19
JULY 2005 ‚ 2030 HOURS ‚ VIRUNGA LODGE, RWANDA
After finishing the previous entry I did manage to get back to sleep seemingly
moments before the 5 a.m. wake-up call came in the form of one of the lodge guests
calling out "hello, hello" and bearing a tray with coffee service for two. Man
I felt like I'd been wrapped in cellophane and left in a wet place, but I managed
to rise, fix a cup and begin the process of organizing my day pack. Susan did
the same and we ran a little late, arriving at the dining room for breakfast
about 5:45. Thirty minutes later we were loaded up and making our way down the
mountain to the two-lane highway. A lot of the locals were already out and walking
from wherever to everywhere. A few miles later we were in the town of Ruhengeri
and then on the dirt road to the Parc Nacional des Volcans, whizzing by even
greater numbers of residents who would look upon us quizzically, but mostly without
the rancor I'd come face to face with in Kigali. Arriving at the Park's headquarters
at about 6:15 a.m., we waited a bit for some latecomers and eventually were attached
to the Sabyino Group, to be led by trackers Francis and Olivier. Other included
in our group were Rachel and Rory who we learned were from Vermont doing research
on international medicine; Natalie, from Belgium whose been living in Kigali
for five months, and her father Mark who is visiting. And last but not least
an elderly woman named Rachel, a Londoner originally from Belgium, who seemed
to be the most high maintenance of the group by demonstrating a reluctance to
join us and the least willing to listen to instruction. Before long we were off
for the ride to the staging area, and to consolidate vehicles we offered Natalie
and her dad ride with us.
We were on our way hiking shortly
before 8 a.m. through furrowed fields and farmland. Though the grade
was gentle, the 8,000-foot elevation was a bit taxing to Susan and
I and we soon found ourselves with Rachel bringing up the rear of the
group. Arriving at a marvelous stone wall made entirely of stacked
volcanic rock with a well-hidden passage between the stones, we were
given further instruction from Francis regarding how to handle ourselves
and behave before the gorillas and told they were perhaps only an hours
hike away. We were told that with the presence of biting ants and stinging
nettles we were to suffer in silence if we were to become inflicted
by either or both.
"Do
not cry out if you have pain as this may frighten the gorillas," He
said, pronouncing it go-ree-las. He spoke about enforcement of keeping
seven-meters distance between
us and the gorillas. There would be no flash photography. There would
be no removing anything from the park. Once we were close to the gorillas
we would drop our packs and walking sticks (provided for us before
setting out), and prepare our cameras before proceeding to them. The
armed soldiers, he told us, were there to provide us protection, not
from two-footed animals such as poachers or rebels, but from buffalo,
which can be terribly aggressive. He also said opportunities might
present themselves to see these buffalo and antelope as well as forest
elephants and golden monkeys along the way, but it was not guaranteed.
And then we were off, through a narrow disguised opening in the wall
that ran perpindicular to it and we were officially in the park.
I'm
pleased to report that my Garmin Forerunner performed flawlessly ‚ flawlessly!
I'm so glad I brought it along, not just because I could see that we were not
9,387 miles from our front porch, and that we were rising to an elevation of
8,600-feet, but also because it was a huge hit among the trackers and the guides
and my fellow guests who were curious as to the kind of watch I was wearing.
It wasn't long at all before
we were standing in a clearing and being advised that the gorillas
of the Sabyinyo Group of 11, including a 34-year old silverback named
Dajango (chest beater) who at 200 kilos (some 440 pounds) was the largest
silverback of all the five groups available for trekking, were nearby
and it was time to drop our sticks and packs and prepare our cameras.
Hastily I strung my belt pack on and loaded it up with my big zoom
lens and my camcorder, keeping the camera itself slung over my neck.
Thinking that "in the area" meant another quarter mile walk, when Susan
and I heard the low grumble come from just a few feet beyond us we
looked at each other wide-eyed and she said "Did you hear that?"
Oh yeah.
"That is the chief" said Francis.
Little did we realize that we were surrounded by gorillas. I found
the silhouette of one in the overgrowth above and then another mostly
unseen except for shaking branches high up in a tree to the right.
Then came another grumble directly behind us from a daynest built high
in the thick foliage ‚ the silverback again ‚ and after that the guides
and trackers were on the move below us having found one of the groups
females a few feet down the hillside.
I was very impressed with the
efforts of our guides and trackers. They could have just as easily
said that's where the gorilla is and we can only hope it makes its
way into view, but instead they endeavored to provide visual access
to the animals by moving the ground cover out of the way. Unfortunately,
their efforts were for naught because just as they succeeded in opening
things up, the female moved further away.
The hour we were allotted to
spend with this group had begun.
The next gorilla we found was
the second in command, a younger silverback, and we found him in full
recline and resting after what had perhaps been his morning meal. Exactly
opposite of the female who wasn't feeling like company, this male had
no qualms with us being less than 10 feet away. It didn't effect his
various states of repose one bit.
Needless to say, I took a lot
of pictures ‚ some 160 ‚ as well as somewhere in the neighborhood of
15 minutes of video, so I'll let that try be the last time I mention
that I clicked the shutter or rolled tape near incessantly during our
visit. It's somewhat of a given.
