Rwanda, oh and the Gorillas

Yes I know it has been a while since the last blog, but things just don't go as planned sometimes. We have had a few technical issues, bloody laptop kept crashing!! It seems happy now after some miscellaneous 'fixes' and the odd threat of chucking it in the bin. It has taken us quite a while to find good access to the web after leaving Rwanda, and finally in Lilongwe (Malawi) we have it!
Rwanda was a bit of a whistle stop tour, but what we saw of it would give us memories of a lifetime. Due to some bad planning we arrived in Rwanda on a Saturday, and it was hosing it down as we crossed the border. Formalities were quick, and hooray no visas for either of us! Our plan, to attempt to see the Gorillas in the Volcans NP in northern Rwanda and then tour the country to see the sights. By the time we hit Ruhengeri (S1 30.239 E29 38.119), the gateway to the Gorillas, it was Saturday afternoon and the banks were shut and no ATMs in sight. So with only USD in our pockets we headed the few km north to Kinigi Village and the Kinigi Guest House (S1 25.958 E29 35.906). Just down the road from the Guest House is the Volcans NP Headquarters but there was nobody around by the time we arrived. So we settled in for the night, we could camp in the car park, and made a plan to show up at the headquarters at 06h30 Sunday morning and see if we could get permits for the Gorillas. Thankfully I had remembered that Rwanda is an hour behind Uganda and I readjusted our clocks!
Just to explain the Gorilla business in Rwanda. In the park there are currently 14 groups of Gorillas, 7 for research and 7 for tourism, and 8 permits are issued every day for each tourism group at $500 a permit. Yep that's five hundred US Dollars each. Our only hope was any cancellations as the permits are booked solid weeks in advance. To get to the groups it is a 30-45 minute drive from the headquarters at the park to each group, then you hike up to the forest from wherever you park, and finally a hike of anything from 30 minutes to 4 hours to reach the particular group you are to visit. You then get an hour, not a minute more, with the group before you hike back etc. The problem with the transport is that there is none as 99.9% of people are on a tour in a vehicle. So if you don't have wheels it is a problem.
The morning came, up at 05h45, and we packed the tent just in case we needed Mufasa as transport to get us to visit a group, assuming of course we managed to get permits. Our intention was to stay at Kinigi for perhaps 2 or 3 nights and have a few stabs at getting permits and if not successful head to Kigali and try the office there. Off we walked down to the headquarters to check in and see what the score was. We were told it was fully booked but to hang around just in case. Over the next hour or so all the tour vehicles piled in and the place became very busy with happy punters all ready for their experience. One guy offered us a single permit but we said we needed two and we would only go if we got two as we agreed between us that we either both get to see or neither of us does. It wasn't looking good, until at the eleventh hour we were approached by a guy who had 2 permits up for grabs as his clients had not shown up! He wanted us to buy them from him direct but we were only going to hand money over to the park official at the desk, especially $1000 worth! The permits were genuine, great! Only problem, no available transport to get us to the group, bugger! So I dashed back to fire up Mufasa. It turned out that we were the only two in our group, thus no other transport. The next problem was our guide, Eli. He goes with you from the headquarters, we only have two seats! We had no other choice but to squeeze the three of us in the cab, me driving, Eli in the passenger seat, and Sue perched half on the passenger seat and half on the cubby box in between the seats. All aboard and we set off to see the Gorillas! We couldn't believe our luck, just the two of us and our own group of 11 Gorillas, including a one week old baby, a 4 month old baby, and an eight month old baby! It just happened that we were to trek to one of the research groups, the Bwenge group which means intelligent in the local language. The researchers don't work the weekends and sometimes they allow people to visit one of those groups if need be.
It was a bumpy drive, well for poor Sue perched as she was. We parked in a small village and commissioned one of the locals to guard Mufasa with the promise of $10 should he still be there when we got back. Our trek started. It was about an hour up to the forest, and then once there we would find out from the trackers where the Gorillas were and how long it would take to get to them. Our luck just continued, the Gorillas were low in the forest at the bamboo level due to the time of year and the lack of vegetation further up in the hills. We only had to trek for about 15 minutes into the forest to get to them.
Our trackers and guide led the way and before we knew it we were just a few metres away from these majestic beasts! What do Gorillas do all day? Eat and sleep! Well all of them that is except the 8 month old! He just wanted to play and was running and rolling around trying to engage one of the older Gorillas to play with him, all to no avail. His 4 month old sibling was too young and just kept hold of its mother all the time. Then the silver back the appeared, wow, huge! He was more interested in snoozing than he was of us. We watched them all eat a bit and snooze for a while until the silver back decided it was breakfast time and lead his entourage off to find some nice green shoots. We followed and watched them devour wild celery by the fist full. The big man eats 30kg every day! Unfortunately we didn't get a glimpse of the newborn, his mother was quite sensibly keeping him well hidden. Sadly before we knew it our hour had passed and it was time to leave. We just couldn't believe how lucky we had been and it didn't seem real.
Before we realised it we were back down at Mufasa and then back at the headquarters in a kind of awe struck daze! Needless to say I took the odd hundred photos, but no video. Well, I secretly took some on the still camera but none on the camcorder as they charge a silly amount for a permit to use videos and still photos and our memories tell the story just as well!
So there you go, our hopes and dreams of seeing the Gorillas had be realised. It may have cost a fortune and our budget is completely blown now, but wow, what an experience of a lifetime!