Gorilla's Nest Hotel Ruhengeri

... We were told he was the oldest male in the group, about 38 years old. He used to be the dominant male but was now too old to protect the group. He just sat there undisturbed by our presence. We moved on as we did not have best view and he wasn&#8217;t moving<br><br>We soon came across a juvenile up a tree feeding. Again it paid little attention to us and kept eating and ******* every few minutes. ******* aside it was very cute. Not far away was a black back, he ...

... at Ruhengeri univeristy with 900 other students. son to a father deceased of disease caught in a refugee camp in 1994, grandchild to 4 slaughtered grandparents, big brother to 2 brothers and one sister he speaks of so fondly. The smile never fades even when discussing the events of 1994, instead he focusses on how it is changing, how Rwandans are Rwandans; not tutsi or hutu. Absoluely fascinating chat and if he can keep up his 320 dollar per year tuition through the 4 ...

5.45 the alarm goes off and strangely enough I'd begun to come out of that deep sleep just before. No crazy dreams just yet either! The same cannot be said for Echalotte who recounted a rather odd one. Two words: ha ha!<br><br>We splashed our faces awake, changed and hit the breakfast table (oh yes, more food!). We were not to be disappointed. Fruit fiend that Echalotte now knows Alizeti to be, I delighted in some mini yet awesome bananas and fruit the name of which I still ...

... nothing goes wrong with them. At least nothing man-made. We dropped our daypacks with the military guys and trackers and headed up after the guide. After about a minute of hiking, we saw our first mound of black fur through a clearing. Then I saw the gigantic silverback about 20 ft away just sitting there looking like a Jabba-The-Hut with his big belly sticking out. There were a few other female gorillas up on the hill about 10 ft behind him just ...

... gas being let go by the big guy. In the end we were around 4 feet from them for an hour and the experience was definitely worth it. The people who had done it in Uganda said that it was a lot better and they were not able to get as close ever though the family they saw had been bigger. I am happy with the experience and think it was worth the effort. I am now back in Rwanda in the capital of Kigali and plan to fly to Arusha tomorrow to see about hiking Kilimanjaro for a 7 day hike.

Today started with a lot of rain and it rain most of the day. Nat stated today with a trip to the local Orphanage. She walked around their school but it was a sunday and there was no Children there! After that she went to the orphanage and the Kids did a dance. In the evening we went on a hill walk. The top of hill looked over Lake Buyoni. It took us about ...

... outside Mutesi's home to take a picture they would run away squealing... and then come right back. We made a video of Mutesi receiving her gifts from her foster family back in Canada as well as our experience in her home and with all the other children. It shows a huge contrast between the health of Mutesi (who is sponsored through Compassion Christ by the Ney's) and the other children she lives near, hopefully it will encourage some people to ...