African Adventure: Mountain Gorilla Adventure

We had originally planned to go with Carol and Frank to Burundi after Christmas. Before Christmas, we talked with some visiting missionaries who had been to visit Dianne Fossey’s compound in northern Rwanda. They had gone on a trek up the volcanoes and had seen the mountain gorillas. Since there is unrest in Burundi anyway, we decided we would try and see the mountain gorillas instead.

Kibogora is very isolated from the rest of the world. Deciding to go see the gorillas is not a minor change in plans. But with the use of a satellite phone and connections some missionaries had in Kigali, we were able to find out that it might be possible, if they tour had space available. All the tour offices were closed down for the holidays so there was no way to confirm.

Chuck and I decided we would take a chance and try to see the gorillas. If we could not see them, we would just spend a day in Kigali instead. At least we would have tried.

On the day after Christmas, Carol drove us one hour on dirt road to get to the paved road. We took a taxi (Volkswagen bus) for six hours to Kigali. We went to a hotel and checked in and then proceeded to the tourist bureau to get permits to see the mountain gorillas. When we arrived at the tourist bureau, they were closed.

We went back to the hotel and Chuck left me there while he went out scouting around. He came back an hour or so later with a taxi driver that could speak English. He wanted to introduce me to the drive and make sure I felt comfortable with him. Chuck contracted with the driver to pick us up at 5:00 am the following morning and take us up to the Dianne Fossey compound, where the gorilla treks start from.

The next morning our driver showed up and took us to the compound. We got there at 7:30 AM and were the first to arrive . When they opened the office Chuck went in and asked if they could take us up. They have strict limitations on tourists visiting the gorillas. Only 8 persons per gorilla family. There are 4 gorilla families. So only 32 people a day can see them. It just so happened that Chuck and I made up numbers 31 and 32.

The cost to see the gorillas is $250 US dollars per person. Chuck pulled out his credit card and they said no credit cards. Luckily, Chuck had exactly 5 $100 US dollars in his wallet - (and that is all he had). He pulled out the money and gave it to the man.

Chuck's version of the Gorilla Trek:

Nancy relayed the story of the getting to the gorillas. I am going to interject something before she continues with the African Adventure. She forgot to mention a very exciting adventure we had getting from Kibogora to Kigali.

The adventure started December 24 when Carol hired Daniel to go into Changugu (2 hours) and get us airplane tickets on the bush plane to Kigali.

Daniel went all the way to the little airport only to find out that there would not be a flight on our travel day, December 26. Therefore, he implemented the backup plan and purchased three seats (one seat for our luggage) on the Okapi taxi/bus.. Total cost of 3 seats and the services of Daniel was less than $10.

We left Kibogora at 7:30 AM the morning of December 26, 2003. Our Okapi taxi was scheduled to depart Changugu at 8:30, and would take about 30 minutes to reach our rendezvous spot. We drove for an hour on the dirt road and parked in front of the banana store at the junction with the paved road.

We waited there for about 30 minutes. There were a bunch of other people waiting there also. Apparently it was the "in" place to hang out. While we sat there watching down the road, waiting for the Okapi taxi to appear, the bystanders stood around and watched us!

Carol and Nancy used the toilet at the back of the banana store (and said that it was interesting), but I stayed with our luggage, watching the road and the bystanders. Finally, the Okapi arrived.

Here is a picture of our taxi.

Here I am at my jump seat by the window

Here is the inside view - note how everyone is using the white knuckle seat belt technique.

We were the only white guys in the taxi. We were feeling like glow in the dark stickers when one of the passengers spoke to us in English and it put us at ease. We learned that all the other passengers were members of an acrobat troop from the Congo. They showed us pictures of themselves piled high in the air on top of each other. They were on their way to Kigali to perform. I took a picture of Nancy with the troop so we could e-mail it to them later.

We arrived at Kigali about 1 PM. We drove to the tourist office to obtain our permits to view the gorillas only to learn that the President of Rwanda had announced that December 26th would be a state holiday. The tourist office that sells permission to view the gorillas is only open until noon on state holidays and was vacant when we arrived, so we could not purchase our permits. We had to improvise and get our permits at the base of the volcano where the gorillas live. Here is the field and mountain we climbed to get to the Volcano National Park where the Gorillas live. Another adventure that Nancy left out was the actual trek up the volcano to view the gorillas. It was straight up! The guides drove us to a farm field at the base of the volcano. Then we started walking. The park was at the top of the farm fields. After about an hour of strenuous climbing, we reached the park and a group of armed park rangers. Then the fun began. It was hand over hand up the hill, and if you grabbed a plant for help it turned out to be a stinging nettle. Ouch! We observed the gorilla family for our allotted hour. They moved and we had to follow. It was difficult to keep our footing. Everyone of the tourists fell on their butt at one time or another.

Here are a few photos that give some idea of the trek experience.

Here is the field and mountain we climbed to get to the Volcano National Park, where the gorillas live.

These are the guards just on the edge of the National Park. It is their job to protect the gorillas from poachers. There are only about 300 gorillas at this time, they are almost extinct.

Here is a picture of Nancy taking a picture of a gorilla. Notice how high we had to climb. It took us a long time to reach the top and by the time we got there Nancy was huffing and puffing.