Mountain Gorillas in Parc National des Volcans

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  Volcan Karisimbi, Rwanda
Friday, August 3, 2007

I headed into rural Rwanda in order to meet my appointment with the famous mountain gorillas of Parc National des Volcans. The Virungas volcanoes, a chain of seven huge conical mountains, is a natural border between Uganda, DR Congo, and Rwanda. At this intersection, each country has formed a national park to protect the jungle and natural habitat of the world's remaining mountain gorillas - around 700 of them. Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda becomes Parc National des Virungas in DR Congo becomes Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mahginga NP in Uganda.

I chose Rwanda for a few reasons. First, Rwandan groups are on the slopes of the volcanoes themselves, whereas groups in Uganda don't have the volcanoes as a backdrop. Second, the Ugandan people were adamant that they were jam-packed full, and I thought I'd have a better shot in Rwanda. Third, the DR Congo is a disaster and I wanted to explore my options in safer countries before thinking about the easy procurement of a permit in a land full of guerilla war

Dawn over volcanoes

.

But most important was the group I wanted to track. Dian Fossey studied her gorillas famously right here (See/read: Gorillas in the Mist). In fact, the group she studied still remains and still occupies the same territory, albeit with mostly different members. It is the largest habituated tourist group - there is one larger group of gorillas habituated to human contact, but it is explicitly for research. Dian Fossey's historical group is also the hardest to track, owing to its commandment of a very large area on the slopes of the largest volcano in the Virungas, Mt. Karisimbi. The trek is harder than the others, but the group is 36-strong. Moreover, there are four silverbacks, the top acting as leader and the other three leaders in the wings. If they get tired of waiting or playing Hamlet, they'll run off and try to form their own group. And lastly, this group is family to the only known instance of the survival of gorilla twins. Usually, since a mother uses one arm to gather, climb, etc. while caring for a youngster, she will abandon one twin. However, in this group, the twins survived and are now around 2 years old.

This is the famous Susa group. I wanted so very badly to track this group. I asked everyone I met about how they sorted people into groups

The trek for Susa group begins

. Some told me to speak to the warden on the day of tracking, as he ultimately decides who goes where. While I wouldn't have been destroyed to track another group, I would have been seriously deflated.

So I got to Ruhengeri, a tiny one-road dirty town. I tried to talk to the national park officer there, but he spoke about 10 words of English. Lots of writing numbers and gesturing, and I had arranged my private 4x4 transport (necessary for a whopping $50, $70 if you get Susa which requires extra driving). I had also ascertained that I just needed to get to the office early and try to talk to Eugene, the tourism warden.

The next morning, at 5:50AM, I was packed and ready to go. Prepared for a potential 2-4hr outbound hike to altitudes of 3000m plus, depending on the group's position (and depending on whether I got Susa or not). About 5 minutes into our drive, my driver pointed out some guides walking to their meeting place. We gave them a lift to the park headquarters, and on the way talked about Rwandan progress since the genocide, why Tanzania is not as cool, and how I could angle for Susa.

The problem, of course, is that many people who know anything about the gorillas want to track Susa

First glimpse of gorillas

. They want the challenge, like me. They want the history, the group size, the twins as well. I was by far the earliest - by 20 minutes, even. The guides had their meeting on the lawn as white people in goofy socks and trekking pants started showing up. I gave rapt attention to the meeting of the guides. I tried to figure out who Eugene was. The guides to whom we gave a lift put in good words for me, because everyone turned around and laughed at me, probably because I was so intense or because I looked like Jesus, apparently. More on that in another post.

What it ultimately came down to, I believe, is when Eugene met with the drivers. Basically, people were allocated based on car space. I got a wink and a nod from the guides and from my driver, and I was pretty ecstatic. Yes, I got the Susa group! I was ready. We met, got a short briefing from our guide, Francis, one of three guides named Francis (out of ten).

Drove about 45 minutes to a car park on the slopes of Mt. Karisimbi, a 4500m tall volcano. We drove past many dirty-looking grubby children. Faces greyed by mud splotches, always looking, sometimes smiling and waving, many times shouting Mzungu, and many times holding hands out for money.

The Noble Silverback

We got to the car park and started our hike up the slopes. For the first hour, we passed through messily cultivated farmland. Plots looked like a giant had drunkenly scratched lines into the hillside with outstretched fingers. Goats bleated, children asked for money, adults swung farm tools. One AK47-armed guard on point about 25 meters in front, two AK47-armed guards at the end of the column. There are still rebels hiding in the hills, and there have been incidents of attacks on tourist groups.

