A short stop at Lake Mburo

The high of being with the mountain gorillas is such that I think I'm not going to feel that anything is real for days. Loading back onto the bus to begin the drive out of Rwanda, back through Uganda, and then eventually get into Tanzania next week, everything just feels a little hazy. However, there is- incredibly- so much more to be seen!

Driving through Uganda you'll often see their local cattle, which are truly a sight to behold. The horns on these guys look like they couldn't possibly be real!

We stopped to camp at Lake Mburo National Park on the way. It's a small park and doesn't have too many of the "big" animals to see in it- like elephants, for example- but we did get some interesting interactions nontheless. There were some zebra with some little ones in tow that we haven't been up close to before...

And a zebra of a different color....

We set up our tents in the campsite area, and were very shortly joined by some locals. 

Warthogs truly are strange and somewhat prehistoric looking creatures. Strangers still, as they graze, they kneel down on their front legs and sort of "crawl" forward as they eat. Apparently, the name "Pumba" from the Lion King means "stupid" in Swahili. This seems to be an apt name, as warthogs will sometimes run from attackers, but just a few minutes later forget why they are running and start trotting back right where they were again! Not exactly the brightest bulbs.

We took a little walking tour (With a guide!) around the park and saw some other wildlife, but mainly it was just a nice stroll, and good to stretch our legs. These bus rides are LONG!

Back at camp the next morning as we were packing up to leave and having breakfast, we were slowly but surely invaded by some monkeys. At first there was only one- apparently a scout- but soon an entire troop was running about the campsite. 

As their numbers grew, they got braver and more daring about coming closer to us. They first raided the little "kitchen" area next to ours, then as we were taking pictures, one was daring (And lightning fast) enough to make a rush into our "kitchen" to snag a banana right off the table! They were a lot of fun to watch, and luckily not half as aggressive as the monkeys I've encountered in India. 

Look at that little face!

Walking amidst gorillas.

I don't even know where to begin to describe the experince that I've just had... except maybe to say that it was magical. 

Today, we were in Rwanda, at Volcanoes National Park. It's absolutely a breathtaking area to begin with- all of Rwanda that I've seen has been. Gorgeous rolling hills and such incredibly fertile land. Going into Vocanoes is no different. The park is shared by Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo and is called Volcanoes as it is a series of 5 dormant volcanoes.  

This is where we started to go on our trek to find the mountain gorillas. You can see why they refer to them as gorillas in the mist. 

To go up to see the gorillas, you first have to be put into a small group (Up to 8 people maximum, though our group only had 5) and go with guides. They essentailly do know where the various gorilla groups are because there are people who are up monitoring and tracking them all day, every day. These people then relay back to guides, though since the gorillas ARE in the wild they can be on the move, so you may have to trek them for a bit. Since we've been stuck on a bus a LOT lately to get from place to place, a few of us requested to go on a long trek. What an amazing decision to have made!!!

We set out with our guides to go trekking after the largest group of gorillas in the park- 42 strong! They were quite a ways up into the jungle, which we had to access by first climbing up one of the volcanes through local farmland. 

About an hour up the hill, we finally encountered a low-lying wall that separated the farmland from what is the park. On the other side of the wall we couldn't even see through the thick vegetation and trees. According to the guides, this wall is enough of a barrier that people leave the animals alone, and the animals know that people will disturb them on the other side- so they don't cross it. 

We stopped for a short de-briefing of sorts. Besides the instructions to stay together and not make any sudden movements once we got near the gorillas, we were informed what our gorilla group was up to as well. 

It turned out that the group had been attacked earlier that morning by another silverback who was, as our guides put it, "Looking to gain more ladies" for his group. He had lost, and had lost some of his original "ladies" to our group in the process. Due to the skirmish, our group was very active still and still on the move. (Generally by late morning groups have settled down and started to rest and eat, which is how most people view them.) With that, we tucked in our pants and pulled down our sleeves against the fire ants and thorn bushed, climbed over the wall, and began to really trek after the gorillas. 

