and the gorillas...

so, i was kind of sulking being here in Kigali. i headed to Ruhengeri (Dian Fossey land) yesterday with gorilla permit in hand, a little money, some water, and a possible change of clothes (it's truly amazing how a single pagne can be used).

had to rush around yesterday to get to Ruhengeri before dark, but no worries. made it there in plenty of time, found a place for 3500 RWF (right around $7)--- no hot water and i shared the room with a lizard, but it was great. dropped my stuff and immediately headed on a "promenade" to see this town. not a whole lot to it, but it's quaint in it's own way. i walked a few miles just checking things out, found a bouvette (imagine that), had a beer and did a little writing. later in the evening, i met up with the guy assisting me in getting a car to the park in Kinigi the next morning. Greg is an amazing character all in his own; born in a refugee camp in Uganda, his father died before his birth, his mother passed away when he was 17, and at the age of 21 he decided to come to Rwanda, since he was Rwandanese. wanted to get into the tourism business here, but had to prove himself, he lived on the street for the first few years, just running errands and doing anything he could to be noticed. now 10 years later, he is a tour guide and does a little extra work on the side, but his goal is to get his own tour company. listening to his stories, i just took everything in. we talked politics, we talked about the refugee camps, we talked about overcoming trials and tribulations. like i said, Greg is an amazing character all in his own.

so sure enough, as he promised, the driver was there at 6am to pick me up. forty-five minutes later we were at the office in kinigi, awaiting our departure groups. a car of "mzungu's" pulled up and being the only four at the office, we greeted one another. started talking and chatting, they are from NYC, just visiting their son (who was with them) who had been in J'burg for the past 8 months. they were on a 3-week tour around and on the 2nd day of gorilla visiting. they asked if i would like to join them and i kindly accepted.

we were promised "not a very long trek" and what we got was a FABULOUS and UTTERLY AMAZING MORNING!!!! we took off and had to go 20 minutes just to get to the starting point--typical, but it wasn't rough. we were going to see a pack of 10 gorillas, which included the largest silverback in the world at the moment.

when we finally got to our starting point, we were immediately in the bush. and i mean, seriously--- the THICK, THICK bush!!! there had been a fight between the main "chief" of the pack and another male in the group--- so the gorillas were on the move, which meant we were as well. they are constantly watched by trekkers for their safety these days--- poaching still being a large problem. the trekkers cut a path wide enough for my nephew Aidan (who is a year old) to pass through, of course they can get through it easily. you are literally crawling on your knees at points, or squeezing through the bamboo shoots. we had to stand for a minute as the trekkers cut through some seriously brush--- and i happened to stand RIGHT on some biting ants, which quickly made their way up my boots, in my pants and up my pants for that matter. some were nice enough to stay on the outside, but others--- they were not so nice, and they bit me for the next hour. still feeling the sensation a bit, luckily it's nothing serious and i can't help but laugh.

so then the first gorillas we see--- mother and child. agghhh... no words. sorry. you could hearing "playing" just around the corner, and sure enough, two adolescents were wrestling around and growling. the trekkers talk to the gorillas as well, which is totally cool. they move, we move. finally we get out of the bush and are literally standing on the tops of bamboo--- don't ask me how. actually, i didn't stand as much as i fell through. nice. then the "chief" called to the others so, they moved, we moved.

then we got to a point where we couldn't move anymore because there they were--- the whole clan of them. what we didn't realize was that the "chiefs" wife was just to our right and we were too close. when he saw that, he did the chiefly thing and came towards us. not aggressively, not quickly, just came towards us. he had to protect her so he put himself between us and her--- and was literally 4-5ft in front of us, speficially in front of me. in fact, i wanted to change my lense because HE WAS TOO BIG for the lense i had, but i will admit, i was too terrified. he just sat there in complete peace and looked at us straight on---- talk about chills running down my back. he's over 200 kilos (do the conversion) and massive is not a word to describe him. he was just beautiful. once she moved closer to the group, he moved with her. playtime continued for the two adolescents, as the baby clumsily climbed the bamboo and the "chief" rested from the morning's fight. at that point, there was only observing as pictures couldn't capture what we saw in front of us.

the Brody's (my fellow trackers) said that today completely beat yesterday, although yesterday was truly amazing. i had lunch with them, they gave me a lift back to Kigali and we are meeting up for dinner in about 30 minutes. it's been a great day and as my brother kyle would say, his sister's life of "leisure" continues without question. i not only saw the gorillas, but was a few feet away from the largest one in the world. it's been a memorable day.

i depart for nairobi in the morning and for london on friday morning.