Trekking to the Gorillas
I’m not quite sure how to convey this experience to all of you. Magical. Sweet. Special. Once in a lifetime. Beautiful. Emotional. I still have tears in my eyes a day later when I think of sitting in the middle of this family of gorillas. Before I get to the pictures, let me tell you a little about mountain gorillas and a little about the logistics of how we went about trekking up to see them.
There are only about one thousand mountain gorillas in the world and they can only be found in the Bwindi impenetrable forest in Uganda, the slopes of Virunga Volcanoes Park in Rwanda, and the Congo. There are none in zoos. You may remember the movie from the 80s (of the old 1900s) Gorillas in the Mist: those are mountain gorillas. They share about 97% DNA with us and differ from monkeys in that they: are larger (350+ pounds), walk upright for a longer period of time, don’t have tails, and have more developed brains.
Trekking with the gorillas in Rwanda is not a last minute kind of thing you can do. The Rwanda Development Board only issues eight permits per gorilla family per day and there are only ten gorilla families that tourists have access to. This is to protect the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.
Permits are pricey, but 10% of the revenue from the permits is given back to the local communities. The local communities have complete control over how they use the money (no big brother government telling them how to use the money). The community elders create a list of projects (schools, health clinics, roads, etc.) and the community votes on prioritizing the projects. There is also a compensation fund for local farmers for any damage to crops done by the gorillas, which helps to ensure peaceful co-existence and eliminate poaching. Many former poachers now work actively in the gorilla tourism industry, acting as porters and guides.
Each gorilla family has its own turf on the mountain and treks range from fairly easy to very hard depending on where on the mountain they are. We like to think of ourselves as pretty fit and we like hiking and the outdoors, so we were inclined to ask for a hard hike. Our local guide, Bridge, encouraged us to ask for a moderate hike so we wouldn’t be too worn out when we finally found the gorillas. I’m so glad Bridge encouraged us to request a moderate hike and that he was able to arrange Emanuel as our gorilla guide. Emanuel was recommended to us by a couple we befriended at Magashi Camp (thanks Gabi and Eduardo!) and he was amazing. He’s from one of the local villages where his first encounter with the gorillas was at four years old and his love for them is so apparent. He knew he wanted to be a guide from the time he was just eight. Fortunately, he also knew how to communicate with thr gorillas using their grunts and vocalizations.
The Gorilla family we were so fortunate to see was the Amahoro Family.
“Amahoro” is Kinyarwandan for peace. The Amahoro group is considered the most peaceful mountain gorilla family. The family is led by the dominant silverback Ubumwe. Getting to this gorilla group is a little tough because it involves hiking. Most often the Amahoro gorilla group is observed roaming on the slopes of Mountain Bisoke and those trekking it should expect a medium to harder but awesome experience. They are one of the safest mountain gorilla families to track since they rarely get emotional.
Our hike was about 3.75 miles (6 km) total with about a mile of it straight up a muddy, slippery slope lined with stinging nettles. I like to think I’m in shape, but I’ve clearly lost some of my high-altitude lung capacity. When we finally met up with the gorillas, we were at about 9,650 ft in elevation and I was out of breath. Every single step up that mountain was worth it to spend an hour with those gorillas though. I would do it a hundred times and would have hiked miles more (thank god I didn’t have to!).
Watching the young ones play and stumble like toddlers; hearing the group grunt and make rumbling noises in their throats communicating with each other; feeling their quiet, relaxed nature around us and seeing their feet, so similar yet so different from ours… I don’t think you can quite get the feeling from the pictures or the videos but I tried. And I know every time I look at these moments I captured, I’ll find that same sense of awe I felt on that mountain.
🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍🦍
Generally speaking, we book most of our own travel. But when we’re going to spend good money on a quality experience we want expert advice. If you're planning a trip to Africa, I can highly recommend Mango African Safaris. This trip is the third time we’ve used them and i’d urge you to do the same.