The growth was incredibly thick. When we went over the wall, the 2 guards that were with us broke out their machetes and began hacking away at the leaves, vines, and branches in front of us. The ground was so thick with vegitation it felt a bit like walking on a trampoline! We stayed in single file, tying not to get snagged on anything, or have vines wrapped around our feet... to minimal success. 

It was truly gorgeous though.....

After walking for about 20 minutes, the guide all of a sudden stopped, held up his hand for quiet (Though I think we were all holding our breath pretty much the entire time anyhow, our anticipation was so high.)  and asked "Did you hear that?" Nobody had. He said that he heard a silverback banging on his chest. We listened some more, didn't hear anything, so continued to walk. 

A few minutes later though, an unmistakable sound drifted to us... the sound of a silverback and that bongo-type sound of banging on his chest! The guide and guards were on their radios to figure out where to meet with the trackers. We walked about another 10-15 minutes, then came out of the growth to see a smallish clearing, with the trackers on the other side. Although all of us "Whites" figured that we had to whisper and be very quiet, the locals were almost shouting back and forth to each other as we approached. I figured that we couldn't be close if they were talking that loudly, when all of a sudden down the hill just slightly and to my left, I heard some rustling, and then saw.... A Silverback!!!!!

He was magnificent! We were only about 30 feet away from him, too. I couldn't believe it! He was all alone and sort of huffing and puffing about. It turned out that this was the attacking silverback who had lost the skirmish earlier, and was now.... well.... it looked like he was pouting! 

I figured that we would stay right there and watch him, when our guide beckoned us to keep going, and brought us down the hill and closer! The silverback dissapeared into some bushes and trees. All of us assumed, I think, that we must just be pressing on to go find the rest of the group. We had come down the hill about 20 feet and fully into the clearing, when all of a sudden the silverback burst out of the brush and charged!!!

Involuntarily- though we had all been told no sudden moves- everyone instinctually jumped back and together. The guide was incredibly calm though and just said to stay right there. The gorilla came within about 8 feet of us, stopped, looked us over, then just walked past us and sat down about 12 feet away!

He sat there for a bit, sort of "hooting" to himself or the other gorillas. It sounded very pitiful, as though he were truly sulking about losing to the other group. 

As we were watching him, some more noises came from behind us- where he had initially come from- and out from the overgrowth wandered 2 other females. They seemed to just be assessing the situation as they poked their heads out from a gorilla-sized-hole in the vegitation, then went right back in. The trackers and guide made a hand-motion to follow... and then ducked down and follwed the other gorillas into the hole!!! 

All of us looked at each other with a mix of excitment and HUGE skeptisism. Surely it's not wise or advisable to crawl into a gorilla hole when you can't see anything at the end of that tunnel!! Were we allowed to do that? Wouldn't it scare or spook- or upset!- the gorillas? How could this possibly be what we were doing?! Only a moment was given to us to pause for this though, then our guide turned and insisted that we followed. 

Amazingly, though the trackers and our guards were hacking vigorously at the vines and bamboo all around us with the machetes, and making a lot of noise, the gorillas seemed not to care at all. We crawled- almost on hands and knees- through the jungle for a few minutes, and all of a sudden saw that there were gorillas all around us!!!!!  I couldn't believe it! 

We continued our walk/crawl, and just about everywhere that we looked, a few FEET away there were gorillas!! Stopping to watch one just ahead of us and try to take pictures, we were breathlessly laughing/whispering and shaking our heads, giddy with excitment, when all of a sudden the guide tried to reach out to 2 of us to stay still and move towards him. There wasn't enough time to react in turning around though, and a gorilla who had been behind us came out of the bushes and directly towards us.

Before I even knew what was happening... she brushed right up against us!!!!!!! A gorilla touched me!!!!!!  As soon as she had gone, Shea and I (The other girl who I was clinging to as it happened) just simply fell over in a fit of excitment, disbelief, awe, nervousness and giggles! I just kept shaking my head and thinking, "Can this possibly be happening?! Is this really my amazing life?!?!"

