Gorilla Trekking, Kinigi, Rwanda (Day 1)

  Kinigi, Rwanda
Sunday, June 8, 2008

Gorilla Trekking, Kinigi, Rwanda (Day 1)

Sunday June 8th, 2008. Kinigi, Rwanda.

After our briefing last night on what to wear and what to prepare and our apprehension about the first day with the gorillas both of us had an eventful night's sleep. I woke up at midnight panicked by the light outside because one of the guards had turned our porch light on and it looked like it was well past our wake up time - so I figured we had missed the alarm and were running late. The I woke about 2hrs later worried that we had not packed the insect spray when we sorted out our day packs the night before. I woke another couple of hours later panicking that we had forgotten to organise the packed lunch for the gorilla trek. Each time I woke I checked the alarm still worked and recited the growing list of things I had to remember to do when I did wake up and get up at 5:30am. It turned out Rina did the same through the night and woke a few times panicking about the same things as me. And through all that we still woke up feeling well rested for some reason - albeit a little cold.

The day with the gorillas starts early with a 5:30am wake up, a quick shower and jump into the prescribed trekking gear. Water proof everything: jacket, pants and shoes if we had them. We had the water proof jackets (or so I thought - more on that later) but no water proof pants or shoes (neither these are suggested in any of the books we read read before packing for the trip). My cheapo motorbike rain suit would have been perfect and was in fact what our guide wore as soon as it started to rain. Not to mention the fact that he wore blue when everything says wear muted colours.

all dressed up....

Gorilla Trekking Tip: Make sure you get a water proof jacket. Water resistant wont cut the mustard in the jungles of Rwanda. Preferably breathable like Goretex because you will be hiking in it and it can get warm.

Gorilla Trekking Tip: Don't worry about buying green or khaki jackets for the trip if you already have a perfectly good blue one. You don't need special colours, just nice and comfortable, light weight, durable and water proof (and breathable if possible). If you have this but its blue or red or whatever (maybe not flouro) then just bring that and save your self a couple of hundred bucks.

Once all the bags are sorted, breakfast is eaten and the truck is packed we head to the national park entrance where will meet our guide for the day (Eke was his name I think) and get the first briefing on what is going to happen and how to behave. At the meeting place we notice a few people in shorts (its not warm by any stretch of the imagination and its raining) and even complete novices know that there are thorns and stinging nettles to contend with so I can't imagine what their legs looked like at the end of the day. At the other end of the scale were a few people with the brand new, top-o-the-range trekking boots but i can't imagine how much of a pain it must be to carry them around on a trip like this. I only had my super comfy, non-water proof, well worn Timberland trekkers. Oh and I forgot to mention, it rained ALL night. By the end of the day I probably would have preferred the massive water proof numbers the all-the-gear-but-no-idea crowd had, but a pair of gum boots (Wellingtons) would have done the job just as well.

gorilla group for day 1

I asked if we could join a group that were tracking Beatsme's group where we hoped to see the baby adopted for us by Mum (named Segasira) but found out that this was a research group and tourists were not taken there. This was news to us and not what the travel agent told us :( This was the only reason we came to Rwanda instead of making the whole trip in Uganda and trekking for gorillas in Bwindi but stuff happens I guess.

We met the couple we would be trekking with and then Eke took us through the plan for the day. We would be tracking "Group 13" and it should be a relatively short round trip. Most of the groups are named after of the first tracked Silver Back in the group, but "Group 13" used to be based in Congo and then relocated to this side of the mountain in Rwanda and in all of this a solitary silver back joined this group and beat out the old silver back thus making a name hard to work out so the original name stuck - Group 13. Made up of 1 silver back, plenty of females of all ages, some juvenile males and some babies - 22 in total. The biggest group is one of the research groups with 56 gorillas!

Gorilla Trekking Tip: if you can get in a small group DO IT! Maximum group size is 8 but 8 people crammed into the jungle trying to get the perfect shot of the gorillas is a pain in the butt!

