Monday, October 19, 2009
I
am happy to discover that gorilla trekking in Rwanda is a LOT easier
than the experience we had in Uganda. Here the gorillas live on the
slopes of the Virunga mountains – dormant volcanoes that tower above our
lodge, which is at 7,900 ft. This is a good time to see the gorillas –
it is the beginning of the 'little rains', so it is wet and muddy but
the gorillas come to the lower part of the mountains to eat the new
bamboo shoots which is their favorite. So far we have done two days of
trekking and each day was enjoyable but different. Our first trek
carried us through agricultural fields until we reach a stone wall that
marks the park's boundary. From the other side of the wall it is a
different world of virgin rain forest, bamboo, and fields of ferns and
stinging nettles (most of us wear gloves). After what seems like a very
short time, we meet up with the trackers and we know the gorillas are
near. When we reach them, they are hunkered down in the rain and not
very active
. We are close enough to identify the silverback, a female and
child and an adult blackback male who won't turn around to face us –
all we see is hunched shoulders. This silverback is huge – we are
actually fortunate to visit him because he is the largest one ever
recorded. Just before our allotted hour is up, the rain lets up a bit
and the family starts to get more active – moving around and eating.
Then we have to leave and return to the world over the wall.
The
second day is a completely different experience – for once, no rain and
the group we visit is active and on the move. When we reach them we
follow into the midst of the group and are approached by a cute 3 year
old playing with a round fruit, like a ball. He gets too close and the
guide says back up so the baby chases us down the trail for a while
until he looses interest. We locate the silverback and follow him until
he stops to rip up bamboo stalks to feed. We reposition to get closer,
but it seems that we are in the way of his intended route and he charges
us to make a point, and we execute a group back-up with hearts pounding
as he veers off and races by several feet in front of us. I remember
our guide actually says something like “ok, he's going to charge us now,
but he is a friendly fellow”. The guides in this park are familiar with
all the individuals and their personalities
. Before they can be visited by tourist groups, the gorillas
are habituated to human visitors by the guides and trackers over a two
year period. The other members of our team are the trackers who spend
the day with the gorillas and patrol the area for traps that may have
been set by poachers, the porters who carry packs for the tourists, and
armed guards who are there to protect from buffalo or whatever else
might come along.
We are at Google Earth GPS coordinates S 1deg 25.63min, E 29deg 33.35min.
T R A V E L S
No comments:
Post a Comment