A privileged hour with the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga

Volcanoes National Park headquarters

A girl digging up potatoes

Seven in the morning we had to report to the park office where we were briefed on the etiquette of visiting the gorillas while sipping some fine Rwandan tea. The mountain gorillas are critically endangered but at the same time are a valuable source of revenue for the government and the local communities around the Virunga Mountains so the Rwandan Development Board has a delicate balancing act to execute.

The local kids waving and running beside us

So as not to stress the gorillas they have habituated ten different families and have strict rules of only one visit per day to each of these groups. Additionally, the maximum time the trekkers are allowed to spend with the gorillas is an hour; there is also no physical contact allowed.

Well…the rules of physical contact are only applicable to humans because a colleague of mine from Liberia told of his tale when a female gorilla came and sat beside his wife and ran her hand through her hair. I don't think any gorilla would try that with me :) but anything remotely as thrilling as that and I would be a happy trekker.

Starting our hike from the base of the mountain
as the villagers look on

Shy!

At the office, the guides were to take stock of all the trekkers who had reported that morning and based on their fitness levels recommend the group of gorillas they should trek. Late March was the beginning of the rainy season in Rwanda and a positive of doing the gorilla trek in the rainy season was that we could potentially visit any of the gorilla groups as there weren’t many tourists lining up for the trek in the soggy weather. The flip side was also the weather as the steep slopes which are normally challenging enough become more so in the damp, and cold rains.

Both Silvia and I were keen to visit the Susa group. This group lived at higher altitudes on the Karisimbi peak which makes them harder to track. This was also the group originally studied by Dian Fossey of the “Gorilla in the Mist” fame and was the largest group of them all making the allure of seeing them all the more intense. Both of us were up for a challenging hike so we asked Theodore, our guide from the previous day, to use his influence with the park authorities to let us pick the Susa group.

Following the tracker through the potato fields

While we sipped our tea, all the guides huddled up to decide which group everyone was going to be assigned while we waited hoping that Theodore, who was also in the huddle, would succeed. The chief of the guides came back to us saying that he would not recommend that we visit the Susa group. The weather looked ominous with rain forecasted for later in the day so he suggested that we visit a different group much closer and less difficult to get to.

We had already planned to persist with the idea of the Susa group incase they came back suggesting otherwise and our perseverance worked because they eventually relented. I don't think it is normal for the trekkers to pick and choose their groups but I guess our gentle persuasion paid off. Their concern about the weather being bad and us not having a quality experience with the gorillas was valid but I remain unconvinced if they genuinely cared about our experience or were not too keen on sending the team of trackers and guide just for the two of us to the mountain in search of the Susa group.

In the cloud forest

Stinging nettle

Trees

The guide assigned to us drove with us from the park office to the base of Mount Karisimbi which was a drive of about an hour and half. Then at a small village we got down where a couple of our trackers and guards were waiting for us. The mountain gorillas in Rwanda, DRC and Uganda are monitored by trackers everyday and because of this, their general location is known so although it’s never know where exactly the gorillas will be the next day, they can be tracked down consistently in a few hours. Soon, we began the climb up the mountain along with our guide, one tracker and two guards; quite a team for just the two of us but I was not complaining.

At first we passed small hamlets surrounded by potato farms which seemed to be the crop of choice in the rich volcanic soil of the Virungas. As we passed each hamlet more and more kids joined forming a big train and they got a big kick out of following us and getting their pictures taken.

Soon we made to the edge of the bamboo forest where the kids turned around and returned to their homes as we were entering the domain of the gorillas. The hike through the bamboo forest was surreal and the stand of the indigenous bamboo shoots was quite different from the invasive Asian variety I have encountered so often in Africa.

Once we crossed an elevation of about two thousand meters the bamboo forest gave way to dense cloud forest and it was time to pull over the gloves since we were in the midst of stinging nettles. Although my hands were protected, that didn't stop the menacing little plants penetrating through my trousers and give a burning sting. The itch was discomforting but the hike had to go on as the weather looked menacing.

Soon enough the heavens opened and now in addition to the guide, trackers and guards we had a cold rain that would accompany all the way until an elevation of 3400-3500 meters. This was the altitude where the Susa group was last spotted. While we were hiking up the mountain, there were a few trackers already at this altitude trying to locate the exact location of the gorillas.

