Mountain Gorillas

(Ruhengeri, Rwanda: May 20, 2007)

As a picture is worth one thousand words, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for my photos on Flickr to get a good idea of the gorillas. It would be a waste of time for me to try to describe them. Suffice it to say they are like furry, amazing people.

The conservation efforts are extraordinary in Rwanda - really impressive. I wonder if we in the states could even do such a good job? There are only 729 mountain gorillas in the entire world, and they are an endangered species. Their population has grown by 29 in the past 2 years! They live in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Congo. They are all in one area, some of the volcanoes are divided among the 3 countries, so the gorillas roam across borders. Poachers come in to kill the mothers and take their children so they can sell them to zoos, since mountain gorillas don't live in captivity - only lowland gorillas which are not endangered. I will not sadden you with the specifics we learned of the deaths of the past few years. In response to the killings the government has trackers which follow each group of gorillas from early in the morning until dark, at which time the military starts their rounds, providing 24 hour coverage of the parks and protection for the gorillas. This past year there were no deaths from poaching!

In order to see the gorillas, you have to purchase a very expensive permit. They only allow a maximum of 56 people to see the gorillas per day, for a maximum of one hour or else it can disturb the gorillas and stress them. You are divided into 7 groups of 8 people and each visits a different group of gorillas. On a yearly basis, the park officials get together with the neighboring villages, and ask for their needs. They then disburse the money from the permits to the villages for the projects. Examples of some projects are a primary school, a local water tank, a health center. This keeps the villages supporting the conservation efforts.

I had permits for 2 days of gorilla trekking. The first day I decided I wanted to do the longest walk (I'm tough, right?). Since the gorillas move around in the morning, you never quite know how long it will take to find their location - the guides are in constant contact with the trackers, so you do your best to catch up (they move fast!). Well, our gorilla group which was a group typically only for research rather than tourism was not very high up the volcano when we began the hike. They must have known we were coming as they moved up towards the top of the volcano. The guide told us it would take about 2 hours. We must have heard that 4 more times that morning! Did I mention it's the rainy season? We embarked on a hike that would put climbing Kilimanjaro to shame. The trail was at least 6 inches of mud - more like a foot deep in many spots, and STRAIGHT UP. No sissy switchbacks for the Rwandans. We climbed from 2100m to 3400m (4000 vertical feet!!!!) in what was at times torrential downpour. The altitude was really difficult to deal with, as was the mud, and the *freezing* cold temperatures. It took us 3 and a half hours to climb and I thought at times I wouldn't make it. We had 2 researchers and 3 military personnel with us who helped me tremendously. Without one soldiers hand helping me up some of the tougher terrain, I would still be stuck in the mud. They could have run up it, they were in such good shape (and acclimated). I had no idea we were going on such an adventure so I had 2 nectar bars to last me 8 hours, 6 of which were rigorous hiking. It was worth it though, as much as any really, really difficult experience feels rewarding in hindsight.

A typical trip to see the gorillas involves about an hour of strolling over mildly rolling terrain. Needless to say, I chose an easy group the next day, which amounted to a 2 hour hike to find them over dry flat-ish land. Phew.

I *highly* recommend this trip to everyone - it's truly one of the 'once in a lifetime'-ers.

Note to TNT'ers: someone asked me if I knew Ron Lichty as I was climbing the mountain!!! Figures.