Entering The Heart Of Darkness

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  Goma, Congo - The Dem. Repub.
Friday, April 20, 2007

It is easy to see why Joseph Conrad chose this place as the backdrop for his famous novel, Heart of Darkness.  When arriving at the town of Goma just across the border from Rwanda you are filled with an 'end of the World, Mad Max' feeling.  Towering in the distance is the mighty volcano Nyiragongo which unleashed hell on the city in 2002, burying nearly half of it with molten lava. 

I immediately noticed the remnants of the devastation as the minibus traversed the main street heading toward my guest house.  The street suddenly turns into blackish gravel surrounded by piles of rock on either side of the road.  Some of this rock has been used to build new fences and even many of the houses built here after the eruption were painted black to match the landscape.  The permanent structures that survived the devastation were buried almost up to the second floor. 

We stayed at, silly as it sounds, the Volcano Guest house whose first floor has now become the basement.  I came to the DRC to do two things.  The first was to see the famous mountain gorillas which are also viewable, at a slightly higher price, in Rwanda and Uganda.  Only Li and I could scrape together enough money to buy the permit, $300.  We left the hotel early in the morning and headed north towards the Virunga Mountains. 

After trekking for about and hour we reached the ranger station and were greeted by the ranger and our guards.  The ranger checked our permits and informed us that a group had been located that morning about an hours hike from the station.  The group contained one silver-back, 4 females, 4 juveniles, and 3 babies.  We start trekking over fields and soon found a trail and entered into the jungle.  First we found the clearing were they had been earlier that morning and the ranger was then able to track them to there new location about 15 minutes away.

Entering the clearing I first saw one of the females resting about 5 meters away.  The guards then began clearing away brush while often making a grunting sound to let the gorillas know that they were 'friends'.  Li and I took a few pictures of the female and some of the other gorillas hanging out nearby.  Then we saw the silver-back.  He first sat with his back to us but suddenly got up and came lumbering over in our direction.  He was absolutely huge and I quickly backed out of his way as he passed!  In the middle of the clearing he lay down where he stayed the rest of the time we where there.  We were supposed to stay at least 7 meters away from the gorillas but that task proved impossible and at times I was so close I could have almost reached out and touched the silver-back!  After exactly one hour we were told we had to leave and return to the ranger station.  Seeing the gorillas in the wild was amazing and definitely different than going to the zoo.

The next day all of us; Brian, Daniel, the 2 Israelis, Li, and I decided to climb the Nyiragongo volcano which sits at about 3500m above sea level.  It was a fairly strenuous trek for about 4 hours to reach the top and we passed about five different climate zones and several steam vents on the way.  The view from the top was indescribable.  It was one of the most stunning natural features I have ever seen.  At the center of the crater is an active lava lake that continuously belches hot lava into the air. 

Before it became dark we pitched our tents on a level spot just below the rim.  Everything went well until just after nightfall.  Suddenly the wind picked up and rain began to fall.  The storm quickly intensified and then Daniel yelled to us that his tent was blowing away.  I put on my jacket and went outside to help him along with Brian and the Israelis.  Several of the pegs had come out of the brittle soil and his tent was close to being blown off the mountain.  While we were helping Daniel, Brian's tent also uprooted and he had to go over and throw a bunch of rocks on it to keep it on the ground.  With two tents out of commission I was forced to let them both into the tent with Li and I.  Luckily we had rented a four person tent and there was room inside for all of us to sleep comfortably until morning.  After everyone was safe inside the tent we all began to laugh about the whole situation and the fact that Brian and Daniel were completely soaked from head to toe with no change of clothes!  Brian got out his harmonica and began to play it while the Israelis started singing some songs in Hebrew.  I only spent a total of 3 days in the Democratic Republic of Congo but it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip through Africa..

Almost To The Top!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Baby Gorilla	Baby Playing On Dad's Back	Backrub	Beast Of The Forest
Brian On The Trail	Chillin' In The Trees	Destroyed Church In Goma	Dormant Volcano
Enjoying A Snack	Gorilla Trekking Bus	Gorilla Trekking Team	Great Gorilla Pic
Have A Drink On Me	Hey Handsom	Hungry	I Said The No Smoking Section!
Inside The Ruined Church	Jambo!	Jungle Path	Leading The Way
Li Standing At The Top	Local Agriculture	Movin' On	Next To The Lava Lake
Nice Swimming Pool!	No Its This Way Brian!	Our Guide On The Volcano	Piping Hot Magma!
Practising Karate In The Church	Pretty Pic	Really Close To The Silverback	Setting Up Camp
Silverback Sitting	Sitting On Top Of The World	Smokin'	Some Plantlife
Steam Vent	Taking A Little Rest	Taking A Rest	Terraced Agriculture
The Campsite	The Crater Wall	These Kids Are Giving Me One Hell Of A Headache	Tin Shelter On The Side Of The Volcano
Uri Knows The Way	View Of Some Distant Volcanos	Volcano Damage In Goma	Welcome To The End Of The World!
When You Want A Real Beer, Choose Turbo King

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