Lost for words

Its 4pm as I started this and quite frankly I don't know what to say first. Maybe if I explain that I am beyond exhausted so therefore neither my brain nor my body are in a functioning state, so excuse the drivel. 

I have spent the day in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and come face to face with the endangered mountain gorillas.

Having left the hotel at 6:00am and travelled through some rather extreme terrain we arrive at the gorilla centre where we were allocated into groups of 8. I was with a group of oldies from the US who were very welcoming and lovely. Our guides Emanuel and Ignatius gave us a run down on what to expect and excitedly told us that we were visiting the largest family of gorillas, the Kwitonda group up in the Gahinga Volcano very close to Uganda.  Some families consist of on 10 or 20 in total but we could expect around 35 including babies. At the gorilla centre there was a sign saying they would match the fitness levels of each traveler group with the difficulty of the trek. I decided in my head that old would mean an easy trek. I was wrong. We not only had been allocated the best group but the longest trek and because of the rain it would be worse than usual. 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1B4DTZf4oJ2XvBA8oPlEnfNWlpXA5LFzo

The rest of the group had hired gaitors and inspired me to do the same so I went off in search but not before they told me that they had also engaged porters to drag them out of the dirt holes. I was a bit resistant but eventually realised it was probably a good idea. My back-pack was so small I could easily carry it but didn't want to be a burden in anyone else. Super call on both counts. 

Instructions done we were back in the Prado headed towards our starting point. We soon turn off the tarmac down roads that made the path to the hotel look super. This is why the 4wd is a must. Oh boy I was in heaven; pot holes, mud holes, the works. Low ratio to say the least was needed here.  

All along the side of the road are little kids waving with a royal wave and calling hello. Snotty little noses, barefoot, grubby clothes, wide eyed and smiles from ear to ear. The highlight of their day is saying hi to the tourists.  Their toys a piece of wood, their swimming pool a culvert which has collected the muddy water from up stream. 

The villages we passed were all very basic. In some cases no shops, but all had a school and a church (Lutheran in this area). The houses were little more than mud huts but all with windows and a tin roof which is more than can be said of remote villages in some countries. 
These people live off the land or from what they make from the tourist industry as trekkers, guides, porters or as part of the organisation. In a bid to curtail poaching most of the poachers have been given work as either trekkers or porters and 10% of all profits go to the surrounding villages. It seems to work as poaching is no longer a major issue. 

We arrive at our starting point where we are given walking sticks and allocated a porter. Mine is a young guy called John. He looked 15 but was actually 29 and was a hoot. No way could any of us done this without our porters. Some of the people had hired two and for parts of the trek were carried by their porter. Worth every bit of the USD10 I paid. I said goodbye to Gaston II and off we went. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1NV72B-2D8QopJZNri1_4ToDk_2SRqDIThttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1L_jXFsbXlEUY_D_DaBU2QqLIT_4JVm2Rhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1qx45z-YBERMJRlrdVqLioPOXxWd2BPwV

We start with a grass climb which saw some of us struggle as the altitude changed and we were walking quite quickly.  Our first obstacle was getting up and over a ramp, much like the one I made for Archie and just as narrow. A problem for some but once we were all safely across there in front of us was the jungle.  Dense, green and dripping water from the rain earlier on (it rains every day here - it is rain forest after all) we head in through a narrow path slowly climbing higher and higher. The ground was damp but it was not until it started to rain that it got really slippery and a bit of a challenge. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1I0YTWM4fw6N3UIde4ZHJalvMsmJ9dqeshttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1gnwZigqR_NqJEaIn4aSAJfYM-gZY15B9https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1JTvq1nf0GQl2PcAhWWUcz0OnYoOKjLHH

The walk was not strenuous but unrelenting. There were fallen trees, vines and a steep incline to contend with and in some places pretty deft footwork was needed to climb up where the ground had eroded. We stopped every now and then for the slow ones ( or the males to go pee) to catch up and to catch our breath, John prompting me to drink some of the water we each  carried. A great idea but we all know that the more water the more necessity for a
‘No 1 stop’ and none of us females wanted a fern shoved up our bits or the thought of a buffalo coming to say hello, so we drunk sparingly. I did tho get the chance to teach the women how to go to the loo in the jungle and be able to make a quick get away. A skill I was taught on my first wildlife encounter.  We side stepped the buffalo diahorrea as we manouvered the mudholes and tried hard to stay on our feet and not fall into the poo. The poo bought home the realisation that buffalo were close and quite frankly I would rather face a hissing snake than one of those beasts. 

The unrelenting walk continued, we started peeling off layers as it got hotter but then when it started to rain had to enclose ourselves in rain coats, the sort that make you feel as though you are in a plastic bag and cant breathe. Not in the slightest comfortable but oh well.  Along the way we kept asking how much  further. The trekkers had come in earlier to the spot where the gorillas were last seen yesterday and then followed trails from there. Remarkably here in this dense jungle there was excellent phone coverage so the trekkers relayed the whereabouts to the guides by phone. At the last enquiry we were told it was 35 minutes more. 

We walked another five minutes, the rain stopped and Emanuel told us he had news and the Gorillas were on the move and it wouldnt be another five minutes. Groan from us all. A little smirk gave him away and then he said it was just five  minutes more. We left our stuff and our porters behind and set off. 