Five of the eight of us were fine with the hike, and three of us were struggling. As mentioned previously, although Susa is a potential 9 hour journey and fitness is recommended, groups were allocated basically on a whim. So not all of us were fully prepared fitness wise. We had an older gentleman who was struggling heroically up the mountain. To his credit, he made it all the way. Also luckily, our journey was only 2 hours outbound.

The national park starts a ways up the mountainside, a rock wall and immediate thick jungle demarcating the boundary. We struggled our way into the jungle and up the slopes, under muddy bamboo tunnels, over thick trampled canopy, through stinging nettles which really really hurt for about 20 minutes each time

Silverback charge, frame one

. It was more jungly than I had imagined. It was clambering over roots and through thick tropical brush. I fell about 4 feet off the side of the path into plants, ripped my pants, and cut myself. I felt pretty awesome as a bit of blood soaked through my khakis. What's a gorilla tracking adventure without a little adversity?

Our trail became less and less man made and more and more crushed vegetation. Traces of gorilla started popping up. Droppings, bowl-like nests made from big beasts nuzzling into jungle brush. The gorillas move every day, using a nest only once. There are trackers who stay with them all day, mark their nightly position, and track again the next morning, so it's not as difficult to find them as it sounds. But it is still exhilarating.

At 3210m we came across the trackers, dropped our bags, picked up our cameras, and walked about 20m more into the brush where about 10 gorillas were hanging out. These massive creatures are purely vegetarian, are docile, playful, and highly intelligent. Their social structure is quite intricate. It is simply awesome to watch them in their environment.

Trackers are supposed to stay 7m away from gorillas, to prevent transmission of diseases and for safety of all parties

Silverback charge, frame two

. However, gorillas have no rules. We happened upon a group, but more realistically, we happened into a group of 36 gorillas spread all over and above us. They don't sit all together, again like I had imagined, maybe from films. Instead, they're constantly moving, rolling around, somersaulting playfully into fresh vegetation which quickly becomes crushed. The somersaults were the best, and most effective, transportation method probably, and were also hilarious to watch.

Gorillas climbed up trees around us. Gorilla juveniles and babies constantly played with each other, smacking heads and bodies, rolling around in furballs, challenging each other with chest-beating slaps. The big silverbacks roamed slowly, stoically, or sat and ate tons of wild celery stalk.

As the pictures show, the gorillas were all around us, next to us, etc. We tried our best to keep the distance, but often gorillas playing would roll through our group, causing our guide to urge us gently away, giving space. The number two silverback, as I and another woman squatted in a bush, decided to walk right towards us, and through us. The guide made grunts to keep the gorilla from attacking, I guess, but at any rate he ambled slowly by. The big boy walked past me at a distance of about two feet

Silverback charge, frame three

. This kind of stuff happened a lot, as evidenced in the pictures. Yes, Dad, they are as close as they look. They were everywhere.

We got to see the leader of the family, the number one silverback, in a playful mood. Just before, we got to see two babies playing tag around Dad, as he gruffly sat or layed down. They just kept running around and around him. Sometimes trying to jump over. Later, he joined in. See: gorilla pile pictures. Apparently this is rare. Also, as may be visible in pictures, there was one gorilla who kept making this silly looking awkward stretchy smile face. It looked like he had learned "smiling" from tourists and was still trying to get it down. Very interesting.

 Gorilla trekking is an amazing experience. By viewing 36 of them, I was able, in one fell swoop, to see around 6% of the remaining mountain gorilla population in the world. These noble creatures are confined to the beautiful habitat of the Virungas volcanoes, but are under constant threats from evolutionary design and human design. They were ironically discovered by a hunter, who shot two of them before realizing they were something new that he had discovered. The species was named after him (Gorilla gorilla beringei), and he became a conservationist. Now they are killed every so often by poachers or locals, but this is mostly in DR Congo

Silverback charge, frame four

. Rwanda has been very successful at conserving their populations. The bigger problem is just evolution's slow squeeze.

I would have gone again, maybe even in DR Congo, but I felt immediately after our hour was up that I could never top that experience. I may go again in my life, if the gorillas are still alive, but I couldn't have done so right away without feeling disappointed at the second tracking.

The next step was to return to town, exhausted, covered in mud and/or crap, to take a shower and treat myself to a meal. It would be the last real meal I had for about 5 days, until today. That 5 day adventure will be elucidated in a forthcoming update.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

peekaboo juvenile gorilla	peekaboo 2	Dad's not sure about playtime	Hanging with Dad
Hanging with Dad 2	Dad decides to join in	Gorilla pile	Gorilla pile 2
Big Mama eats wild celery	The slopes of Mt. Karisimbi	Don't give candy to begging kids

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