This is a post from Anne Mize, Wildlife Media board member, on her recent trip to Rwanda. Enjoy!
My daughter Meskie and I have just been in East Africa, visiting the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. We trekked to see them on two different days in Virungas National Park. This park scales three countries, Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda. It is comprised of a number of volcanoes, some still active. The gorillas live on slopes of these volcanoes in dense forested areas. The first day we trekked for nearly 3 hours through open pastureland, bamboo forests, and thick rain forests. At several points we were climbing or sliding down sheer ravines covered in nettles and vines. The exertion of the hike made our arrival at the Suza group of gorillas even more rewarding. There were 20 members of this group, including a pair of twin infants only days old. We watched as they nursed. The mother also had a pre-teen who interrupted the feeding in some very humorous ways. This group was fairly quiet and inactive compared to the group we trekked to the second day.
The second day we trekked for a shorter time through even denser forest. The trackers had located the Agasha group. “Agasha” means special and is one of the largest groups with 25 members. The reason the group is special is that it was created by a silverback who arrived from the outside. This is a unique situation as most groups are formed by young male gorillas called blackbacks who mature and change into silverbacks.
When we arrived we were immediately surrounded by gorillas above us, in front, and behind. Though we are instructed to be no closer to a gorilla than 7 meters the animals don’t know this rule! A number of toddlers were bouncing off of tree branches, climbing up and down vines, and occasionally using one of us as a balance point. Though we are instructed to remain silent it was impossible keep from laughing out loud at their antics. Adolescent boys would play fight and beat their chests, mimicking the great silverback, who remained an inert jungle gym. He was a base for much of the bouncing, trampolining, and rolling for many of the toddlers. Each of the troupe members leaned on, groomed, or rested next to the silverback. The duration of the viewing is one hour and it was very difficult to leave behind this powerful and moving experience of observing animals to whom we are so similar. We slowly climbed back to our gear and left knowing that the mountain gorillas in Rwanda are thriving due to the excellent conservation efforts of the Rwandan government and various NGOs.
