I’ve written this blog entry about 10 times now, but somehow the computer/Internet keeps messing up and I have to retype it everyday! Ugh!!

 

After a nice breakfast of banana pancakes, we drove to the Uganda/Rwanda border. It was a long drive, but the breathtaking scenery made it a great morning. (Kenya and Uganda are gorgeous countries.) On this drive we went through corrugated mountains (mountains that the farmers had craved into levels, so that they could utilize as much land as possible). Along the way many children ran behind our van, screaming and waving at us. (They were so cute, but they really pulled on your heartstrings with their grubby clothes and begging.)

 

Crossing the border was breeze. (Especially because Kaz, out leader, fills in all the forms for us and deals with the border officials.) The Rwandan border was so funny, it was basically 1 small shack and there wasn’t even a fence or anything separating it. The drive into
Rwanda was really cool. The women dress up so colorfully and they all seem to have a baby tied to their back, a huge bundle balancing on their heads, and something in each hand. (Boy, those women must be strong/tough!)

 

We camped in the garden of a pretty nice hotel/motel. Unfortunately, Claire and I were the last ones to set up our tent and we got the spot under a tree filled with birds. Needless to say our tent got covered in bird crap. Yuck!

The morning of our gorilla trek we woke up at 5:00am and began the long process of getting to the gorillas. I somehow got put into the “hard” group with all of the good hikers. We set off up the mountain with a guide, a porter (who an elderly German woman had hired to carry her backpack), and 3 Ugandan Army guys with their big machine guns. After about 2 hours of hiking (some of it a bit challenging, especially when we had to go through big patches of stinging nettle) we got to the gorillas. There were buffalos hanging out by our gorilla family, so we had to wait while the army guys scared off the buffalo. (Buffalos are supposed the most dangerous animals in Africa.)

Then we got to approach our gorilla family. The family was made up of 16 gorillas: a big silverback, a black back, many adult females, some adolescents, and 3 babies. The babies were so adorable! They were really playful and curious about us. They kept trying to come up and touch us. In the beginning the family was busy eating and didn’t really pay any attention to us. They kept moving around to get new plants, so we had to follow them up the mountain a bit. After about 30 minutes, they all settled under a tree to rest. We were able to sit within a few feet from them and watch them. The young ones were wrestling, rolling around, hugging, and even kissing each other. It was such a cool experience! I’m so glad that I shelled out all that money to do it ($400)!! Kaz said that if tourists weren’t visiting the gorillas, the mountain gorillas would be extinct by now. The government is really only interested in helping them and preserving their habitat, because it’s one of the biggest revenue generators for them.

 

We spent the rest of the time in Rwanda hanging out, showing off our gorilla pictures, and sharing our trekking stories.