So I finally went to see the gorillas. I had been debating this with myself for a long time – I had no burning desire to go but at the same time it is what Rwanda is best known for (in a positive sense, anyway). In the end, it was Karen and Melanie sending around an email wondering if anyone else wanted to accompany them that finally got me going.
We headed up to Musanze on Friday (I thought we would continue on to Ruhengeri where the ORTPN – Rwandan tourist centre – is located, until Melanie or Karen gently informed me that Musanze IS Ruhengeri, yet another of the confusing name changes of recent years – c.f. Rusizi/Cyangugu, Gitarama/Muhanga, Gikongoro/Nyamagabe, Butare/Huye and many, many more). We stayed in the Bamboo Inn, whose rooms were amazingly good value at RWF6000 per night for one, RWF10,000 for two but everything else was pretty much to be avoided (Alfred: When Ruairí was sorting out the drinks bill the first night, the two fair maidens having taken to their beds as a sensible hour, he was a bit shocked to be told a Mutzig was RWF1500, which is what you would pay in a pretty fancy bar in Kigali. Apollinaire’s (the manager) response – ‘Mais oui, monsieur, nous sommes un hôtel’ – really tested Ruairí’s powers of self-restraint to the maximum). Good cheap place to stay for seeing the gorillas but go elsewhere for your food and drink.
Anyway, our driver picked us up the next day and off we headed. It was all pretty straightforward – up to the centre, form into groups of eight and we were going to see group 13, one of the middle-distance groups so a reasonable walk but not too far. Our groups was composed of one Swede, one Brazilian, one Uruguayan, two South Africans, one Englishwoman and two Irish – pretty eclectic all told. Melanie did ask me if I had brought Alfred along as well but I explained that he didn’t do family reunions very well (Alfred: Huh? It’s not like I’m not used to not being brought along on anything interesting that is going on ... but what the hell does he mean by ‘family’? I’m a BEAR!! You gotta go pretty far back the evolutionary tree before that becomes true, way way beyond where Ruairí was sitting in a marshy clearing picking his fur clean, scratching his hairy behind and munching on bamboo shoots!)
Anyway, long story short, we drove a short way and then walked a surprisingly short way again until we got to the group. We spent most of our time watching the silverback and the babies/juveniles who were together – the females were off feeding individually apart from one who was nearby with a baby on her back and all the little ones had been left with the silverback (whose name is Agashya, though I am not sure he is aware of this fact himself). Other juveniles, slightly bigger, were playing in the vines hanging down the cliff-face behind the group.
We had been told to stay seven metres away from the gorillas at all times but, what with them wandering around and, I think, once the guides could see they were settled and calm, we ended up a lot closer than that quite a lot of the time!!
Anyway, you can see the photos below. It was a great experience but, hand on heart, I can’t say it completely blew my mind the way so many other people had told me it did. I am absolutely glad I did it (even if the entire experience – park fee, driver, travel and accommodation – came to over $300 or one month’s allowance) but ... I don’t know, thought it would be a little more magical somehow (Alfred: Can’t say I am surprised – look back at the very early blog entries in late 2008 to see how early on Ruairí manages, with a flick of his baguette magique, to turn the magical into the mundane. I mean, look at the photos for goodness’ sake – how much more bloody magical can you get!! OK, I admit the photos aren’t exactly professional standard – trying to be kind here and it WAS very overcast to be fair – but you can still see how amazing the experience SHOULD have been!)
We headed up to Musanze on Friday (I thought we would continue on to Ruhengeri where the ORTPN – Rwandan tourist centre – is located, until Melanie or Karen gently informed me that Musanze IS Ruhengeri, yet another of the confusing name changes of recent years – c.f. Rusizi/Cyangugu, Gitarama/Muhanga, Gikongoro/Nyamagabe, Butare/Huye and many, many more). We stayed in the Bamboo Inn, whose rooms were amazingly good value at RWF6000 per night for one, RWF10,000 for two but everything else was pretty much to be avoided (Alfred: When Ruairí was sorting out the drinks bill the first night, the two fair maidens having taken to their beds as a sensible hour, he was a bit shocked to be told a Mutzig was RWF1500, which is what you would pay in a pretty fancy bar in Kigali. Apollinaire’s (the manager) response – ‘Mais oui, monsieur, nous sommes un hôtel’ – really tested Ruairí’s powers of self-restraint to the maximum). Good cheap place to stay for seeing the gorillas but go elsewhere for your food and drink.
Anyway, our driver picked us up the next day and off we headed. It was all pretty straightforward – up to the centre, form into groups of eight and we were going to see group 13, one of the middle-distance groups so a reasonable walk but not too far. Our groups was composed of one Swede, one Brazilian, one Uruguayan, two South Africans, one Englishwoman and two Irish – pretty eclectic all told. Melanie did ask me if I had brought Alfred along as well but I explained that he didn’t do family reunions very well (Alfred: Huh? It’s not like I’m not used to not being brought along on anything interesting that is going on ... but what the hell does he mean by ‘family’? I’m a BEAR!! You gotta go pretty far back the evolutionary tree before that becomes true, way way beyond where Ruairí was sitting in a marshy clearing picking his fur clean, scratching his hairy behind and munching on bamboo shoots!)
Anyway, long story short, we drove a short way and then walked a surprisingly short way again until we got to the group. We spent most of our time watching the silverback and the babies/juveniles who were together – the females were off feeding individually apart from one who was nearby with a baby on her back and all the little ones had been left with the silverback (whose name is Agashya, though I am not sure he is aware of this fact himself). Other juveniles, slightly bigger, were playing in the vines hanging down the cliff-face behind the group.
We had been told to stay seven metres away from the gorillas at all times but, what with them wandering around and, I think, once the guides could see they were settled and calm, we ended up a lot closer than that quite a lot of the time!!
Anyway, you can see the photos below. It was a great experience but, hand on heart, I can’t say it completely blew my mind the way so many other people had told me it did. I am absolutely glad I did it (even if the entire experience – park fee, driver, travel and accommodation – came to over $300 or one month’s allowance) but ... I don’t know, thought it would be a little more magical somehow (Alfred: Can’t say I am surprised – look back at the very early blog entries in late 2008 to see how early on Ruairí manages, with a flick of his baguette magique, to turn the magical into the mundane. I mean, look at the photos for goodness’ sake – how much more bloody magical can you get!! OK, I admit the photos aren’t exactly professional standard – trying to be kind here and it WAS very overcast to be fair – but you can still see how amazing the experience SHOULD have been!)
