Day 17: 14 August 2002 8:30 pm
The group leave to see the mountain gorillas at 7am in a state of excitement in the back of a pickup truck.
Up at 5:45am and packed everything up. We are not staying another night in this room. Then it was into the back of a pick-up truck for the 12km drive on another terrible road to the Ugandan border. After stamping us out, we turned up at the Rwandan border and waited for it to open. Now I imagined uniformed officials in a ramshackle hut but no, this is Africa, so two guys casually rolled up in a pick-up and opened a window 'round the back of a brick building.
Luckily as we are British, we didn't have to pay for our visa but Aussies had to cough up a whopping $60. We would have to pay $15 to reenter Uganda and an additional $20 when we reenter Kenya. We were a bit miffed that we did not get a transit visa for Kenya originally as this would have saved us $60, but our original itinerary stated that we would be in Kenya for eight days and a transit visa is only valid for seven. You are allowed to cross back and forth between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania on a single entry visa, but not outside of these countries.
Then we were off for an adventure of a lifetime in Rwanda, flying past the stunning volcanoes of Parc Nacional Des Volcans, accompanied by an armed convey of soldiers. Everyone was so excited, but I also felt distinctly nervous. This was one of those few moments in life that you really have to make a conscious effort to savour every moment.
After an exhilarating ride, we picked up our permits (an unimpressive bland tissue paper thin document for $250) and drove up to the National Park for our "Gorillas in the Mist" experience.
Gorillas are the largest primates on earth yet there is only one mountain gorilla to every 10 million people on the planet. For more than a century big game hunters and poachers pursued gorillas and now due to loss of habitat and war they are one of the world's most endangered species. Yet gorillas are peaceful vegetarians that like to lead a quiet life in family troops.
Dr Diane Fossey was one of the best known gorilla researchers. By learning to imitate gorilla sounds and gestures, she could communicate with them. She was sceptical as to whether tourism should be encouraged, but this now seems to be the only way to save the mountain gorilla from extinction.
Groups of six people are taken to see four different habituated family groups. Our guide, Fidele, took us to see "Group 13", a family with seven members (1 silverback, 3 female, 1 juvenile and 2 babies). We climbed up through dense vegetation with a troop of armed soldiers and a guy with a machete way ahead of us clearing a path for us. We were warned about the stinging nettles - in Africa insects and vegetation are twice the size of anything back home - the nettles were the size of my palm and stung like red hot needles even through my trousers.
Silverback ready to charge
Soon we were in a clearing, almost boggy with reeds waving in the breeze and I thought I had stepped into a "Wildlife on One" documentary. I could almost hear David Attenborough as we turned a corner and stumbled upon a baby and two females. The silverback was lurking in the bushes. It was superb conditions for taking photos as the gorillas were not under the canopy but out in the open, feeding.
I was enthralled by how human their hands and feet were, the way they scratched their arms and the babies' inquisitive glances. We lurched around to the silverback's domain but he decided he wanted to go through to the clearing but the only way was past us. He charged forward and I ran for my life - I was terrified. You do not realise their immense size until a silverback stands on all fours. He took a swipe at the guy with the machete before settling down to his meal of what appeared to be giant thistle. I gave him a wide berth after that. He would pull up a thistle and then munch the roots before stripping it down to a stem that looked like celery.
During our hour with the gorillas we were never less than 1 or 2 metres from them. We had a truly magical time and it was worth all the hardship, hassle and money. We tipped our guide $2 each and returned to the park office. By this time my face was black with dirt and I had a screaming headache. Everyone was dehydrated.
Mother and baby
The park office has interesting information boards with news about the family groups. In May of this year, poachers kiled two breast-feeding females from the Susa group and abducted one baby. The other baby was rescued, but is traumatised and is being cared for by the park. Park officials suspect that the baby was stolen to order and will be sold abroad to a zoo. After being privileged enough to sit with these gentle creatures, I hope that the tourist dollars will help protect them. Even heavily guarded, the mountain gorillas are not out of the poachers' reach.
By the time all the group arrived back, it was too late to return to Lake Bunyonyi so we had to stay another night in Kisoro (this time in the safety of my tent). On the way back to the border, I thought we had been shot at when there was a loud bang as a tyre blew whilst we were travelling at 50mph. The driver should be commended for being able to control the pick-up and he brought it safely to a stop. Unfortunately, Roberta and Beth decided that they had had a near-death experience and started telling morbid tales of people they knew that had been mutilated or died in various car, motorbike or farming accidents. Needless to say we all told them to shut up.
Positives: It really is a once in a lifetime experience - I would encourage anyone that visits East Africa to see the gorillas.
Negatives: Dehydrated, covered in dirt and battered to death in the back of a pick-up truck, but who cares - I was charged by a silverback.