Please note – I have a lot of pictures of the gorillas, taken with my Nikon Coolpix P610. Unfortunately, i am experiencing technical issues with the camera right now, so I will have to upload this post with few pictures. Check back later for pictures once I resolve the problem.

The main reason I traveled to Rwanda was to visit the mountain gorillas, which live in an area that features eight volcanoes, most of them extinct, in an area that is bordered by Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).

There are currently approximately 880 gorillas living amongst the three parks in the region, Volcanoes National Park in northwest Rwanda, Mgahinga Park in southwest Uganda and Virunga National Park on the eastern border of the DRC. This number has increased over the last five years. The last official census in 2010 of these majestic animals counted 786. There is currently a new census being conducted and the 880 number is expected to be somewhat close to the new wild population numbers. Anecdotally, the large number of babies indicates that the populations are growing, though the mountain gorilla is still classified as a critically endangered species. For more detail on the census efforts, please visit
http://wwf.panda.org/?254110/New-census-critical-for-mountain-gorillas-in-Virunga .

The gorillas have been migrating to the parks in Rwanda and Uganda due to extreme volitility in the DRC and the forests they control. The DRC has been waging a war amongst government forces and two militias, each loyal to the Tutsis or the Hutus. The gorillas have been near some of the fighting, and seven were slaughtered by government forces in 2007 so that they could blame and politically cripple the head of the park service, who was waging a war against secret government operations to clear cut the forest to create charcoal, an important (and lucrative) fuel source in the DRC. In fact, the area is so volatile the U.K. Foreign Office states that “You should remain alert to the possibility of military incursions, stray bullets and/or artillery fire entering Rwanda if you’re near the DRC border.”

As a result, the gorillas have become wary of humans, especially when they carry long sticks (we were issued hiking sticks to help navigate the trails and told to leave them behind as we got near the gorilla group). The long sticks remind the apes of guns.

I booked a one-day expedition with a local company in Kigali. Because I wasn’t staying overnight in one of the lodges near the park, it involved a 4:30 am pick-up in order to get me to the park in time for the start of the tour, which is managed by the Rwandan government. My driver & host, Eric, provided a wealth of information about the gorillas, Rwanda, anything I was interested in. He was a very knowledgable resource and it was a great pleasure getting to know him.

As we approached the starting point for the tour, there was a heavy, constant rain falling, complete with an occasional flash of lightening and burst of thunder.

The government of Rwanda limits to eight the number of daily permits issued for each group of gorillas, so all s to minimize the exposure of the gorillas to too many people. After being designated to a particular group of gorillas, a group of eight of us received our briefing from our guide, Patience (and yes, that is his real name).

Patience and me  

Patience has been a guide for 12 years and has developed a very close bond with the group he visits almost every day. The group that Patience oversees consists of 22 gorillas, which includes one silverback (the dominant male), a few adolescent males, a dozen or so females and about four to five babies, aged from one year and less.

We set off to find the group in that aforementioned heavy rain. My poncho was well designed for the job, as well as my hiking boots, which gave me yet another reason to love them. Because of the rain, the paths were extremely muddy and slippery. We made our way through some high rainforest, periodically stepping in mud that would sink our feet up over our ankles. The “path” roughly followed a small stream, to the point where it wasn’t clear whether the stream was created by the path or vice versa.

After more than a kilometer of slogging through the mud, Patience received word via walkie-talkie as to where the group could be found. Each morning, a group of trackers goes into the forest to check on the welfare of the apes as well as get them “on radar” so they can communicate the coordinates of them to Patience or the other guides.

Our group was going to be found in an extinct volcanic crater. We hiked to the top of the mountain, only to have to descend into a vast, steep valley that once was the crater of this volcano.

The route into the crater involved having to carefully work our way down the side of the crater wall, which was about 300 feet high and very muddy with small footholds to step onto in order to lower yourself down the steep decline. I was using roots as handholds to help steady myself and give me leverage to get down each step.

Once we got to the bottom of the crater, we had to traverse the length of the oblong crater to get to the gorillas. Wading our way through the waist deep sawgrass, we eventually came to an area where we took a break. But looking up into the foliage around us, there was definitely somebody moving around under the low bamboo leaves.

Patience said we had made it to our destination, and he reinforced that we were not to get within seven meters (about 20 feet) of the gorillas. If they approached us, we were to step back and make way, but if they wanted to touch us, we could allow them. We just couldn’t reach out to them.

We slowly moved up the far side of the crater floor, and came within sight of the silverback, who was sitting contentedly munching on bamboo. We moved in closer with Patience making his greeting known to the large male by making a low guttural growling sound. The silverback replied in similar fashion.

Patience then encouraged us to “Look at the king of the jungle! Appreciate his size and his power! He is the master of this crater and of his clan of gorillas!” It was clear that Patience adored the gorillas under his care, and he was brimming with pride in being able to share these wonderful animals with us.

Soon, we began to see other gorillas move into the area, mostly females, with two of them attending to little toddlers. In fact, one of the females was squiring two babies, one pair of a couple sets of twins that had been born in the last year.

Our group stood in awe of these magnificent creatures moving all about us, casually eating and enjoying their day. The rain had stopped. We were allowed to spend one hour in the company of the gorillas, periodically moving our position in order to get the best camera angles.

Across the crater floor and up the low side of the crater wall opposite us, we could see other gorillas all feeding and casually hanging out.

The hour with the gorillas went way too fast. We soon packed up and said goodbye to some park rangers / trackers who come early in the morning and stay late into the day to monitor the gorillas and make sure that no hunters try to infiltrate the crater and kill a gorilla for its meat.

With Patience and four of the park rangers who protect these magnificent animals.

In some African cultures, eating “bush meat” or the meat of a gorilla, brings special virility and power to the person who eats it. While it is outlawed, there are still poachers trying to score a rare kill, and the rangers periodically find a snap trap that can sever a gorillas foot.

In fact, Eric told me a story about Patience that illustrates his close bond with the gorillas. As he was leading a group one day, he heard the anguished screams of a female gorilla. After sending the group back a safe distance, he went in to investigate and discovered one of the baby gorillas caught in a snap trap. The mother was hysterical, seeing her baby in that predicament. Patience worked his way over to the baby, acutely aware the mother may attack him. Once he got tony betray, he discovered that the trap, while holding the baby’s foot, had not done any real damage. He pried the trap open and gave the baby back to Mama, who carried the toddler away, obviously relieved that her little one was going to be OK.

As we ended our day, I told Patience that he was so very blessed to have such an incredible job. He smiled broadly and said, “Yes, I am very blessed indeed”. Thank God we have dedicated people like Patience and the park rangers, who put their lives on the line to protect these awesome creatures.

We headed back along the same path upon which we had entered the crater. As I said to one despairing member of our group, “Unfortunately what goes down must go back up.” We spent the next two hours retracing our muddy footsteps through the quagmire.

No Kili dust left on my boots ☹
A late lunch at the local lodge, as well as a much needed boot cleaning provided by the staff (in an hour, my hiking boots were ready for me, squeaky clean, dry and warm) and then Eric and I were on our way back to Kigali.