MZUNGU IN THE MIST (or gorillas, really)

MZUNGU = White person, which is what they call us around here (but not in a negative way).

Crossed the equator the other day and into Rwanda. Went through Kilgari, the capital, and then on to Ruhengeri, which is where we are now. Yesterday we did the treck up to see the gorillas. Got up at 5:00, had a quick bite, then hopped in a little taxi/bus and off we went. Met our guide at the base of the hill and off we went on our treck up the side of the hill and through the brush. First part was mostly a wet overgrown, jungle trail but when we reached the ridge and saw the gorillas for the first time (on the other side of a ravine), the guides broke out the machetes and began to do some serious bush whacking. We rapelled down a steep slope on a vine (no, I am not kidding) and literally cut away roots and bushes to make our trail and even then still had to climb under, over and around all sorts of other things that clogged our way. Needless to say our asses were all quite black by the time we came out on the other side where the gorillas were. I think we saw about 8 of them: a silverback, three babies and the mother gorillas. The babies were crawling all over each other and hitting each other and tumbling down the hill. Think the highlight was being charged by the silverback. Think I almost had heart failure as I was about three feet from him. Of course, I was cowering in the bushes trying to blend in and the guides were telling us to stand back up. I wasn’t too keen on standing up while three feet from a massive gorilla who was staring at me.

It was amazing to be so close to them. They were literally walking around us and popping up out of nowhere, just strolling through. I cannot describe how magical it was to be up there.

On the way back, out truck broke down, actually we found out later that it ran out of gas. Apparently something that is quite common around here. A bunch of kids pushed until we could get to a hill and the driver could get the car back to town. Meanwhile us muzungu got packed into a small flatbed truck and jostled down the bumpy road back to town. Finished the day with several primus beers and lots of laughs and amazement at the day we just had.
Tomorrow we are off to Queen Elizabeth NP, which also should be quite spectacular