Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The last days

We spent yesterday trekking mountain gorillas. WOW.

I didn't really know what to expect for this part of the trip. I had not given it much thought at all, but was excited once we arrived at base camp. It was pouring rain, but after a short while that stopped. We had a small briefing and then five of us and our guide hopped in land cruiser and started driving over hundreds and hundreds of rocks. After a couple of kilometers, our car got stuck in the mud/rocks and so we had to proceed by foot. We had a 2.5 hour battle uphill as we hiked to meet the gorillas. Finally, we met up with the trackers who had been out all morning locating the specific family we were trying to see. Once we saw them, we drank some water, put down our bags, and grabbed only our cameras. We walked about 125m and then heard a heavy growl. My heart skipped a beat.

We then walked up and around to get a better view, since all we were seeing was the rustling of bushes. Then, we saw a baby gorillas eating grass. Then another....then the silverback. Wow. These gorillas were enormous. Our group took hundreds of pictures and we will try to post some soon. The lack of internet on our computers makes it more difficult, but definitely by when we come home.

My time at the cafe is pretty much over...so I will see if there is connection in Gisenyi today. The rest of our schedule is as follows:

Today: Morning visit to an art collaboration ( I think)
Afternoon drive to Gisenyi and check in at hotel. Day of relaxation.

Tomorrow: Visit to Gardens of Health (a non-profit that works with sustainable farming as a necessity as part of HIV/AIDS treatment
Visit a market (maybe) and dinner at a friend's house in Kigali

Saturday: Lunch at US Ambassador's house in afternoon and evening flight out of Kigali.

Hopefully, there will be some more time to write at Gisenyi.

Again, thanks for listening.

1 comment:

  1. Zachary, this trip just seems amazing. Thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us.I really hope to make it over to Rwanda soon. I spent a lot of my spring break reading about it actually, for my rwanda class, and i just want to see it more than just through a book. Anyhow, this is beautiful. Hope you had a wonderful time despite illness and jetlag. It seems like it!

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