On we moved when within a few minutes I spy something dark in the bushes. I nudge the woman behind me and we both stared at ine another, looked at the shape and both of us had tears in our eyes. A mother and baby.  Our first sighting. 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1h4P45af4rIjPw65mGbNl0we-F6eEYl9B

Getting closer we see a whole group nestled in a little clearing. Right in the middle the alpha male Silverback and around him three family groups. 
The silverback was massive. I expected big but not this big. Even lying down you could tell that he measured at least 1 metre across his chest alone and each hand was the size of my head. 
Sitting behind the silverback was a female nursing a tiny tiny baby, just four or five days old. We could just see its tiny hand clutching Mom. 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1a8oQsEb3F0e9MOm0HTXkL8PmWSAXsx65
This was all within about three metres from where we were standing, eyes wide open and mouths dropped. Unbelievable. 

We watched as one of the smaller ones started showing off by swinging on a branch. Too cute for words. 

Just when we thought it could not get any better Emanuel moved is on. Already? we queried. “You’ll see” he replied. Sure enough just around the corner across the back of the area we had been was another group. A family group, Mum, Dad and four month old who was great entertainment. Another family group on the rise looking down towards where the others were. Still another group about 5ft away and nestled in a bed of leaves another silverback. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1zXI0ubQc4ASB-y2amEnm9EQaIPAEgrQZhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1RqD1oUiGM3R0xzT5N4jiHSue3ZuUQhDvhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1mHYl9N6ZIZs82en8D4j-zOSyAPQyVBOkhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ln9aaSzlKRSDjJBf9o3lWsfkW8Zmcv7uhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=10hlLdLVryHhLbkQrhabrkpbCrnlt53Ja
In all there were three youngsters,  two were having a great time playing together and one who thought he was a bit grown up and kept beating his chest.  We saw movement from the silverback and he slowly moved out of his pile of leaves and came and sprawled out closer to us. OMG he is massive. The female that was sitting there began to groom him and he just lay back and let her. Typical!!!

The chest beater and one of the others moved into the space that the silverback had occupied and played there for a bit. It was as though the chest beater now thought he was the leader as the chest beating intensified and he looked so proud of himself.  He was too damb quick for a photo. Grr. 

As we watched the smallest of them all took a liking to one of the ladies and came right up to her. The guide made a noise so as to frighten it off but soon he was back again looking for more fun. When they approached so close we were told to stand perfectly still (or step back if that was more appropriate) and not take photos, which of course we all wanted to do. The little guy kept trying to come close so we eventually moved back to the original place. 

They were still hanging in the same places but once it started to rain they slowly one by one started moving to shelter. One of the younger males (about 3 years old and a .7 of a metre tall) tried to run through the middle of the group. Emanuel pulled me aside but not before the little fellah had brushed my leg. “Oh great luck” they told me and I was chuffed. My leg touched by a real live gorilla. Wow. 

As we watched the silverback the group of three that had been sitting to one side decided it was time to take cover and as I stepped out of the path of one I stepped into the path of another, this one brushing against my other leg. Double wow!!!

Soon the mother with the tiny baby walked past real close, so close that we got a good glance of the baby on the breast. The tiny little fingers cluching Mum just as a human baby would. 
We waited for the silverback to move but he just crossed his legs, folded his arms and sat looking like Buddah. He had decided he wasnt going anywhere rain or not. 
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Our hour was up and we had to leave so walked back to where the porters were with all our stuff. Our descent took about an hour and a half of slipping, sliding and sometimes falling through the mud. With the two downpours that had happened since we came up it had turned to slush so although a less tiring walk, it was far more challenging as we were on constant alert. My neck hurt from looking downwards.  

We left the four trekkers with the gorillas to continue following the gorillas until it started to get dark that way they would have less ground to cover the next day. 

Our boots had so much mud stuck on the we were forever having to stop and with a branch carve the mud out of the tread.  When we got to the stream, that on the way up we carefully used the stepping stones to cross, we walked into the water where our awesome porters washed our shoes and gaitors so instead of being damp and filthy dirty we were now a little cleaner but soaking wet. Oh well. 

The last leg back to the cars was a killer. Not much of an incline and much drier than it had been but it was previously planted in crops and had been plowed so was up and down the whole way. By the time we finished our trek some 6 hours after we started we were all exhausted. 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1LOfqyEGRDAC9gYFFJImXzdYcWymR5gwvhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1olHRyvHN675cNmwHVIJvAsz2GlAv9u51
Tips dished out and goodbyes said we all went our separate way, me to Gorilla Mountain View Lodge. The lovely staff had slippers waiting and were organising lunch. I wanted just a hot shower and sleep but they insisted on bringing me lunch, then as I lay sprawled on the couch wood for the fire, then my dry shoes, then the hot water bottles for my bed. By the time they came to ask about dinner I was so over the interruptions I said I didnt want dinner (which they struggled with) and by 7pm I was in bed . 

Shattered was an understatement but so worth it for an amazing day. Not just the gorilla experience but the drive through the villages and the exhausting trek as well made it a day I shall remember for a long time. 


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