Rwandan Adventure - 6th Day - Gorilla Trek in Volcanoes NP

 The BIG Day - Gorilla Trek in Volcanoes NP

 - Tuesday, 13 December 2022

Early early early morning!  Up at 4:50am!!!!  Had to be at breakfast at 6am and all geared up for hiking and in the jeeps at 6:30am.  But we were all so hyped, it was pretty easy!  And the day was clearing nicely!  Isaac came in first thing to let us know that we were all cleared as Covid Negative!  Yeah!!!

It was a beautiful morning drive to the Volcanoes NP Headquarters to get our team assignments.  Took about 20 minutes to get there.

African Coffee - ordered for me by Bachu - it had Ginger & all sorts of other spices in it!!

Northern Gray-headed Sparrow

Isaac immediately took off to work out our teams.  We couldn't go together because they only allow 8 tourists in each group.  Since we were 10, they divided us up into 6 & 4.  We were with Pat & Rick and the others went together.  We had one other couple assigned to our group.  He was a lively black man celebrating his birthday, but his wife was rather a pain.  She was scared that we'd see a buffalo or elephant.  There is a coffee shop with free coffee.  I had ordered a black coffee, but before I could pick it up, Bachu came in and said I had to have an African Coffee.  It was yummy - creamy with all kinds of spices.  Ginger was the only one I recognized.  Michele & I wandered around trying to identify birds.  We saw an African Thrasher, a Northern Grey headed sparrow & a Speckled Mousebird.  Then we waved goodbye as they took off with their group.  Our guide, Iggy joined us in Bachu's jeep.

Short trip to get to the start point for our Gorilla trek, but along some really rough roads.  No one there except our guides & porters.  They handed out walking sticks & assigned our porters.  OAT had arranged for each of us to have a porter (pretty much whether we wanted one or not!).  My porter was Phocus (pronounced like Focus a camera).  He had a big smile & stuck to me like glue.  At first I was a bit skeptical, but  he proved totally worth it by the end of the trip!  He carried my pack & held my hand most of the way!  I adored him!  He spoke excellent English & managed to keep me at the front of the pack most of the time.  George's was Juvenile & he carried his back back, but was otherwise non existent (George wouldn't hold hands with him!!!  Ha Ha!).

Black & White Casqued Hornbill

We took about a half hour to get the short distance across pretty damp fields to the stone fence with a wooden style that marked our entrance into Volcanoes National Park.  We stopped a few times enroute for our guides to give us some info.  I spotted a few birds, but no pictures.  There were some bright colored birds flitting nearby, but could only identify them as a type of Sunbird.  A Black & White Casqued Hornbill flew over just as we got to the fence.  These 2 pictures are downloaded from ebird.  

We waited at the gate for a while as the guide sent a couple of National Park rangers in to confirm that our targeted Gorilla family had settled in for a morning snack & we could go to them.  While we were waiting he filled us in on them.  They are a family named Sabyinyo (after the nearest of the volcanic peaks) and are one of the most well known of the families & most visited.  There are 2 silverbacks & one is the younger brother of the leader.  He is allowed to mate.  The most unusual aspect is that he is BALD!  He's the only known bald gorilla & is being studied do to the strange anomaly!  He has been bald for many years.  There are 16 gorillas in the family & 2 babies, the youngest of which is 2 months old.  Here's a link to read more about them -  https://www.volcanoesparkrwanda.org/information/sabinyo-gorilla-family/

They also gave us instructions about how to make a purring/low growling noise that is considered comforting.  Kinda like murmuring "it's okay, we're harmless."  The guards were much better at it than we were & they did make it frequently when we got near the gorillas.  They warned us to always follow their directions & to never run.  If a gorilla came towards us, we were to slowly back away while making that noise.  Humm???

We got the come ahead about 9am and headed into the park with our 6 porters, 2 guides & gun toting security.  We slogged through muddy fields & along creek beds.  It was slippery at times & I was happy for both Phocus's hand, the walking stick, & my gaiters!  We spotted a Golden Monkey & stopped for a few minutes to watch him traverse the heavy jungle.  A real plus as tomorrow is the Golden Monkey day!  We soon spotted Gorilla poo, so we knew we were on the right track.  The 4 of us had no problems, but the complaining woman had some difficulties.  

After about 40 minutes of walking, we found our first gorilla!  SOOOOOOO EXCITING!!!  We all took turns taking pictures of her.  As soon as we were in position to actually see the gorillas, our porters were told to stay back and we had to put on our masks.  The remainder of the time it was just the 6 of us and our 2 guides.  There seemed to be some rangers or guards or something out of sight around us (our guides would sometimes talk to them), but it felt like we were alone with the family.  Our guide made that murmuring noise often as he cleared the path.

After finding the first gorilla, it seemed that we were surrounded by them.  We could here them in the vegetation all around us and as our guides used their machetes to cut our way through the brambles, we came upon different ones in every direction.  They were climbing trees, sleeping, wandering, playing with each other & eating & eating & eating!  It was extremely exciting.  We were definitely climbing up hill, but it was hard to recognize the elevation change because we were moving through such thick vegetation.  Thank goodness for the guides using their machetes.  We could never have gotten through otherwise.