Gorilla Trekking Tip: if they ask if you would like a "hard" or "moderate" trek, go for the easiest one possible. There is almost nothing to be gained by going on a hard trek, esp. if this is your first time. Seeing a gorilla is the main aim, not spending 6-7 hours trekking each way to see the same animals.
We all then jumped in our respective cars and drove up the mountain to our start point. The road was really rough and people were walking up the hill faster than us so it was a bit embarrassing to be sitting in this big 4WD while all the locals are strolling up the hills and looking at the stupid, fat, lazy tourists in there monster truck. Still it was a fun drive as all the kids ran beside the car and slowly got up the nerve to start talking to us. At one point the car behind got bogged so I got out and did the old digital photo trick of taking a sneaky shot of a kid then showing him the photo. Within seconds every kid within 500m wants his or her photo taken so they can see what it looks like. I got a bunch of great shots but then realised my car had started to drive off (I'm not even sure Rina told them I wasn't in the car yet!)

the mist

After almost an hour of very slow going we got to our final drop off point, jumped out and started up the hill on foot. The walk starts with about 20mins of pastoral land so while it is climbing a hill its a pretty easy walk. Then we reach the stone wall the represents the boundary of the park. Apparently the main purpose of the wall is to keep the cows on one side and the buffalo on the other. Here we get our second briefing from Eke about what will happen in the park section. We will radio to the trackers that follow the gorillas all day until they guide us to where the group is currently feeding. Then once within a hundred metres or so we will put our bags down and take only our cameras for the final stretch. The porters will take our bags and we will spend an hour with the gorillas. I asked how far away were the gorillas. The answer was extremely pleasing to all of us - 10mins! I was ready for 3-4hrs of trekking and we were going to be with them in less than 30mins!

the jungle

We scramble over this wall and immediately you recognise the jungle under growth from any documentary or movie you may have seen about this place. It was instantly recognisable to me anyway. A little bit of scrambling through dense under growth and muddy paths and you can see old nests and gorilla dropping and you know you are getting close. Then suddenly three trackers appear out of the bush and tell us to put our bags down here and get ready to approach the group. As they are telling us this, the juvenile male comes out of the bush towards us and with almost no warning whatsoever we are in the presence of our first mountain gorilla. While I am messing around with my bag I look up and see this guy coming down the hill towards me and I know that feeling people talk about when they first see the gorillas. Its hard to describe but these animals are so similar to humans its not really the same as the first time you see a big cat or elephant, etc. This is different. Its like you are discovering the missing link and no one else has seen this before.

Anyway, the male came down the hill at a pretty brisk walk and straight towards me. Rina had the video running so I have this all on disc now. We were told we should not approach closer than 7m to them where we find them but this guy came straight towards me and so quickly that even if I wanted to I would not have been able to get away from him. He ends up walking past me less than a metre away from me and gives me a look in the eyes as he passes me (its all on video so I aint lying!)

close enough to small him

After we settle down from this we get our stuff organised and we walk a few feet further into the jungle to find a mother and juvenile feeding and within another few steps we are right in front of the silver back. He has his back to us, as he does for most of the time we are with them, but this guy is big. Standing up he is probably about 5ft tall, but his back is enormous and he is 100% muscle.

For the next hour we follow them as they move from plant to plant and while the guides tell us this is them moving from one plant to another naturally I really cant help but think that we are pissing them off somewhat and they move to get away from us. But still its just amazing to be anywhere near these guys. A few times we are within a metre of them as they approach us or we are back into a bush, but most of the time we keep a respectful distance.

seconds before the charge

At one point it seems the silver back is getting a little agitated and he starts approaching us. This is the first time he has walked towards us. he has always been walking away from us. The tracker told us to move back and that he looked like he was ready to charge. Rina was right next to the tracker and the silver back was heading for the tracker so she was in the firing line. The tracker grabbed Rina by the arm and told her to be calm and move back then suddenly the silver back rushed the tracker and shoved him in the shoulder. Rina was holding on the the tracker's other shoulder! She was no more than 2 feet away from a charging silver back! What an experience....and guess which idiot didn't record it on video!?!?! But Rina did manage to peel off this shot as the silver back was approaching her. (Next stop National Geographic - after she calms down again)

