Mountain Gorilla Adventure!

Yesterday was an absolutely spectacular day, and quite possibly the best day of my African journey. I woke up at 5 am, had some breakfast, and then headed to the Gorilla Hotel, which is right down the street from where Elie lives. A driver met me there, and drove me to the Kinigi Headquarters, where all the Virunga National Park tours leave from. Once we got there, I told him that I would like to go on the longest walk possible, so that I get my “bang for the buck”, if you catch my drift. The drivers of all the people seeing the gorillas that day meet with the guides, and assign groups of 8 people per group, and which of the six volcanoes they will be going to. I was assigned to a group that was going to Visoke Mountain, and seeing the Amahoro group of gorillas, which consisted of 15 gorillas. Our guide, named Poppie, which I eventually referred to as Big Poppie, gave us some guidelines on our hike, and also told us about the members of the Amahoro group. In the group, there is a 3 month old baby, that Poppie said we most likely won’t see, since the mother is very protective of her newborn, but also three more babies that are in the 1 to 3 year-old range. Also in the group is the biggest Silverback gorilla in the entire National Park, weighing almost 600 pounds! I assumed I wasn’t going to see the tiny baby, but really wanted to see the big Silverback. My driver then drove me 45 minutes to the base of the volcano, through some brutally bumpy roads, and called it an “African massage.” We were the only hiking through this area, which was nice, and we started our hike through a local village and their crop fields. After about 45 minutes of hiking, we entered Virunga National Park. There was so much vegetation, that in many places, it was very difficult to maneuver from point A to B. Our guide, named Poppie, which I eventually referred to as Big Poppie, had a machete to clear the path in several instances. There was also a tracker, who ultimately led us to the gorillas, and porters that carried a couple of the women’s backpacks. The tracker carried an AK-47, in case of an animal or potential guerrilla attack… I just didn’t ask questions about the gun, and just presumed it was for our safety. Anyways, in our three track to the area where the Amahoro group of gorillas were spotted, we saw a group of male Golden Monkeys, and the porters and I saw a buffalo. The rest of the group didn’t see the buffalo, because I was in the back of the line taking pictures, and soaking up the incredible views. Once we got 100 meters from the gorillas, Poppie told us all to take all the gear we needed to view the gorillas (camera, batteries, video camera) and take our backpacks off. We were told to do this, because the gorillas could become interested in what is inside the backpack if it is on our backs. So, we took our backpacks off, and bushwhacked about 40 meters through some thick bamboo, and literally the first thing we saw was the 3 month old baby gorilla suckling on her mother. The mom took off about a minute after we arrived, but that minute was ridiculously incredible. We then kept up with the Amahoro group, which was in the process of eating, and stayed with them for an hour, which is all that is allowed by the park authorities. We hadn’t seen the big Silverback for the entire hour, until as we were leaving, Poppie spotted him out, and he took us around an area of thick bamboo to try and get a view of him. He struggled to find out exactly where this huge male was heading, until all of the sudden, with zero warning, the massive Silverback came bursting through the vegetation straight at Poppie with a shrieking noise I will never forget. It scared the absolute Buh-Jesus out of the entire group, and had to of given Poppie a freight, as the gorilla came only a few feet from him. I asked him afterwards what happened, and he told me that he startled the male, and since he is literally the king of the jungle, he came up to him in a hurry to see who was intruding his space. Once the Silverback saw Poppie, he still seemed upset, but once Poppie knelt down, it showed the Silverback that he was in control, and everything was okay. Before we saw the gorillas, Poppie gave us a few guidelines on how we should behave, and what we should and shouldn’t do. He told us that the closest we can get in 7 meters from the gorillas, and also that if one of the gorillas should by chance charge someone in the group, DO NOT RUN. For that hour that we observed the gorillas, we were in very thick brush, and most if not all times we were viewing the gorillas we were only 3 meters from them—Rule #1 broken—Also, when Big Poppie was charged by the 600 pound Silverback, one of the group members took off running for her life—Rule # 2 broken. All 8 of us arrived back at the starting point three hours later… A day I’ll never forget!

I will put pictures up tomorrow... Internet is deathly slow right now