by Henry
Gorilla day. After breakfast, we loaded up into Toyota Land Cruisers, and departed to the staging point outside Volcanoes National Park. Permits and passports had to be checked and confirmed on the official list. We had purchased our gorilla permits online many months ago.
On the drive to the staging area.
They served free coffee and tea while we waited. We were given a choice of rubber boots, hiking, shoes, and gaiters to borrow.
Our guide explained the process, and then we started our trek up the mountain and into the park. Each day, the number of visitors is limited to 10 groups, with a maximum of eight people in each group. Thus, only a maximum of 80 permits are granted per day. Each group would go out in search of a different gorilla family. Each family is led by an alpha silverback male. Besides our guide, we had four porters. They helped with backpacks or assisting us in clambering over difficult points in the hike.
We passed over many agricultural fields, all lovingly cared for by hand. It was partly cloudy, but a clear day, and we could see the Virunga mountain range and multiple dormant volcanoes in the distance. High temperature was 25° C.
There was a hand-built basalt rock wall which demarcated the border of the national park.
We basically walked straight up the mountain, without switchbacks. One of the porters had to get his machete out and bushwhack a trail for about a third of the way.
As we got closer to the gorillas, we met our trackers, who had been out since 4 AM looking for the gorillas. The gorillas nest every night in a different location. We were required to wear masks as we got closer to the gorillas. The rifle is used to scare away aggressive buffalo and elephants, which also reside in the park.
Our encounter with the Sabyinyo family of gorillas was nothing short of amazing. We were supposed to stay 10 m away, but that was impossible because of the confines of the forest.
At one point, a female carrying a 6-month old baby gorilla walked too close to Linda and the silverback rushed in and pushed her aside with his hand. This all happened very quickly. Fortunately, she was not hurt.
Fresh silverback handprint on Linda’s pants.
Our gorilla tour was notable in that two families (Sabyinyo and Titus) encountered each other in the forest. This necessitates that the two silverbacks work out who is more dominant. As expected, there was some classic chest pounding and quite a ruckus. The two of them then ran into the forest and we were unable to witness their skirmish. The guide told us that the interaction between two silverbacks which we witnessed is rare. Pictures alone don’t lend adequate justice to these magnificent creatures. All of us took videos, but with weak WiFi, uploading them is not possible.
At the Dian Fossey Center yesterday, I studied a silverback skeleton. They have massive arms, with longer bones than in their legs.
We basically were allowed to observe the gorillas for about an hour, and then our time was up. The Rwandan government limits the amount of time the gorillas are exposed to humans.
Back down to the vehicles. Since we had engaged our driver for the whole day, we asked him to drive us into Musanze town, and we had a light, late lunch. Service here is definitely on “African time”. There is no such thing as fast food. Surprisingly, there was only a very light rain in the late afternoon today.
We passed a wedding procession in the street.
Because our clothes were a little bit muddy from the gorilla trek, we did another load of laundry upon return to camp, had a rider meeting, ate a goat shish-kabob BBQ dinner, and then retreated to our tents. Tomorrow is the second day with 2000+ meters of climbing. We will be crossing the Uganda border less than 30 km after leaving camp. The process does not sound simple to get 40+ bicycle riders across the border.
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