Gorillas in the Mist

Well, I did it. And I have a certificate to prove it. I climbed a mountain to visit Aigosha and his family. And we had a very charming visit with this gorilla family. If you haven't guessed by now, I am in Rwanda. They say that visiting the mountain gorillas is a once in a lifetime experience that one shouldn't miss. I was skeptical last night and early this morning, but now that it is over, I agree.

I arrived in Rwanda on Friday night and spent the first day touring the city and talking about the genocide with my charming guide, David. David was born in a refugee camp in Uganda where his family fled during a violent period shortly after independence. He had pretty grueling experiences to share and clarified a lot for me about this 1994 genocide. More on all of that later.

In the late afternoon, we headed up to the Virungu Volcanic Park which was a sumptuous drive through continuous mountains, every inch of which seems to be cultivated. The roads are pretty crowded, and David drove the route constantly blurting out "Hopeless" as his country men and women wove in and out of traffic, and dashed across the street in front of us. It was a three hour drive and after a quick dinner we headed for bed because we had to get up at 5:30 to get started on the gorilla trek. I was not particularly keen on this gorilla trip but everyone in Tanzania said it was a must, so I signed up. Truthfully, I had been dreading it. I looked at it as a pennence to for the lovely ride I had had up to the park.

My heart sank this morning at 4:45 when a fierce rain storm woke me up. I did buy a rain slicker and gaiters to protect me against the elements, but I was not looking forward to hiking up a volcano in the rain. But luck was with me as it stopped raining just as we began our climb (there were eight of us in Aygasha's group. | was cheered to see an elderly couple in our group and I, of course, hung out behind them the whole trip. That way I gave the appearance of being a caring, rather than an out of shape, hiker.

The hiking goes like this: Trackers start out early in the morning to find the gorilla group you are looking for and once they locate them, they send information down to the guides. When we started out they told us that it would be a half an hour hike, and I was secretly overjoyed. Problem is gorillas don't always stay in one place and our little group did quite a bit of flinting around before we found them.

Now, when I say hiking, you need to understand that there are really no trails here. Sometimes we followed gorilla trails, but most of the time, we forged out own path through the thick, thick, thick rain forest. It was hideously muddy; in fact, at one point, I stepped in mud that reached me knee and when I tried to pull my foot out, my shoe and gaiters remained stuck. The porter kindly dug out my equipment, cheerfully washed it off in a mud puddle and had me back on the way in minutes. So we walked and crawled through the thick vegetation for nearly two hours. Just when we thought we were close, they moved (they were foraging for food) and at the point where I said I can't do this anymore, the gorillas appeared before us. Aigasha was with three females and a couple of kids. He humored us by staring at us and scratching a bit and then he took a nap. Wife number one groomed one of the kids for a while and then she took a nap. Eventually they all took a nap, except for the little babies who played together and alone the whole hour (visitors are only allowed one hour with the gorillas). There much more to tell about this amazing adventure and I have lots of video to show interested parties, but I don't have much time left on this computer.

Here is an item that might surprise you; it really surprised and dismayed me: There are no ATMs in Rwanda. I can't get any money out of the bank and I owe the tour company that I came with beaucoup de money (This,by the way, is an excellent tour company that focuses on educational visits, including volunteer work...more on that later). I hope I can work something out when I get back to Kigali tomorrow. Monday is figuring out the money day and then I spend Tuesday with Women for Women International, and then I am off to Morocco to see my beloved husband, with a short stop in Amsterdam.

More later from Kigali. Forgive the misspellings!