Virunga Lodge & Da gorillas

August 26, 2011

Someone knocked on our door to wake us up at the appointed time. Or so we thought, we looked down and our watch and phones all said six o’clock. We were supposed to leave the lodge at 6am and by at the park by 7am. This meant we were late. We ran about getting ready to head to the gorillas. I ran up to the lodge to obtain our packed lunches for the hike. The staff looked like I was completely nuts as I grabbed our lunches and headed out the door. I met Liam on the trail. We sped off to the park.

We arrived at the park just in the knick of time. It was 7am. East African time. Well, we learned that Rwanda is actually not on East African time, it runs on GMT +2. So, here we are in the parking lot of the park, with only two other people. Both of which work at the park. Then, we started laughing. We had been driving around Rwanda for two days without realizing we were constantly an hour ahead. It never occurred to us that the time zone had changed. The worst part, we dashed out of the lodge without eating the breakfast they had prepared for us. We both felt pretty bad about that one. Thankfully, we had bananas, juice, and peanut butter and crackers in the car. That way we were able to eat something before we began the trek to see our distant cousins, the mountain gorilla.

Finally, around 7am Rwanda time everyone else arrived at the park for coffee and tea before we were divided into our trekking groups. There are 56-60 permits that are given out each day divided into 7-8 groups of gorillas that are accessible in Rwanda. We were in a group bound for the Hirwa group. In this group, there is a silverback male, about 6 gorilla babies (including a set of twins) and about 4 females. Liam and I both were getting excited. We were bound for a pretty good group!

We had a short distance to drive, so one of the guides and a backpacker from Israel named Dahlia, jumped in our car and away we went. We drove for about 15 minutes, mostly due to road conditions. Jumped out of the car and the guides introduced us to the porters. While it is not required that you hire a porter, it is suggested. We hired only one because Liam refused to let someone else carry his stuff (big, tough infantry officer). I handed over my bag without difficulty because I knew this hike up was about to kick my ass. I haven’t really done anything that strenuous since before getting pregnant. I was ready and willing to take all the help I could get.

We started walking through farm fields. There were two guides, a tracker with a gun to scare away animals, about 6-7 porters, and the 7-8 people trekking. A decent sized group of people walking up. We walked through fields and trees for about 30 minutes. We stopped at the edge of the boundary. The boundary is a volcanic rock fence that was constructed to maintain the jungle for the gorillas and other animals that live there. At this point, the guides explained all of the rules of the park and the rules of interacting with the gorillas. The rules exist not only for our safety, but for the safety of the gorillas. Since we are genetically so close, we can transfer diseases back and forth to each other. Better to be safe then sorry.

Crossed over the volcanic wall and started going straight up. At this point, one of the porters decided he was going to stand by my side. It wasn’t the guy carrying my stuff. I think he was worried about me. My face was hot pink and I couldn’t breathe. I’ve been super congested and boogery. Just the way I live. I looked much worse than I felt though. I was on my way to the gorillas and I could do anything with that kind of reward. So, we hiked through bamboo shoots and the tracker macheted his way through the maze. I did learn that post baby hips are a tight fit in a jungle and when they machete bamboo, you better be careful. Because if you fall, you could easily be impaled by a bamboo stump. There were a couple of muddy areas, but all in all not bad. Our guide stayed in constant contact with the trackers who hang around the gorillas all day and monitor the gorillas for illness and for poachers.

We stopped about 50 m from the gorillas to dump our packs. Basically, all we could take with us was a camera. We grabbed a little point and shoot and the big camera and extra lens. Up we went. OMG GORILLAS. There were a couple sitting up on a ledge relaxing and eating. There was a baby rolling down the hill, climbing back up, and rolling back down. It was pretty amusing to watch. The silverback was asleep down hill and we could see him through a hole in the bushes. The twins were no where to be seen. And our hour with the gorillas began.

Between the two of us we took about 600 pictures in an hour. I’m not sure if we got enough, especially since there were some really bad ones. But, with every bad one, we got some GREAT ones. About 30 minutes into our hour, the silverback moved up to the ledge with the other gorillas and sat for a minute. He didn’t seem very happy. Then, he moved more uphill. The other gorillas followed.

After they all moved, our group moved uphill to watch them for the rest of our hour. As we were walking up, I paused because my feet kept sliding and I wanted to give the camera to Liam before it broke. Right after I handed him the camera, I turned around and took a step up and heard Liam say “Francis.” He never calls me Francis. It’s always Wifey. So, I turned around to watch a momma gorilla carrying two baby gorillas (the twins) brush past Liam and head my way. I don’t think I’ve ever moved out of the way so quickly. I was not about to get in the way of a momma of twins. I’m not that crazy.

We hiked up a little more and I was able to sit right below the momma with the twins and take pictures of them playing all over her. I’m not going to lie. I was a little sad. There are babies everywhere and our little one didn’t make it. But, I still enjoyed sitting there watching momma interact with her healthy babies from about 3 feet away. I managed to get a few amazing shots of one of the twins. They are so freaking cute. The guide was telling us that when twins are born to a mom, the other moms help out and take care of them as well. That way the mom never has to worry about setting one of her babies down because she knows they are always protected. That made me smile. Big, fat, healthy, safe babies.

Our hour was up and we had to leave the gorillas and head back down the mountain. Going down is always so much easier than climbing up. The hike ended up being rather exhilarating and exactly what I need to realize how out of shape I’ve gotten. When we get back to Dar, it’s time to seriously take advantage of this fantastic climate and drop some weight.

At the end of the hike, we paid our porters and Dahlia and both guides jumped in our car and we gave them a lift back to town. Ate a snack with Dahlia and then headed back to the lodge to eat our lunch, apologize to them for skipping out on breakfast, shower, and relax. When we arrived, one of the staff took our hiking shoes and cleaned them. I thought that was an awesome touch. They really went above and beyond to take care of their clients.

We went up to the main lodge and I sat in the rope hammock for a while and swung back and forth looking out over the lake, thinking about our morning with the gorillas. Liam sat in a chair nearby and read his book. Pretty relaxing. A fire was lit and we watched the sunset behind the clouds. Ate another delicious dinner and headed off to bed. I was exhausted after the trek.