Whilst in Kisoro we drove the short distance across to the Uganda/Congo (Zaire) border, we passed through immigration with no problems whatsoever!
It was actually quite scary being in a war torn country like Congo, the poverty there was like nothing we have ever seen before, kids were running up behind our 4x4 asking for pens, jumping on the back of it, people were just sitting around outside their homes which were just straw and mud huts...no water no electricity, men were walking along the roads with a chicken in their hands, taking it home to feed their families, women would walk along the muddy stone roads bare foot with water carriers on their heads and children wrapped in their sarongs......but at the same time they were all still smiling and waving and shouting Mzungu Mzungu Helloooooooooooooo.......................
We take soooo much for granted, and are so spoilt in the western world, its actually hard to beleive that these people live in the same world as us, because let me tell you...its a whole world away from the world we live in.
We drove for over an hour through the small villages and towns uphill on mud track roads to some open farmland, which we crosses to get into the rainforest.
We trekked for 5 hours, yes thats 5 hours there and another 5 hours back! It was painful, it was uphill for some of the way, across fallen trees and muddy spots, through bamboo shavings and swamps...and then all of a sudden there they were....the exstinct mountain gorillas, only 600 or so left in the whole world, spread through the rainforests of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, and we saw 7 of these amaaaaaaazing creatures.
You only get an hour with the Gorillas, and the guides and armed guards that trek with you growl every so often so that the gorillas just take no notice of you and think that you are one of them!
We cant even begin to describe the feeling that goes through you, only that its emotional and amazing and undescribable when you are literally just a metre away from a huge silverback gorilla, sitting in his own home in the rainforest, with his 2 babies rolling around playing just like human babies do, and the mum and a few other gorillas just sitting around chilling out, munching on Bamboo!
It started to get dark as we emerged from the rainforest, yet we had to walk for another hour through muddy farmland through lashing rain to get back to 4x4, and now we were in a mad rush because the border had closed, and the 2 men on duty there were just waiting for us!
Our beds that night were so comfy you would not beleive! hahahahahahahaha!
Miss you all, hugs kisses and much love
Ali and Matt
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