For the next HOUR we continued to walk/crawl/sit with the gorilla group. There still is no way that I can possibly fully describe the experience, or my complete and total awe that we were at all times that close to the gorillas. No other group of people that I've talked to before or since was that close to them- and certainly if they were it was only to one gorilla for a few seconds. The entire time, we were right there, in the bamboo with them. 

About half-way through our trek in the undergrowth, we came across the dominant silverback of the group. He was absolutely impressive and massive, and appeared to just be sitting there, holding court, as other gorillas came up to him to "check in" and then walk off. He just stayed, quietly observing his group. 

Interestingly, although when I was trekking the chimpazees we were expressly told NOT to try and imitate their noises (As you could possibly "say" something to them to upset them), the guards and guide were continuously imitating gorillas noises. We were told that we could do the same, as it alerted them to our presence and calmed them. I don't think that any of us really wanted to push that- and were too nervously excited to really make really any noises! However, it was a very curious difference to me, and seemed to calm the gorillas when the guides made the guteral sounds. 

We also came across several females who had small babies or young gorillas with them. This one was just laying and cuddling with her baby. 

Finally, we came out of the denser growth and were able to stand up in a large clearing. The gorillas were by that point finally starting to settle down, and they were coming out to sit in the clearing and eat. 

We were in the clearing for around 30-40 minutes watching them, and more and more gorillas just kept pouring out from the area that we had been coming through. I looked around and saw at least 20 of them. Perhaps 15 minutes before we left, we were additionally rewarded with another moma and her tiny baby, who came out into the clearing about 8 feet away from us. The baby was so small and adorable, he almost didn't look real!

Finally, the guide whispered to us that we needed to move. He was worried. He said that the gorillas were starting to get aggressive and surround us (Though, from our perspective, none of us had noticed much of a change in them.) We had no desire to not take these men at their word though, and slowly started to back out of the clearing and away from the gorillas. 

After trekking back out of the jungle and over the wall to get back to the farming fields, we stopped to regroup. All of us fell all over each other, laughing, shaking our heads, and just letting the experience wash over us. There's just no possible way that I could ever convey what an amazing and life altering experience it was. I simply can't get over how incredibly fortunate we were in every single regard, and how stunningly beautiful and breathtaking the gorillas are. The intense rains that we had been getting each day even held off until we had hiked all the way down the hill! 

This is an experience that I will forever cherish and treasure as one of the most incredible days of my life. I am so grateful for this amazing life!!

A game drive and a boat cruise

Continuing on through Uganda, next on the agenda was Queen Elizabeth National Park. It's an enormous game park set between the Great Rift Valley lakes of Edward and George. We did a game drive through the park, then continued on to do a boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel. 

I can't get over how quickly the terrain changes here! While we were up near Kibale Forest, we were in lush hills where tea plantations are abundant. It was incredibly green, with dense vegitation everywhere. Not a half-bad place to camp!! 

There was even a buidling with couches and a thatched roof to take in the amazing views. 

However, by the time we were down to Queen Elizabeth, we were back into somewhat drier and more savanah-like areas. We'd gone from tropical to seeing cactus! The variation here is breathtaking. We entered the park and almost immediately were rewarded with the sight of animals. 

After a short drive around, we then got to head out on a small boat cruise through the channel. This one lone elepahnt was one of the first things we saw, but the area is plentiful in hippos, buffalo, all manner of birds, and crocodiles. 

A big hippo pod. 

Just sunning himself.... 

These were the only hippos that we saw out of the water. Contrary to popular belief, apparently hippos really aren't that dangerous at all. Both our main guide, as well as the boat guide, said that it's a complete myth that hippos kill a lot of people each year. However, if a hippo was going to be dangerous, it would be while they're on land and trying to get to the water. 

We got amazingly lucky this day. About 10 minutes after we got off the boat, the rains came. And people.... the rains here are like nothing you've ever seen!