“Gorillas in the Mist” – Monday August 13th

Wow, what a day. This was one of those days that will live long in my memory.

The driver, Emile, arrived to collect me at 4:30am and we commenced the two and a half hour drive to the northwestern part of the country at the point where three countries border each other, namely Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. This is an area of exceptional beauty dominated by a range of volcanoes, some of which are still active.

The sun rose as we approached Rwanda Volcano National Park and the journey had been spent chatting about the 1994 Genocide. Emile was seven years old at the time and only survived by making his escape alone into neighbouring Tanzania. He lost ninety eight of his family in that Spring but does not now refer to either Hutu or Tutsi, saying that everyone is simply Rwandan.

I joined up with a very pleasant group of people for the trek, a Texan family of four along with a family of three from Edinburgh. There were several groups, each of whom would travel separately to different locations in the vast mountain range. Our two Park Rangers for the day sat us down to outline the do’s and don’ts for the day. No litter, no spitting, no feeding, no eye contact and no touching the gorillas (unless they touch you). If an adult gorilla advanced quickly towards you then you bow down with your eyes to the ground and slowly retreat walking backwards.

At about 8am we commenced the trek into the deep undergrowth assisted by four porters, our two Park Rangers and two armed soldiers. The rest of the group had also trekked on the day previously and had been exceptionally lucky to come across a family of gorillas twenty minutes into their trek.

Unfortunately this was not going to be the case today. Climbing through jungle terrain on a steep ascent into the mountains was about as difficult as it gets for someone with one knee replaced, one overdue to be replaced along with pins, screws and metal skewer in both shoulders. However I was pushed on and was determined to get a bucket list photo for my beautiful new granddaughter, Kaylee. Isn’t it wonderful where you can muster up strength from.

The armed soldiers led with machetes hacking a path through the dense undergrowth. There were times when you had to scramble on your belly up steep inclines or crawl when then the bamboos obstructed your progress. There was never any sure footing and mostly you were elevated about a foot off the ground trampling the thick vegetation. It would have been so easy to go over on an ankle.

It took three and a have hours and a tortuous climb of almost two thousand feet before the spotters, who had gone ahead earlier, radioed back that they had found a group of gorillas.

Our first sighting came about fifteen minutes later when we reached a family of five gorillas feeding in the bush. The porters had earlier stepped back from us so now we just had the two Park Rangers and two soldiers for protection.

The younger gorillas ignored us while feeding and playing with their mother.

However the Silverback eyed us suspiciously and boy was this guy huge. His hands were enormous and he was definitely someone that you don’t want to get on the wrong side of.

They would eat for a while and then move on as we followed them.

The Silverback led and we all trailed on after him.

“Watch out, he’s behind you!!”, except this isn’t pantomime.

We stayed for about an hour with these magnificent creatures quietly observing them eating and play acting before starting the steep scramble descent. I was totally exhausted by now and, just as I was thinking how I now need to be extra careful, my foot slipped off a dead bamboo and I stumbled forward flat on my face sinking into the vegetation. Thankfully nothing was hurt except for a bit of pride.

It was a couple of hard hours before the terrain opened up a bit.

We stopped for a break before pushing on for another hour or so until we reached open space and the jeeps were waiting for us. We had been on the go for almost eight hours, my legs were like jelly and I was exhausted. Was it worth it ? A resounding YES.

And apart from the whole wonderful gorilla experience, what did I learn from today ? That although my body is getting older I can still meet a challenge, but I’ve just got to start taking it a bit more ‘poly poly’ and I’ll get there….