Gorillas in the Mist

It was everything I dreamed about.

This is were we are headed  - Parc National de Volcans

  

 We were woken at 5:00 AM with coffee and hot chocolate.  I thought they would leave the tray outside.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the door five minutes later and the guy was still standing there.  Oops.  We had breakfast at 5:30Am and were off to the park by 6:00AM.  The lodge had packed us a lunch in case our hike was long.  There are 10 families of gorillas and a maximum of 8 people can go for each family.  The trackers set off early in the morning to locate the families and then radio back to the guides on their location.  Because my father is 72 and my mother is 70, we asked for an easy trek.  We got the Kwitonda Group.  We also got an Australian couple to make our group of eight and we had two guides.  Another short and bumpy ride to the trail and we were ready.

Doesn't he look full of vim and vigor?  We picked up some porters to carry our backpacks...my mom got two to carry her.  They charge a minimum of $10 and would highly suggest you use, not only to help but also to show them tourism is beneficial to Rwanda.

Some of our porters

We were told to bring garden gloves, for dragging yourself up and down the volcano, and rain gear.  Fortunately we needed neither.  The hike was roughly one hour straight up the friggin mountain.  They went rather quickly for my mom, she was the slowest and therefore in front.  They were aware of my parents limitations but they also did not want the family to leave and us to hike longer.  My folks toughed it out and we were there in no time.  At that point, the porters stayed with our bags.  You are only allowed to bring cameras and NO flash photography.  We were also joined by a tracker who had a gun and a very large machete.  You are allowed to spend one hour only with the gorillas.  Here is what we saw:

Where are they?

Number one Silverback.  Four babies followed him because they were a bit unsure of us.

 This family is very unique in that it has three Silverbacks.  When #1 passes, they all move up.  Normally, a family has only one.  When another takes over, he will kill all babies so the ladies will go in heat and bear his children.  When #1 died last year, #2 took over and because they are his family no babies were killed.

This is #3 Silverback showing off to #2.  He was headed straight for Emily.  Ripped a big piece of bamboo, turned on his toes, threw the "branch", and beat his chest.  All over in 30 seconds.  Talk about getting your heart started.

My mother trying to stay out of the shot.  Shows you how close we got.

Because we share such a large gene pool with these great apes, it is easy for them to catch an illness from us.  We were told to keep at least 7 feet from them.  If they approached, we were to move back.  Well...you know how there is always "one" in every group - if you are not sure who it is, it is probably you.  The Australian dude was just an ass.  He wondered around by himself, he was always in the way taking pictures, you get the idea.  He was bent down taking yet another picture in front of Emily (she is our camera woman) when a juvenile walked right passed him.  Did he get up and move out of the way?  No.  So the gorilla shoved him right over.  And deservedly so.

And then we were done.  The permits are $750 USD - worth every penny - and must be reserved well in advance.  If I had to do it again I would of  done it the following day.  But, this was it and Thursday we were off to find Golden Monkeys.



Just the Beginning - Rwanda

Rwanda

 

 

We arrived in Kigali at 6:00 AM Monday and promptly met our guide/driver, Francis, who took us to the Serena Hotel.  Popped a half of an Ambien and slept for five hours.  Today was a travel/recovery day.  No plans except to sit by the pool, eat, and slug.  Rwanda (Africa in general) is a modest country.  I brought my bikini (no I am not attaching a link) and decided I needed to wear yoga pants AND my cover up to get to the pool.  Well...as I was pulling off my yoga pants, I also pulled down my bikini bottom, giving the guy cleaning the pool and two lovely couples eating lunch my biggest, whitest vertical smile.  Always fun!

 

View of Kigali from the Kigali Genocide Museum

I can not talk about Rwanda without discussing the genocide.

In 100 days, more than 1,000,000 people were murdered.

But the genocidaires did not kill a million people. They killed one, then another, then another...... day after day, hour after hour, minute by minute. Every minute of the day,
someone, somewhere, was being murdered, screaming for mercy.

And receiving none.

 

By the end of the genocide, 85% of the Tutsi population had been murdered.

 

I absolutely loved Rwanda.  The people, the country, the gorillas were all beautiful.  It is the cleanest country I have ever been to...No Trash.  There is a 40% unemployment rate.  However, this includes all farmers and families that support themselves.  No government hand outs here.  Minimal crime.  No corrupt police.  No beggars, no starving children.  National clean up day once a week for trash.  Three kids max then you have to pay a tax (hmm).  These people work.  I will no longer complain about going to the grocery store.

 

Source

The farmers walk up to 5 miles one way to the market carrying 100lb bags of potatoes.  Some even have two bags on a bike with two men pushing.  They sell their produce, buy what they need, and then travel 5 miles back home.  One way will be downhill, the other uphill.



Source

There are people everywhere.  Nonstop.