We kept running into one large male.  Our guide called him a "trouble maker."  He would appear to be totally ignoring us and then amble closer & closer.  Once he came running right past & scared us.  I had gorilla hair on my legs!  Our guide would encourage us to back away from him slowly, but he followed us around quite a bit.

And then we found 1 of the Silverbacks.  It was the bald one (I thought of him as Bob, the Bald Guy!!).  We watched him for the remainder of our time.  We were only to be allowed 1 hour, but it was really more like an hour and a half.  We could have stayed forever, it was just a wonderful feeling to be near them.

Just to watch him eating was very exciting!  He seemed very intent on getting just the right mix of the plants.

It was fun watching him pull at the vines.  Such a huge animal to just enjoy munching on the vegetation!

My such a big butt you have!!  Wouldn't say that to his face though!!!

At one point the guide suggested the 4 of us stand with our back to him to get a picture.  We had just gotten into place & he started motioning for us to move towards him.  Unbeknowst to us, Bob had started moving towards us!  Guess he wanted a better position in the picture!!!

He is the younger brother, but is allowed to breed and when one of females showed up, she immediately started grooming him.  He seemed to quite enjoy that.  We loved it when he stretched out on his belly to give her better access!  He pretty much ignored us.  We hated saying goodbye, but it was starting to look pretty dark & our guides were getting antsy.  Sure enough, just as we moved away back to the clearing where we had left our porters, it began to lightly drizzle.  Our porters quickly opened our packs & gave us our rain gear & covered our back packs with paunchos.  I put away my camera & my phone and it began to pour!  We hurried back the way we had come through a total downpour.  We were slipping and sliding everywhere.  I stepped in holes over my ankles a couple of times.  I was soooooo relieved to have Phocus to lean on.  He kept me from falling many times.  I never actually fell, but it was close.  Wouldn't have hurt anything (except pride), but would have covered me in muck!!

We got back to the starting point in record time and Bachu was there to greet us.  The rain had slowed, so we were able to say bye bye to our porters & guides & give them tips.  Then it was into the jeep & back to the hotel!  Luckily it was not particularly cold, but we were shivery with excitement!  Just babbled non-stop back to the hotel!

They met us at the door of the hotel with chairs & slippers in the front entry way.  They quickly stripped off our wet/muddy gaiters, socks & shoes & ponchos.  They bundled us in dry ponchos & put slippers on our feet & sent us to our cabins.  It was not raining here at the hotel.  We found Marlyn & Michele in the bar celebrating with whiskey's!!  We all cheered & then we had an half hour to change into dry clothes & come back for lunch!  

Didn't get any pictures of lunch, but we were all soooooo very excited & talked all over one another telling about our experiences.  The others had had a much easier Gorilla visitation.  They never even entered Volcanoes National Park!  The Gorilla family had conveniently escaped over the fence to come see them.  I will include a few of Ken's best pictures!!!  Thank you Ken!!!

We felt very lucky to get to tour the Dian Fossey Museum sponsored by Ellen DeGeneres.  It just officially opened up in February.  https://gorillafund.org/ellencampus/  It was very interesting.  There is a surround sound/interactive movie room (unfortunately one screen was not working) and they had some awesome virtual reality glasses that made it seem like you were interacting with the gorillas.  Michele said she had used much better ones in an airport lounge, but I was really impressed!  There was a lot of history about Dian & her gorillas & a huge map showing gorilla families throughout the park.  It was originally listed as an optional tour, but we all wanted to go.  No "official" entry fee, but a suggested donation of $20 each.  We were happy to pay it!

After a complete tour of the downstairs, we all had coffee or tea at the bar (included free with the entry donation).  I had another African coffee!  Yummy!  Huge fan!

We all then trooped upstairs to check out the conference room & the outdoor veranda where there can entertain & have outside dinner parties.  It was lovely with views almost 360*.  This is very close to the actual area that Dian had her camp.

Just before leaving, most of us wandered around the small garden area (it's built over the sewage recycling station).  Saw the African Thrasher again.  He looks like a Robin.  Flowers were just starting to bloom.  Will probably be very pretty in a few weeks.  Saw another bird that we couldn't readily identify.  Later I looked it up & think it was a Grauer's Swamp Warbler.

Back to the hotel for an hour in the room to warm back up & get ready for the evening.  Our Fireplace man came in & built a lovely fire!

Back to the Hotel bar for an extremely interesting talk by Dr Noel for a talk on the Gorilla Doctors. He was a veterinarian, but well versed in everything gorilla. He was supposed to talk for an hour, but Michele kept asking questions & kept him going for more than an hour and a half. He was very interesting.

Then straight to dinner. Yummy tonight – mushroom soup & lots of choices. Rick had bought Irish Cream to share. It was yummy! George was still really cold, so we headed back to room about 8:30p. Our fire was already almost out, but George got it going a little to warm up the room again. Moved the heater back to the bathroom. I caught up the journal for today & ready for bed at 9:30pm. Cant’ believe how early we’re going to bed, but not sleeping good. Think it’s the malaria pills. We took them at noon today to try & slide it to breakfast instead of lunch. George seems to have a cold – dry cough that’s getting worse. Also, his nettle stings are still burning. Mine all went away.

Bed about 9:30pm.  Fabulous day and lived up to the many years of expectation!!!!