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Published: February 25th 2009
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 you?
“Neeje.” Came the reply, which means pretty much the same thing.
The next thing I know another woman and three of her kids climb into the back. It was cramped with a child sat on top of my but not unexpected or unusual! So the car sets off and next thing I know the woman starts shouting at the driver. In the mean time I am on the phone to Lucie and trying to talk to her. The woman would not stop shouting and next thing you know it turns into a scream. The children
start joining in and so there are four people in the back of this car screaming and shouting right next to me. There goes my conversation!
They start banging at the doors and windows and screaming to passers by. I start to panic a little and look at the door and find no door handle. Thoughts rushed through my head of being kidnapped and not being able to get out of the car! The next thing I know the driver pulls up to the side of the road and lets them all out. By this time I have jumped out of the car in fear of my own life!haha
They get out of the car and a group of people crowd around whilst they take their bags out of the boot. I asked the driver what was going on and the only explanation he could offer was that they were crazy!
I got to the border in the same car with no worries whatsoever, quite glad that the “crazy” ones were not with us any more!
It is free to cross the border into Rwanda, which is nice for a change. Once I have had my
passport stamped ten men approach me offering to change my money for me. I had no idea what the exchange rate for Rwandan Francs was and as I had to get to Kigali some how I had no choice but to change enough to get me to Kigali. It turns out the rate for pounds is about 780 francs to the pound and they gave me 700, so it wasn’t too much of a big deal!
An hour and a half later and I was in Kigali trying to find a bus to Ruhengeri where I would stay before the gorilla trek in the morning. I have always thought I could get by speaking French. It took me a while to get back into it but in the end I found my way onto a bus and two hours later I was in Ruhengeri getting ready for the next day!
I made friends with the bar man, who was called Justus. He informed me that I would need transport for the next day and that it would cost $80 per vehicle. Well I was pretty sure I only needed one car and that I didn’t want to spend
Armed Guard
They are supposed to be protecting us from the "elephants" no the Congolese Army!that much money on transport. I decided to book a motorcycle to take me in the morning. Justus called one of his friends and I was told he would be at the hotel to take me at 6am.
I woke up at five o’clock and went to have breakfast after packing my bag for the day. At 6am we left for the entrance to the park. It was a crisp morning and there was mist settled at the base of the volcanoes all around. As soon as I got there I went into the office to confirm my booking of the trekking permit, which costs $500!! After some time and a few phone calls they managed to track down my permit and told me that I would have to pay a further $15 in bank charges. By this point I was beyond arguing over £10 as I was way too excited and ready to go see some silver backs!
The next obstacle was that I was required to have a driver and a 4x4 to take me to the edge of the national park. Most people book their permits through tour agents and so end up paying a
premium for the organising of it all as well as commission. I on the other hand decided I could go it alone and so wound up in a bit of a mess. Luckily there were two English guys with their own vehicle and so I hopped in with them!
As we approached the wall that outlined the national park we were briefed on how to act around the gorillas. No flash photography was allowed for obvious reasons, as well as being within 7 meters of any gorilla, loud talking wasn’t allowed neither was running away if one approached you. If a gorilla came very close to you we were told to stand still initially and then slowly move backwards to allow the guide to come in between the primate and ourselves as they can recognise the gorilla guides/trackers.
Our group was called the Kwitonda Group, meaning "humble one", Kwitonda has 16 individuals: 1 Silverback; 2 Blackbacks; 4 Adult females; 3 Sub adult females; 4 Juveniles and 2 Babies.
Kwitonda migrated from DR Congo and settled in Rwanda, probably looking for greener pastures. Since then, Kwitonda has defined its home range and established itself in the area.
We trekked for just over an hour through dense forest. It was quite slippery but we were given walking poles, which helped a lot. We stopped in a clearing and as I approached I saw group of about five men, which I presumed to be the trackers. Each group of gorillas, and there are eight which the public are allowed to visit, are tracked 24 hours a day by a team of trackers. We were told to put down our bags and get anything we wanted for when we sighted the gorillas. Cameras out and ready to go we set off with out guide, Patience.
In the distance, to the left, I could see something black through the trees. Little did I know, whilst I was focussing on this black shape, that the rest of the group had followed Patience to one of the larger males. It was the most incredible sight. To see this very large male gorilla sat in the clearing chewing on bamboo! We all snapped away but after a while I had to just stop and watch him. Everything about them is so amazing and interesting. They are so similar to us it is hard
to believe. The way he held the bamboo in his hand and ate it and how he sat ceased to amaze me.
After around ten minutes we moved on to see the rest of the group. Only twenty meters away we stumbled upon all the others. The silver back was lying on the ground with a few babies on top of him and surrounded by a few females. He was absolutely massive. I have seen gorillas in the zoo, quite close in Jersey zoo but when you are in the forest with them, and there is no glass between you and them, they have a different presence.
We watched as the babies swung from the vines in the trees and as they play fought on the ground with their mothers. There was one scary moment when the silver back stood up and started beating his chest, but apparently it was to one of the black backs and not at us, thankfully!
The larger males eat up to 40kg of food a day and so for this reason they never sleep in the same place twice as they need so much food and are often picky as to which
plants they can eat. There are up to 600 different plant species in the park of which they can eat around 200.
It rained for the last twenty minutes of our visit but it didn’t stop us from having the most amazing time of our lives. I would thoroughly recommend doing it. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it is well worth the money.
Tomorrow I am catching the Jaguar bus service from Kigali to Kampala. It will take around 8-10 hours but this is Africa so I assume it will be more like 12 hours!
I’m meeting Lucie in Kampala and from there we will go to Jinja and attempt to raft the grade 5 rapids that the river Nile has to offer.
Thanks so much for all your messages and support I really appreciate them!
Lots of love to everyone…
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mummy
non-member comment
omg its amazing. was one of thhe juveniles called Rhys!!! im so jealous!!! the taxi ride with the mad ones however sounds v scary, bet your life flashed before you!! good job your so big and strong to fight of those nasty men you will have to chaperone little linc when its his turn, he is like a bloody fair haired baby gorilla!!! xxxxxx