Source

I do not take pictures of people without their permission so the previous pictures were all from various sources.

 

On Tuesday, we travelled three hours from Kigali to our "camp" Volcanoes Virunga Safari Lodge.



One of seven volcanoes we could see from the lodge

View from our room

 

 

 

 

Yes, he was able to get out

 

In the afternoon, all but my mother (very tired) decided to visit the school in the village that Volcanoes supports.  The government will pay for the children to attend school through sixth grade.  English is the language in which everything is taught.  All the children wanted to talk to us.

All the girls are in blue, boys in khaki.  They are required to keep their heads shaved.

 

This little girl stayed with me from the moment I entered the village.  I was afraid she would follow me back to the Lodge.  When we came to the trail to head back, she let go of my hand and said goodbye.

 

 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this.  I must admit, I kept waiting for them to ask for money.  They never did.  Because of the number of children, one group goes in the morning and the rest go in the afternoon.

 

That evening the Lodge had a special presentation for us.

They invited us to dance at the end.  There is my backside.

My father...always a ladies man.

The day ended with a special guests from Gorilla Doctors.

 

Gorilla Doctors is dedicated to saving the mountain gorilla species one gorilla patient at a time. Our international veterinarian team provides hands-on medical care to sick and injured mountain gorillas living in the national parks of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). With only 880 mountain gorillas left in the world today, the health and well being of every individual gorilla is vital to the species’ survival.

What a great way to start our tour.  Wednesday it is finally time to track the gorillas!

 

Got a Tee Shirt: Johannesburg, South Africa

I'm home and I am dragging ass.  We arrived home yesterday, had a good nights sleep, and am trying not to take a nap.  Hopefully, this won't be too incoherent...

 

 

First stop Johannesburg:

 

 

Because of wanting to use airline points (wouldn't have happened without them) and the actual start of our Rwanda/Uganda tour, we arrived on a Friday evening after a 15 hour flight straight from Atlanta.  Uneventful thankfully but still a real energy zapper.  Now of all places I do not want my hotel to forget to pick me up it's got to be anywhere in Africa.  Guess what?  Everyone was most helpful but come to find out my concierge at the Westcliff dropped the ball on every plan I made with him.  Fortunately, I was so tired I really didn't give a shit.  When we arrived at the hotel my new concierge took care of everything and comped the transfers....we also got upgraded to junior suites (both rooms).  Hubs and my suite had two full baths.  Which is a good thing because I always forget how much Hunter poops :)

 

View of Downtown Joburg

 

Now a sidebar:  I have mixed emotions on zoos.  I do understand the need for conservation and education.  Not everyone can actually afford to see animals in their natural environment.  I do believe both my family developed a love for animals from our local zoos as children.  However,  I also realize how stressful and unnatural zoos are for the animals.

 

 

The following day (Saturday) we rested.  The Johannesburg Zoo was a five minute walk from the hotel so we decided to go.  It was a huge and quite lovely zoo.  Some of the animals looked quite stressed (polar bears - haven't seen one in years).  They actually did a nice job overall.  I was quite surprised to find horses and cows displayed but then, why not.  We also discovered chip on a stick.  We ate dinner in the Mellrose Arch district at Pigalle.

 

Remember what I said above about my husband?  Early Sunday morning, say 1:30 AM, he decided to lose his lower intestine.  For several hours.  Sigh?  We had made plans to visit Lion Park at 11:00AM and we kept them.

 

New sidebar:  Lion Park does breed lions but they do not "knowingly" sell to the canned hunting businesses.  The cubs in the Cub World are kept for one year.  They would not tell me what happens to them afterwards.  I do believe they are sold.  The other lions, when too old or problems start to arise, are sent to a game reserve to live out the rest of their lives.

 

Feeding Time



Big Daddy.  There were also two sub-males.  Big Daddy surveyed who had what then went over and took one from one sub-male, I'll call him Bob.



He decided he liked what the other sub-male, I'll call him Lou, had also.



Now he had two.



Beautiful female with cubs in background.



Ok.  Lou is looking for a replacement leg and liked what the mothers and cubs were feeding on.



One chick grabbed some meat and the cubs.  The other, I'll call her Sue, was pissed.



She is really mad now.




Lou got some meet but also a new scar.  Big Daddy never even looked up from his meal.



Stink eye!



Baby calms her down

Cub World was awful!  They had two pens, three cubs each.  Maximum eight people were allowed in each pen for two minutes max.  Not sure how many people a day but it was crowded.  Made me feel ashamed that I was supporting this.  They were cute though.

A true fashionista!

 

Originally, we were to leave Joburg Monday at 3:30PM.  Life is never easy.  They cancelled our flight and rescheduled us for Monday at 1:15 AM.  Yes, I said AM.  Another friggin night of no sleep!  But we were headed to Rwanda and the start of our adventure...