As promised for the animal obsessed among you, here is an entry dedicated to the gorillas. so here is how it works. we got up really early and went up to the office at the base of the parc national des volcans. i gave my 500 USD to our man greg who arranged my permit on site - i have no idea how and i don't really care, i am just so SO glad he did it.
outside the office there is a large cutout of a gorilla, with a measuring stick in front of it showing the distance of 7 metres. this is how far away you have to stay from them when you see them. in actual fact when we saw them we got as close as 3-4 metres (those of you who came to london zoo with me will appreciate how close that is!) and the guides encouraged you to get close to them.
we were divided into small groups as you don't have more than 8 people in each group. there are different levels of trekking you can do depending on which family of gorillas you visit. we had the hardest trek as we visited the kuryama group- made up of 3 silverbacks, a few females and some babies. we trekked for about 1.5-2 hours each way, through mud, forest and bush but it was so worth it when we came across the clearing where they were. we walked up a hill to the edge of the forest, and there is a border around the edge called the buffalo border (to stop the buffalo getting out and the cattle getting in). from there we entered the forest and were on our way.
we had 2 guides, 2 security men (one with a gun in case we met poachers, rebels or elephants?!). the guides are in touch with trackers who work for the diane fossey research centre and track the movements of each group to assure they are well, healthy, breeding and safe. rwanda is relatively safe at the moment for the gorillas and tourists, but the park borders with the DRC where there are a lot of problems so the security men are a must.
we got to see the gorillas in a big clearing, in their natural environment and they were totally unfazed by us staring and taking photos. it sounds cheesy but it is an honour to have an hour with them (that is all you get which is fair i guess on them). the silverback male was lying in the shade with his arms crossed under his head (typical male), the females were grooming the young and eating and the 2 young brothers were play fighting and generally running around.
it really is an amazing sight - i have hundreds of photos and they still can't fully show how incredible it is. you will just have to go yourselves to see it. i might show you the photos and video clips if you are lucky though!
L x
