Brad and I flew to Rwanda for a couple of days after RHINO.

Kigali is about a 4 hour flight from Johannesburg; we opted to take Rwandair as they have a nonstop morning flight. If anyone does this make sure you take the credit card you used online with you as they want to see it in order to give you a boarding pass. I didn't do this and it was a problem - we had to go to the ticket counter and haggle about it, but finally they said OK since the charge had cleared months before.

We were met in Kigali and then visited the Kigali Memorial Center, which was opened in 2004, the ten year anniversary of the 1994 genocide. This is quite a powerful place to visit and very well done. Rwanda is such a beautiful, green country, incredibly clean with wonderful, friendly people. It is just unfathomable to absorb all that happened here 20 years ago.

We spent about an hour and a half at the center before driving another 2 1/2 hours northwest to Volcanoes National Park where we stayed for two nights at the Jack Hanna Cottage, a comfortable 2 bedroom cottage set in beautiful gardens just outside the park, available for exclusive use, including staff and a chef who prepares you breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Our first morning we did the mountain gorilla trek. First you go to the park headquarters for a group assignment and briefing. There are 9 gorilla groups available for tourist visits - each human group is limited to a maximum of 8 people plus a gorilla guide, tracker and porters available for hire. The guides meet with the trackers in the morning to discuss the location of the groups and they classify the treks as easy, medium and hard depending on the amount of time it takes to reach each group; you tell them how long you want to hike. Once you reach the gorillas you spend one hour with them and then hike back down.

After the briefing we drove about 20 minutes to the starting point of our hike. The different groups start at different places outside the park. Our group consisted of us, another couple around our age who were fit and trekking for the 2nd day in a row and a family, parents with two 20 something kids, one of whom was working for a nonprofit in Kigali after recently graduating college.

Our group was assigned to the Sabyinyo group, normally about an hour and a half hike away. Our hike began through farmland, reaching the park boundary after about 20 minutes.





We entered a bamboo forest and began the climb. Fortunately we had a partly sunny day, so the mud wasn't too bad.

After hiking through the forest awhile we began the ascent in earnest, dodging nettle bushes and a couple colonies of fire ants. It was quite slippery and steep in some places, but the porters were always there to grab your hand and help, anticipating just when you needed it.



It took us about 2 hrs to reach the gorillas, but mainly because the parents on the trek were having trouble with the hiking and altitude. They had to stop to rest quite often and at times we doubted they would make it, meanwhile the gorillas kept moving up. The porters pretty much lugged them up most of the way and even carried their daughter through the fire ant section since she had unwisely just worn capris. Dumb.

The Sabyinyo gorilla group has 16 members, including the largest and oldest silverback of all the groups, plus 2 additional silverbacks, sons of the "patriarch." Here are their "mug shots".

When we reached the first gorilla (#3 silverback ) he ate and posed for awhile and then literally motioned us to follow him and pulled branches and brush out of the way. He munched some more in a clearing and then sauntered within about a foot of the group, and then moved up to join the rest of the group.

We hiked up a a little further and spent an hour with most of the rest of the group, including a mom and baby tickling each other, rolling around, smiling. The baby was very curious and approached a few of us and even tried to untie my shoelaces. One of the females, Karema, was quite flirtatious! Although park regulations state that you need to be 20' from them, we were quite close, just a few feet most of the time. All in all it was an incredible experience.

#3 Silverback






the guides called this one "the bodyguard"



admiring her manicure?

Up close!

The flirt and her baby, born in 2013

WOW

Leslie, you have done such a beautiful job. I just loved reading about Rwanda and the gorillas....your pictures are incredible. Seeing the gorillas (and chimpanzees) has been on my bucket list, but I'm afraid I may have been like the "mother" the porters had to carry up.

Thanks, Leslie. What an experience and what amazing animals!

On our second day we took the golden monkey trek. The logistics were basically the same with a briefing at the park headquarters and then a drive to start the hike. In this case the monkeys are lower and once we crossed the farmlands into the park the hike was entirely in the bamboo forest with not much elevation gain. Again, you get an hour with them and then hike back. We were done and back by around 11:15, had lunch, packed up and drove back to Kigali for our evening flight.

While interesting, this experience doesn't compare to the gorilla visit. They are up in the trees, mainly just munching on leaves, and hard to see. You need a big zoom or binoculars. But they are certainly cute!

Leslie, all the pictures are fantastic, thanks for posting.

And a few more pix

This group of young people came to dance and welcome us when we arrived



Rwanda scenery

Fantastic pictures Leslie thanks for posting these. I enjoyed the gorillas and know that you and Brad did too. I bet the FLIRT was the one who grabbed Ken. Same group that we visited as well and the gorillas did the same thing to us just constantly going higher. I think that is the game they play with the "humans". They do seen to be very intelligent. It is an amazing experience being so close to these huge animals. You also captured the beauty of the scenery in Rwanda and the warmth of the people in your pictures.

Wow. Leslie that sounds just awesome! The more things I cross off my bucket list, the longer it seems to get!
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Helen

The photos kindled many memories - we visited the gorillas in Rwanda in 1989 - we pulled out our photo record of the trip and relived it - the similarity of expressions and behavior of these fascinating animals is striking. Yes, we remember the climb! Good thing that we did it when we did it!

Ted