at the tourist office and as more and more people turned up our chances of going to group 13 seemed slim - people were of all shapes and sizes: young, old, keen hikers (or so they seemed), quite obviously not keen hikes (lead by a guy in his early twenties, wearing a pristine white wife beater, smart jeans barely hanging on his hips with a very posh belt and to be honest he looked like he was there to pull not to see the gorillas)... we made every effort to look fit and even contemplated starting to stretch and jogging to look keen.
They eventually came over and gave us our groups, the driver no doubt having put in a good word for us as we, me, another girl just finished an accounting project and her boyfriend, and 4 other german tourists had been chosen to go to group 13, the susa tribe and furthest away of them all. The smiles beamed across our faces as we were given our briefing. Our guide was Hope and was a real joker - i don't think we got a straight answer out of him all day. We had about an hours drive to the start of the walk, up an offroad track being thrown around in the back; why any girl ever wants big boobs i will never know!
Having all been provided with a stick with gorillas engraved on the handle it was uphill from there. (i have to admit the stick was very helpful so will have to invest in a light weight one before Corsica.) The group consisted of - Hope, 7 tourists, a guard with a gun and a porter (supposedly).... although i think he was brought along to help me as i slipped and slided all over the place. Being as i am i was very reluctant to accept his help and instead found it easier to balance using my stick and so he went and helped another sliding victim, saying sorry whenever someone slipped. The walk led us through a eucalyptus forest and then endless farmland covered in potatoes with what would have been great views across the valley had we not been in cloud and getting drenched! We eventually got to the entrance to the park where the vegetation changed immediately. It was in to a dense bamboo forest followed by tropical rainforest walking along a narrow path unable to see more than a couple of meters in either direction. Our guide explained that we were supposed to remain 7 m away and that we weren't to run away should a gorilla come towards us. Also mustn't sneeze/cough in the vicinity of gorillas because our diseases can transfer easily to them.
It was another good walk in the park until we found the trackers, who spend all day with the group, protecting them from poachers and collecting data. We had to leave our bags about 200m from the group and just went off, cameras in hand. It was still pouring with rain and the first gorilla we saw was just sat still about 2 m from us with her kid, trying to protect them both from the rain. Hope all of a sudden got us to walk on and was quite insistent, presumably because he had just noticed the silverback sheltering in the tree trunk no more than a metre and a half from us. I turned to see it as we walked past, and i think my heart skipped several beats. We then came across another silverback with female and child hiding under a tree. After we'd stared and shot photos for a good 5 mins he decided to get up and then suddenly started beating his chest right there in front of us.... i didn't scream but i did jump back and the adrenalin in my body went up to a max (what a scaredy cat!!) He was huge and probably twice the size of the females. We kept walking round, all the time checking that the huge silverback wasn't following ;e and from behind the bush heard 2 gorillas fighting - i was secretly pleased that this didn't happen right in front of us -- the fear might have got the better of me. Fortunately the rain stopped and they all came out of hiding and sat, just there in front of us munching away minding their own business. females, children and silverback all sat there breaking off branches and eating away (working towards their 30kg/day), flattening out an area all around them. It was amazing! No sooner than it had started, our hour with the animals was up and we had to make our way down. Slipping and sliding all the way down - you'd have had a job to guess the colour of our trousers when we got to the bottom. And there as if by magic, were carved gorillas for sale - talk about catch the tourists on a high!
The Susa group was one of the groups Diane Fossey (from Gorillas in the mist) observed for many years and there is one female, Poppy, who was around in her day. The group now has 41 individuals i think, of which we must have seen about 15. They are all one big family and stay together living for about 30-40years. Within them are 6 silverback, one of whom is the leader and the others ranked beneath him, the second in line (not necessarily his son) to take his place should he die. Each gorilla is named at a naming ceremony and has an individual noseprint like our fingerprint, but to the eye far easier to tell the difference in my opinion.
A female is pregnant for a period of 9 months and won't fall pregnant again for 4 years. There is no interbreeding and so the females are sought by other males from other groups. They are very docile creatures and seem so unphased by our presence, presumably so used to visitors everyday. I can't get over how lucky we were to get to see group 13 (and hence get a hike in too) and then to finish off a fantastic day i came back to the guesthouse and had a hot water bucket shower.... the first in 7weeks - utter bliss!
if you're still awake well done! certainly a day to remember.
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Susannah
non-member comment
sounds awesome jess!! xxx