The next gorilla to make her
presence known to us was one that the guides had referred to as the "cheater." Apparently
she had recently made off for a week-long affair with another lone
silverbck before coming back to the group. The first one I had seen
in the trees above she had moved forward to a section where she now
reclined in full view leisurely munching on some 
greenery. She was
so beautiful and I was so moved to have the privilege to be in her
proximity that I couldn't help but tear up as the video camera rolled
zooming in close to her gorgeous eyes. I lingered filming her a little
bit after the group had moved on to view another female.
"This one has trouble with her
eye," Olivier said to the group and it was clear that her right eye
was watery and half-closed. I wondered what assistance might be provided,
but I assumed the answer was not a whole lot. Given that medical care
seems almost nonexistent among the people of this country, I just can't
see that the gorillas' healthcare coverage is any better. The next
gorilla we made our way to was the rowdiest of the bunch, a juvenile
male perched a few feet above us, he clearly took issue with me when
I stepped into a space about 12 feet away. Locking eyes with me I would
return his stare for a few moments before subverting my gaze in order
to avoid antagonizing him. It didn't really work and perhaps my submissive
behavior even egged him on. Reaching down he grabbed a long low branch
of the tree upon which he sat and swung it. While I was beyond the
bough's reach, one of the trackers got smacked full in the chest. Moments
later he made a false charge while staring at me and I just looked
down at my camera and he would back off. But then I'd raise my camera
to him and he would grab the branch and swing it again, thumping the
tracker in the chest. When he realized he wouldn't be able to reach
me, he tried to free another branch that was pinned down by the tracker's
foot. It was amazing to watch him really put his back into it trying
to yank that branch up perhaps in hopes it was length would be enough
to reach me. But when the tracker would relent his foot the gorilla
let it go in a bit of a huff and moved off into the seclusion of foliage
further away from us.
Moving now in a counter-clockwise
motion, we were now above where the silverback was resting and we circled
around to a vantage point that allowed us to see how massive he was
and find him in the company of a three-year old male who was busy snacking
about three-steps away from me. Work by the trackers and guides to
rouse the group's leader were soon successful and the chief sat up
revealing a massive head. In contrast to the juvenile male who confronted
me, the chief barely turned his head a quarter towards us, just enough
to glimpse his eyes. Barely a minute passed and suddenly he was on
the move, heading out through an opening onto the path we had just
made coming around to see him. And when he was through only then could
you see how huge he really was. He paused only briefly, still not even
so much as giving a look over his shoulder befor he moved up to where
the juvenile had been. Our 
guides urged us to hurry and we filled in
the space below him my camera clicking almost nonstop ‚ and finally,
he obliged me with a turn of his head enough to see his handsome face
before heading out of view.
As if that weren't enough, the
second-in-command was on the move now, too. Coming up from where he
had been resting, he ended up passing between me and Susan before taking
his position in an a small alcove of foliage that he immediately set
to eating. At one point he made a feint as if to charge one of the
trackers, but using a deep guttural sound the tracker kept him calm
and at bay. A few feet below the vice chief, the trackers thought they'd
found the pride of the Sabyinyo group ‚ its newest member, not quite
a year old and its mother ensconsed in a nest, but it proved to be
another young male who was no less a treat to watch as he nibbled on
greens and rolled about upon his back. But then the call came for us
to move and we literally and figuratively came full circle as we stepped
down returning to the clearing where we had first heard the silverback's
deep grumble. Except now the space was filled with three gorillas, the
mother, an adolescent brother and a male baby. I asked Olivier his
name.
"Direction," he replied, and
I paused a moment until it dawned on me how appropriate a name it was.
After all, this infant was proof this group was heading in the right
direction. The baby was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. As
it rested on its reclining mom's chest or wrestled with his good-natured
older brother, this trio was the picture of contentment despite having
this strange group of humans pointing clicking cameras and staring
at them. Neither the brother or the mother acknowledged us directly,
but at times the baby would stop cavorting and sit devoting his full
attention to us with his big beautiful eyes.
In a few minutes came the notice
from Francis that we should take our last pictures as it was time to
leave. And after another segment of video footage and a few more snaps
of the shutter, we were heading back down through the densely forested
mountain, both Susan and I in almost dumbfounded amazement at how perfect
the trek had been.
"It couldn't have gone better
if it were scripted," I said.
Outside the stone wall of the
park boundary, we rested a bit on the grass before making our way down
through the farmland to the vehicles for the journey back to park headquarters
and the presentation of our commemorative certificates of successful
completion of a gorilla trek. I'm at that rare loss for words to describe
how magnificent and astounding it was to be in the presence of such
noble creatures. Words seem trite and lacking when it comes to describing
the awe that filled me to be so close to something so jaw-droppingly
powerful as a 440-popund silverback, or something so playfully inquisitive
as a 20-pound infant. I told Olivier about Direction, "We may be looking
at the future leader of this group," and he smiled and nodded.
"Most certainly."
In the guestbook back at park
headquarters I wrote "This experience exceeded my most wild expectations
and the gorillas were a privilege to behold." I hope to be able to
come back and see them again someday ‚ oh wait! That day is tomorrow!