Bushwacking for Gorillas

April Williams is our extraordinary excursion creator of HHNW. She organizes various trips for the staff who have days and/or shifts off duty so that we can all enjoy our experience in Rwanda.
Seven of us had signed up to visit the National Volcanoes Park to trek and track mountain gorillas. We sleepily met our drivers at 4:30 AM to make the 2.5 hour drive to the Volcanoes National Park. The drive was anything but boring. As the sun rose, the countryside showed it's many hills (Rwanda is called the "land of a thousand hills").

The very modern, well-built roads were lined with streams of people walking or biking with heavy loads on their heads or bikes towards the nearest or not so near morning market. What an impressive and humbling sight--women, small children and a few men, so industrious and diligent at 5 am!

The hillsides are lush and terraced. Every possible area is farmed on the steep hillsides. Rwanda is an agricultural country, growing most of it's own food, so that it is not dependent upon other countries for it's subsistence. Most of the farming appeared to done by the women and children (on school holiday) wearing the colorful traditional dress.

After arriving at the park and being assigned our guide, we drove over an incredibly rocky road to our "entrance" closest to the family of gorillas we were to view. Our hike began by walking through potato fields that encroach the park. This nation park is one of three bordering each other, one each in the adjacent countries of Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC. They are the protected home to the gorillas and the only place in the world where they live! How lucky are we to be in their habitat! The hike gave a new meaning to the word bushwacking. Porters carried our packs, sometimes led us by the hand, breaking trail using a machete through the jungle-like vegetation. Our guide was led by walky-talky messages from the three trackers who had found our family of 15 gorillas. As an aside, the trackers are mostly former gorilla poachers who have been employed in this far more acceptable vocation.) After 2.5 hours of climbing and traversing and wondering if were ever going to see gorillas, the trackers came into view. We quietly followed, cameras in hand and around the brushy bamboo, we saw our first female. What an incredible site! We watched her eat, stare at us, lay on her back and stare at us some more! We spent the next hour following 3 females, a two month old, a four year old and 2 silverbacks (males) move through the forest, eating, preening, playing and relaxing, showing no fear of the humans observing them. We hiked out a shorter way, tipped our guide and porters and into our cars, exhausted but thrilled with our amazing experience.