Igisha, the sliverback getting rid of the water from his fur

Feeding time after the rains

I could hear our guide communicating with these advanced trackers over a radio so I turned around to ask him how far we were and before I could complete my sentence I saw a dark figure in among the lush vegetation from the corner of my eye.

It took a few seconds to register but this was it ….I was just a few feet from a mountain gorilla. The next moment I was staring straight into the deep eyes of a creature with whom I share my prehistoric ancestor. The mother was sheltering her baby from the now torrid rain pounding on us. She sat motionless just occasionally looking up at this silly tourist who had trekked all this way up in the cold rain to seemingly disturb her peace.

A little further was the whole family but they were all sheltering in the undergrowth trying to wait out the rain. Below is a video of a mother holding her baby gorilla in her hand and waiting out the rain.

At this point I was no longer walking and the rain had completed soaked me. After consultation with the guide we decided to wait out the rain under a nearby tree because we wanted to use the remaining time of our allotted one hour with the gorillas in better weather.

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The problem with being wet and waiting at that altitude was that it was downright freezing. The clothes were all soaked and I could barely feel my hands but still tried to rub them together to keep some sensation alive…I still have to take pictures and couldn't afford numb fingers. It’s pretty amazing how the gorillas manage to live comfortably in this cold wet climate. They really are the creatures that life in the misty mountains.

I don't know how long we waited under that tree but it seemed almost like an hour but finally the rains relented and we got out of our frozen state and it was perfect timing because the whole family came out of their slumber lead by the silverback. I was so cold my hands were shivering so my pictures are not the best and the videos might also have a slight wobble but it was really difficult to keep the hands still in the cold. Below are a few videos of the time I spend with the Susa family.

It was important that I put my camera back for a few minutes to just sit back and enjoy being in their presence because our time with them was soon going to end. As they headed further up the slopes in search for food we headed back down with the immense satisfaction of finally having come close to the gorillas.

My trip to Rwanda was always going to be about these magnificent animals of which there are less than 900 left in the wild today. Today, thanks to the money brought in by eco-tourism and the resulting conservation efforts in countries like Rwanda, Uganda and to a lesser extent the Democratic Republic of Congo they population has stabilized. Unfortunately since a mature gorilla gives birth once every few years, the population rise over the past few years is still too slow because these amazing creatures could head towards extinction by either habitat loss or disease from us humans which is today their biggest threat.

The amazing domain of the mountain gorilla

Making our way back down after a lifetime experience

The experience with the mountain gorillas was completely different from my previous experiences in Gabon and Cameroon. There the gorillas were not habituated and they are not tracked daily so when I set out to see them there was no guarantee I would see anything. It could take days and still come up cropper.

That was a thrilling experience not for actually seeing the gorillas but for the feel of being in real wilderness far away from civilization. The fun was in the whole experience of TRYING to see them.

I always thought that Rwanda would be less wild and less exciting but it was amazing in its own right. I won’t term Rwanda as real wilderness…where one gets the feeling of being an intrepid explorer but we were still in the mountainous jungles and it was a stiff hike to get to them. The gorillas are wild as well but the sense of adventure was less as compared to Gabon/Cameroon. What the nations in the west could not beat was seeing completely natural behavior of the gorillas so close to me. That feeling of being so close to the gorillas on foot was exhilarating enough to match the Gabon/Cameroon experiences and well worth the extra costs.

Soaked...but happy

Both gorilla experiences will linger in my memories long but for completely different reason...As I look back I think I am glad I did both and in that order because had I see the habituated gorillas in East Africa first I would have been a little disappointed with the lowland gorillas in the West.

I may never get another opportunity to see wild gorillas but after Rwanda I don't have any regrets.

The Susa group

Thanks to people like Dian Fossey who spend their entire lives studying and habituating the gorillas we the tourist can cherish such an experience. She must have faced severe adversity in overcoming the hunter-prey relationship between humans and gorillas but through the persistence and years of hard work of people like her we get to see them today. She might not have been unanimously popular and an ideal model for conservation as we see it today but then who is perfect. She alteast had a passion and lived and died living it.

Thanks to people like her and many more who are not as famous I was able to fulfill a life long desire of being close to the gorillas. Gratitude also to the Susa group for accepting our presence and allowing up a privileged view into their life. Here’s hoping that they live long!