(stop press: this idiot did record it as he thought he just couldn't find the file. Watch for the video to be posted here soon)

The rest of our prescribed hour with the group is spent following the main players - the silver back and the older females - as they find food and beat their chests at each other. We finish with three of them climbing bamboo looking for some tasty morsel and it made me think of the scene in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as the hero and villain run up and down the bamboo. Its hard to imagine these 100-150kg animals climbing up a stalk of bamboo but they did it and all three of them were about 10ft off the ground reaching out for something to eat.

Eke then calls times up and we have to turn around and head back down the hill. I could have spent the whole day with them and it wasn't until Eke called time that I realised my supposed water proof jacket was not water proof at all and my sleeves were wet, my feet were soaked and my pants were pretty damp too. All this in a damp, misty, chilly mountain environment of about 2800m above sea level and I suddenly realised I was pretty uncomfortable. Funny, I had no idea I was uncomfortable or wet for the last hour, but now I wanted a warm jumper....

It took another 30mins to walk back to the car and 30mins back down the hill to the park entrance and all of a sudden the most amazing wildlife experience of my life was over. The good news is we have booked two days of this!

Gorilla Trekking Tip: Book two days of trekking if time and money permit. The first one is amazing but I am sure the second will be a even better and we will be a little wiser about where to stand and how to take photos, etc. Three days would be even better!

Tipping Tip: The guides are happy with a US$10 tip from each person. Don't be concerned if you are only a small group, just tip $10 per person. So a couple should tip $20 total and so on.

Tipping Tip: The porters generally get US$10 per bag they carry so if you share a bag then its $10 total. Even if you don't need a porter its nice to use one and give them some income as they are ex-poachers so this keeps them on the good side.

Gorilla Trekking Tip: when you are being briefed you will be told that you are not to approach within 7m of the gorillas, the reality is you will get much closer than this for two main reasons - the gorillas will approach you and you may not be able to make a graceful retreat when they do. If however your guide offers to let you touch the gorillas or get even closer than you already are (for a fee of course) do the world a favour and kindly decline and report him after your trip. These gorillas are EXTREMELY rare and touching them puts them at risk of getting simple human diseases for which they have no immunity so a cold or flu can kill and entire family. They can also become too habituated to humans and then the encroachment on humans that live in the mountains could become an issue. Just keep a respectful distance no matter how much you want to cuddle them.

Wildlife Photography Tip: if you have a small video camera - take that as the #1 choice. Next would be a good quality non-SLR digital camera (7mp or more) last would be the full SLR kit. Unless you are a serious photographer it is unlikely you will get any photos with the SLR that you would not be able to get with the non-SLR camera. Gorillas are dark animals with very dark faces who like to hide their face from you and tend to spend their time in thick bush so they are not too easy to photograph. Not to mention - in my opinion - there are plenty of photos of gorillas but not many photos of me with a gorilla so I found the photos of us with gorillas in the same frame to be much more interesting than the good shots of just a gorilla and these shots usually come out best with a point a shoot camera in the hands of someone else nearby

Wildlife Photography Tip: if you decide to take an SLR then the lens to take is relatively wide angle and fast. I would suggest the best possible 24/28/30mm prime lens you have or can afford. You don't need to zoom as you are close to these guys the whole time and with 10mp or more you can crop anything to a good shot now anyway. My perfect lens would be a 24 or 28mm f1.4. ISO set to 200, 400 or 800 depending on the light available where the gorillas are and use your camera's multiple exposure mode to get three different exposures in three shots all at once. Gorillas don't often move very fast but it is dark so be prepared for some blurry shots.

We got back to the hotel and sorted our stuff out, had a shower and some lunch then fell asleep in the room. Apparently I started talking in my sleep telling someone about the gorilla trekking. I had only finished it a few hours earlier and I was already reminiscing - albeit in my sleep!
What a day!