The Inevitable Gorilla Posting

Well, I guess it had to happen sometime but it took an impending price hike to finally motivate me to see the Gorillas for the first time, over 3 years after I arrived in Rwanda! There were some practical reasons for my procrastination…my visa and working permit, which allow me to get residents rates on the Gorilla visit, go into a 2-3 month renewal cycle every year during which I don’t have a valid work permit and can’t get the cheaper rates ($175 USD instead of $375). And then when I had the permit, no one I knew was going to see them. Being without a car and unable to drive (I’ve never learned), I was holding out hoping to hitch a ride with someone sometime, it just never happened. So, at the 11^th hour, being that the Gorilla visit price is going up to $500 USD for non residents and, I think, $250-300 USD for residents on the 1^st June, I made it up to Volcanoes National Park to see the beasts on Sunday.

Strangely enough the guide on our trip was trying to sell the line that the price increase was in order to have less people visiting the gorillas and hence help conservation. But after some questioning, he admitted that the same number permits would still be available after the price hike. Surely if the rationale of wanting less visitors would require that less permits were available at a higher price, rather than simply hoping a price increase would “put people off”? The economics are not right because when you have a monopoly (ie Mountain Gorillas), it is the provider that set the price. It’s more likely a move in line with Rwanda’s policy of pricing all but the very rich out of its tourist market. The government want low volume, high end tourism all the way. I do worry about how this will affect (ie worsen) the already strange relationship/opinon that most Rwandese have with foreigners (both visitors and residents). Especially in areas like Ruhengeri, around the Gorillas, where foreigners are see as a licence to print money and some cycling enthasit friends had rocks thrown at them by children, who also tried to pull them off their bikes! But I digress…the post is about Gorillas, not the future of tourism in Rwanda.

We’d had a rather successful BBQ on Saturday at a friend’s house and, after surviving a run in with the neighbourhood police at my house (more on that in another posting) I engaged in some serious wine consumption. Before I knew it, it was after midnight and I’d just left some friends at Cadillac nightclub, having decided that with less than 4 hours of possible sleep it was time to call it a night. It seemed like 10 minutes later, my alarm went and Robert, the car hire guy was outside my window. We picked up Gunther, a German intern working for Maurice (a regular commenter on this site), who was also taking advantage of the last weekend of cut price primates, and left Kigali around 04:30.

We made it to the park head quarters at 06:45, just in time for the 07:00 reporting time. Of course I knew there was no way we’d get under way before 08:00, as there needed to be sufficient time for the mandatory faff around involved in allocating the various visitors to the 7 groups of Gorillas, but at least there was tea and coffee on offer. There was quite a crowd as it seemed all permits were sold out for the day…this usually happens on weekends and in high season. We were asked to show our permit to the man behind the desk but it later occurred to me that none of the guides or people organising the visitors outside the office asked to see my permit receipt. I wonder if I couldn’t have see the Gorillas for free! I wanted to see the Sabinyo group, although I couldn’t remember why this group had stuck in my head I knew it was smaller than other groups but had more “children” gorillas and tended to be active. There was a guy allocating people to groups who initially wanted me and Gunther to join a different group but I figured if we just lurked around the Sabinyo guide and visitor group, he would eventually give in…and it worked.

Thankfully just as the trek was about to start, my stomach settled down. It looked for a while like my overactive guts were going to be a problem…my intestines have never been the same since that time I had amoebic dysentery in Tz, and they tend to protest after heavily alcohol consumption…or maybe it was the dodgy burger at Cadillac. From the park headquarters, you need to drive another 40mins or so to the trail heads. Sabinyo are one of the nearer groups which require less trekking through the jungle to find, but I didn’t expect much of a hike as its also the rainy season and the Gorillas are further down the mountain. We need to walk for about 20-30mins through farmland before reaching the forest proper. Our guide had initially said we’d need about 40mins along the forest trails to reach the group, but in fact the Gorillas moved down to meet us and I’d say we barely trekked 20 mins before we came to the spot to leave our packs and cut our way to the group. Back in Kigali, P later claimed that he’d called the Gorillas to say that a mucchiro - the kinyarwanda word for old lady, equivalent to mzee for men, and P’s pet name for me - was on her way and that they shouldn’t give me a hard time. I find this claim a bit dubious as the DVB-T comms link on Mount Karisimbi won’t be operational till later this year J For more info on that for the technically inclined see Rwanda Gateway or the Ministry of Infrastructure page.

At the point where we left the trail, we were told to carry only our cameras and any small valuables (wallet, phone etc). At this point the tracker, as distinct from the guide, takes his machete and hacks a path for the visitors in the dense undergrowth. Less than 5 mins later two juveniles, brothers 8 and 5 years old apparently, sprung onto a vine right before us and began to get on with some monkey business, climbing above our heads, beating their chests and generally larking around. Some short time later they were followed by a third, much younger gorilla who followed them half way up but was noticeable less confident on the branches than the others. They moved on after 5-10mins and we moved around the in undergrowth a bit to where we could see some of the 3 females in the family with the babies. At one point, the tracker hacked some undergrowth to reveal a female who looked to be posing there for us, reclining a little and munching on a stalk.

We stayed there for some time watching them to their stuff while the tracker went off to look for the silverback and the guide made soothing noises…just like Sigourney Weaver in Gorillas in the Mist. Then the first of many incidents which have led me to conclude that Gorilla tracking should more aptly be called Gorilla avoidance! The reclining female gorilla suddenly made a move along the track where we were standing…causing mass confusion as to what to do. We were told back at the park HQ to maintain a 7m distance from the Gorillas, but with 10 people in dense forest, having slippery slopes and vines to trap your feet there’s not a whole lot of places you can manoeuvre to real fast. It was quite exciting though – and they are so close to you all the time!

By then the tracker had spotted the Silverback, just 10-20m away but completely invisible in the surroundings. We went to a spot where we got an excellent view of him sitting, just like in the movies, then later rolling over and scratching his arse. One of the babies was rolling around near the Silverback and looked adorable. Later the 5 and 8 year old joined the Silverback for some play. The guide said it was rare for the Silverback to play, it only happened in Bamboo season (twice a year), as the bamboo has a mild alcohol content which lightens everybody up. I was gratified to hear, that as one of our closest relatives, Gorillas also like to get pissed. We stayed with the frocking father and kids for a while and moved up and around the forest to a position almost exactly behind the Silverback in his “nest” of vegetation. It was here that I noticed something they don’t really mention to you…the particular smell of a Gorilla. I thought it was some kind of vegetation we’d cut, someone else on the tour described it was almost vinegar like, but it was mustier than that. Certainly nothing like what I might have imagined a Gorilla would smell like…what ever that might have been.

After sometime viewing downwind of the Gorillas, we had the same female pass by us, causing confusion, movement and some adrenaline. But not long later the Silverback charged at us…now that was really something. He quite literally came out of nowhere and moved with a speed you wouldn’t associate with his size. He reared up to full height as we moved back – a formidable sight, esp since he is the largest Silverback on the mountain. Some minutes later one of the juveniles got playful and made a run at us, even dragging one of the visitors down an incline with him for about a meter. And with that our hour was up. I don’t think I could have asked for more from a Gorilla visit.

There had been a camera man with us, shooting for a Rwanda promotional video and I got interviewed on what I’d thought of the Gorillas and Rwanda. Wonder where it will end up? And if I’ll be used for propaganda?