Kenya Migration and Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Trek trip report, Aug. 2005
Part 4

RAWANDA and the Mountain Gorilla's of the Vurunga mountains.
Enjoy Please!

On the next day were to hike to Dian Fossey's tomb but we could not manage another early morning to be ready at 0600hr, so our guide took us out all day and we immersed ourselves in the people of Rwanda, we had a glorious day, shopping, going through local markets and buying writing pens for the children with school uniforms on. Lots of colorful clothing and women with giant loads on top their heads, they have to get the water of the day from a center source. Life is different in the highlands than the city. All the women walk with hoe's in hand, babies on backs and lots of children around. Where are the men? They have very fertile ground up here and grow lots of crops, everyone seems healthy at least, every piece of land is used in Rwanda. It is a very small mountainous country with a lot of people living here.

August 27 is our last trek with the Gorillas (we planned 2 for this trip with a day in between to rest) this is where 4 out of 5 of us wanted to do the Susa family of 38. I am so excited to see this very special family with the new baby who was 3 or 4 days old now, plus a set of twins that are 14 months old, very rare to have twins survive. Plus 4 Silverbacks and many other toddlers and sub adults. There is only one prominent Silver back in a group, he does all the mating and decision making for the group. If another Silver back is caught mating with a female of the group, he is punished severely and beaten. Eventually he will make his own group if he can convince some females to leave the comfort of the family group. Amazing is the hierarchy of the Gorilla families.

Ok so were are outside our skin with excitement to get picked for Susa, wondering how difficult this trek will be as it is the most difficult of the families in the Varunga's. Well it was hard as it starts straight up for a long time, and never stops! Difficult breathing at this elevation and constant climbing, we took several breaks as some were slower, we were grateful for those short breaks to catch our breaths. Luck was with us once again, the family was very close as they did not travel to far up with a newborn!! Yippeeee. So what appeared to be hard due to the elevation and machete cut path only, (we were literally in the middle of the thick jungle with no path walking on stinging nettles and no real ground below us, we were walking on vines) was a fairly short trek to the Gorilla's.

We got there pretty much at the start of their 2nd rest of the day at 12 noon. We were in shock and total amazement. After a shocking trek thru thick jungle, we opened up to a flat sunny area and counted 33 of the 38 Gorillas in Susa group all out for us to see!!! THIS IS AMAZING, one of the most amazing sights I have yet to witness on earth. Everywhere you looked where gorilla's all napping or grooming each other or playing! I had 3 toddlers frolicking at my feet playing peek a boo and tumbling all over near us! The head Silverback was beyond words, then he rolled over on his back and his rib cage was gigantic! He yawned and John in our group got a great image of rather ugly teeth and a black tongue! We saw Poppy with her new born and were able to get good close up photo's with our long lens of the little baby! She is the oldest female at 29, she is the only one that new Dian Fossey. How amazing to see this giant female walking with this tiny bundle, she breast fed and they slept in peace. This sight was too amazing for the right words to describe.

None of us knew what to say, we all looked at each other with no words. I still have no words for this magic time we spent with the Susa family, this is a very special loved family of Mountain Gorillas! I thank God for the opportunity to be one of the few people in the world to have witnessed such beauty and magic in a difficult yet beautiful setting. This is beyond anything we could have ever hoped or dreamed we would experience for this part of our journey to Africa. We were in the heart of Africa, and we were beyond words, this is a time of reverence. I will never forget when the guides would find the Gorilla's for us and get us set up so we all had a good spot for viewing and photography, they would say 'enjoy please'.

*As a side note, Dian Fossey single handedly allowed the Mountain Gorillas species of primates to survive. She fought the poachers and brought awareness of the Gorillas to the people of Rwanda and the world, her death is still a mystery.