Caro: We were collected in a pair of 4WDs at 6.15am and driven to the Headquarters at Park National des Volcanos for tea and coffee and to be allocated our groups. The groups are no larger than eight people, and there are 14 habituated families – seven for tourists and seven for research. We were 17 people (the group + Emily, who despite leading this trip three times, had never seen the gorillas before) so we knew we would be spread across at least 3 groups.
In the preceding days several of us had commented that we would like to visit the gorilla family that was high up on the highest volcano – mainly because we were eager for the challenge of the long, tough walk (which can be up to four hours up, four hours back depending on where the gorillas are hanging out) – but also because that is where the biggest gorilla family is. We wondered whether they chose the strongest looking people for this trek – if so, we wondered what our competition looked like 
In the end, we were able to split ourselves into two groups, and Emily joined a group of other travellers. Our group were thrilled to discover that we had been allocated the gorillas we wanted – the Susa family. It is by far the largest group with forty members (many of the others are sub-ten members). It has six Silverbacks and many babies, including one that is just 2 months old. And we were told that they were currently quite low on the mountain dining on bamboo shoots – a favourite food which the locals call Gorilla beer, because it makes them act a little drunk.
Tim: There are three main mountains that the Gorillas inhabit in the VNP. The one we were due to head up was around a 50minute drive. As we drove off the main road , the 4WD kicked in and made it’s way slowly up the very rugged track. Looking back, we could see the Rwandan landscape, drenched with mist in the valleys, with the mountain tops emerging – a truly spectacular place.
Once out of the car, we were given the option of using a porter, the group took four with us. Stobie was the only one who merited it as he was taking a fair bit of camera equipment, but the rest of us decided to because of the benefit in creating a source of income for the locals. There are eight porters who operate for Susa family and they run as a co-operative as their earnings go towards building communal accommodation buying livestock and helps ensure they don’t feel the need to earn a living by poaching the gorillas, which is what used to happen.
So, we were eight, with two VNP guides, two armed guards and four porters. With our bamboo canes in hand, we were off. The way up was through farmland, so we got to see the locals at work in the fields. The going was moderate, and we stopped enough to make it feel pretty easy. After around 30mins we approached the edge of the forest. It was here that Dee, our lead guide gave us a briefing on what and what not to do when we were with the gorillas. One of the things that surprised us was that eye contact was important (no sunglasses), but we had the impression that direct eye to eye contact might cause aggression – not the case, but taking on a gorilla at a stare out is not an easy thing to do!
Then we were into the forest. The main thing that Dee told us was that once we met with the trackers, we would only be a couple of minutes from our gorilla encounter, so we would be dumping all our gear, save our cameras, and heading off, leaving the porters to take our stuff back out.
Worth mentioning, that the park authorities have trackers with the gorillas pretty much all the time. They stay with them until they make their ‘nest’ in the evening and then return first thing the next morning. This achieves two things – one to help deter poachers and two, to help the guides deliver a successful visit to the gorillas.
The going in the forest was pretty straightforward. A little muddy, a little slippery, pretty overgrown in parts, but fairly straightforward walking. We were anticipating around a 60min trek in the forest itself, once we had been walking for 15 minutes Dee turned around and said, “I’m sorry. Unfortunately, we won’t be going any further…” I actually thought he was suggesting the Gorillas were inaccessible, but instead he was apologising for the brevity of the walk “we were expecting to walk for an hour, but the gorillas are two minutes away” – the adrenaline started pumping.
Getting our cameras together was a bit of a frenzy, but Dee was quickly leading the way further up the hill, followed very closely by Caro and then myself, with the others behind, including Denise (the other guide) and one of the trackers. Dee was making noises emulating a gorilla, so gorilla speak! He was effectively saying, “Hello, how’s it? We’ve got another group of tourist here to watch you for an hour. If you’ve got a problem, let me know, otherwise we’re coming through!’’.
We rounded the corner, and there was a silverback standing in the middle of the pathway about five metres away. Even though we were expecting to see them, it still was a huge shock. Dee very quickly got Caro to sit down on a log three metres in front of the gorillas and we started taking photos. Caro swapped with Steve, then John, then Stobie, then Kirk, and then the silverback started walking towards us, and got onto the log we had been sitting on. He was on all fours, with his forearms were straight leaning on the log. With a small but powerful thrust down through his forearms he caused the log to creak beneath him (given the log supported Kirk weighing in at 95kg, this was pretty impressive). He then strolled off down the pathway literally no more than two foot away from us.
We followed the silverback for a bit down the path, at which point Dee said “Let’s go and see the rest of them”. In all the excitement, I think a lot of us thought that might have been it, but there was much more to come.
Walking a little further, we approached a clearing, measuring around 15m by 20m. And we were immediately greeted by several young ones, cart wheeling and tumbling together.
The gorillas are best summed up by photos and video, but they are truly amazing. Their look and mannerisms are fascinating, and frighteningly human at times. The gorillas were playing, relaxing or eating bamboo – just very generally chilling out. We saw five of the Silverbacks – the only one we didn’t see was the dominant male – along with some black backs, females, juveniles/teenagers and babies. All in all about 20 gorillas of the group. They were incredibly lively for most of the hour – though towards the end a few of them wandered off. And Silverback number two (the numbers represent their place in the pecking order) passed out in front of us. That was when the references to bamboo beer really made sense!
And this one appeared to have a sore head – bamboo beer headache maybe?
A highlight for me was when Dee asked who hadn’t had their photo taken with the gorillas. I stuck my hand up and walked out and crouched down about three metres in front of them. Suddenly, someone said ‘’watch out!” and I saw Dee approaching me. Then a gorilla gave me a two handed slap on the back and pranced off to the left. I wasn‘t sure whether he would come back and give me another one, but very quickly Dee led me away. It was all captured by Kirk on camera, and we couldn’t stop from laughing.
Another classic moment was when one of the smaller gorillas climbed a tree, which promptly fell over from its weight!
The babies were an absolute delight…
The hour (the authorities only allow one hour of human contact per group per day) was up what seemed in like ten minutes, and we were led out of the forest. We re-grouped with our bags on the edge of the forest, taking the obligatory team photos and sorting out a tip for the three trackers.
Once back at the car we sorted out tips for the guides and armed guards, and paid the porters.
The trip had certainly reached the climax. Strangely, I felt that it was all a little surreal. It’s really weird to experience those animals in such close proximity.
For the rest of the day we relived the experience through the photos and videos that we took. The second group had seen the Amahoro family (16 members, they saw 10), and had been mock charged six times by a silverback, which I understand was hugely scary and pretty exciting too. Emily saw Sabinyo (8 members) – which included a heavily pregnant female. So we all had very different experiences – and all had an amazing time.
We were visited during the afternoon by Bora, a 15-year old orphan who lives just outside Ruhengeri. Bora lives by himself – cooking his meals and getting himself to school each day. He met a Dragoman traveller some months ago who now is helping “sponsor” him. And Bora calls down and has a cuppa with the Dragoman groups whenever they come to town (usually once a fortnight). Plus, he’s a great cook – so he and Denford cooked us a great chicken curry and chapatis. It was great to spend some time with Bora and I got the sense that the social interaction he gets from the Dragoman groups really makes a difference to him. Some people to show an interest in him, ask him how he’s getting on at school – that sort of thing.
After dinner we walked into town for beers at a local pub but most of us headed home early to bed.
