Rwanda: Gorillas!

The top of our hiking poles.

We spent three nights in Rwanda, the first two at a small town just outside Volcanoes National Park, just over the border from Uganda. The road from Lake Bunyoni to the Rwandan border is surprisingly, startlingly beautiful. Not only is it a new piece of tarmac but it winds through steeply hilly countryside that is lush and green, terraced with crops and eucalyptus trees. It made me think of my friends who like to drive their sports cars along winding roads.

Rwanda is one of those rare countries that has banned plastic bags and the second you’re over the border the difference is noticeable. Buildings are also more solidly built, everything has a slightly more prosperous air than the other countries we’ve been to. Which is surprising (at least to me) as Rwanda seems to be a byword for trouble and poverty to the rest of the world.

Although I could wax lyrical about Rwanda for pages I’ll cut straight to day 2 and our gorilla trek.

Unexpected bamboo.

We were broken up into groups and Luke and I went with Joan, John, Miriam and Adele from our tour group and we got the guide who was driving to the closest group of gorillas. The chances of seeing a group are extremely high as they are tracked constantly during daylight hours and the guides are in contact with the trackers by radio.

We took a jeep from the muster point to a farming area, were given walking poles and then headed uphill through fields of daisies, potatoes and beans. People came out to say hello, especially the ubiquitous smiling, rag-clad children. Further up we met our armed trackers and crossed the stone wall into the park. Unexpectedly, most of our half hour walk through the park was within a bamboo forest. Apparently gorillas love bamboo and actually get drunk on bamboo shoots. The guide told us that they act in a more outgoing manner when drunk and are also more likely to try to box people who come to see them.

On the way through the forest we got to see a giant earthworm, although apparently it was just a baby.

Urgh!

Not long after this we were told to put down our backpacks (if the gorillas see them they will try to get into them and look for food), picked up our cameras and headed down a little muddy slope. As I negotiated the tricky turn, crouched down and surrounded by bushes, I looked to the side and there, within a metre, was a gorilla. It was sitting down just watching me. I’m not an emotional person but I felt my eyes fill with tears and I can’t even really say precisely why. I couldn’t even take a photo, I was so close. We had to move on quite quickly as we were on a slope and everyone had to get down.

At the bottom was a clearing full of ferns and stinging nettles and – gorillas! We worked our way around to a group that included a silverback, several females and juveniles. The little ewok-like youths were rolling around, wrestling. It was as though a couple of rambunctious toddlers had been dressed up in gorilla suits and given a litre of red cordial.

So close!

We watched them for about half an hour (we’re limited to an hour of viewing a day so as not to disturb them too much) then moved around the corner. There were two little ones and then, not far away, a mother with a 5 day old baby. Unfortunately (but understandably) she didn’t want us to see the baby so we only saw the top of its head. We spent a little over an hour in the clearing, taking photos, sitting almost within touching distance of the animals. It was magic.

All-over-afro! At this point I almost died from too much cute.

The money we paid to see the gorillas goes in part to the parks and guides but also to the local villages to pay for infrastructure and education. Apparently this has reduced poaching to almost zero, in fact now locals will direct animals back into the park rather than killing them if they find them eating crops.

If you ever get a chance to see these amazing, gentle animals I highly recommend doing so. The more people who do these treks, the greater their chance of survival. It is definitely something to add to your bucket list – plus Rwanda is a beautiful country full of ridiculously friendly, welcoming people.

The great explorer.

16Aug2013

Quick Update: Gorilla Trekking (also – my 100th post!).

by Miss Penny Black

Although there’s a lot to write about what we’ve been doing lately I’ll get into it tomorrow evening and post photos too (internet willing). I just thought I’d post a little update for friends and family to let you all know we’re in Rwanda, it’s really nice here, and we’re going gorilla trekking tomorrow.

Despite the fact that the gorilla trekking is the highlight of this leg of the trip I hadn’t really put much thought into it. I’d assumed that it’d be a bit like the chimp trekking but a longer, more arduous walk, a few gorillas up a tree or something, watch from a distance and trek out. Tonight everyone was talking about how other people they know have been within a metre of them! In some cases even touched by them! I am far more excited now – to think we might be sit right near them and making eye contact… I’m probably getting my hopes up because there is a chance we won’t see them at all, but still! Hugely exciting:).

15Aug2013

On the Road: Keeping Hydrated. Just.

by Miss Penny Black

When I go to music festivals I have a raft of strategies to ensure that I visit the toilets as few times as possible but also avoid dehydration headaches. On this trip it’s been a similar balancing act but for different reasons. The toilets here haven’t been all that bad – sometimes they don’t flush, often there’s no toilet paper but they’re still a lot better than port-a-loos at the Big Day Out. The only thing that makes me wince is when the floor is covered with (what I hope is) water and I’m wearing sandals. There was one where there was no running water and the floor was wet. I was wearing sandals and my feet got wet. Urgh*. Squat toilets are fine although (and please don’t tell anyone) I’m still not 100% sure which way I’m supposed to face. Towards the cistern (if there is one) or the door? Does it even matter?

No, the toilets are not the issue here, it’s getting on the truck and then not having a toilet stop for several hours – when we drove into Nairobi the traffic ground to a halt and the promised toilet stop ended up being over an hour further on than intended. A bucket in the stairwell was the solution. On one game drive it was about 5 hours between toilet stops and we’re not allowed to get out of the vehicle in case of lions. Although this issue pales in comparison to the stay-in-you-tent-or-get-eaten-alive threats of wild camping.

Several times we’ve camped in national parks and been told that if we need to go to the toilet we should first listen. If there are noises outside do not turn on your torch, make a noise or look outside.

If you do not hear a noise shine your torch out. If you see eyes reflected back do not go out.

If you do not see eyes go in pairs to the toilet.

Keep your tent zipped up at all times.

Steve told us a story about a young man who, on a hot night, refused to zip up his tent. He woke up with a lioness biting his foot. He kicked her then bolted out of his tent into a pride of lions and was ripped apart then eaten. There have been other stories about one of the cooks being eaten, rangers being eaten… as you can imagine, we all try our very hardest to not drink too much in the evenings and we avoid leaving our tents. So far I’ve only once needed to get up in the night and that was in a town camp. Pretty good for someone who normally gets up several times. Apparently fear works on my bladder as well as my brain.

All the stories aren’t scary though. Our cook, Mash, told me one about a friend of his who, knowing baboons are scared of snakes, got a loaf of bread, hollowed it out and put a rubber snake inside. He threw it to a group of baboons. They grabbed it, ripped it apart and when they saw the snake they all fainted.

* let me reassure you that we are all quite diligent in spraying our hands with disinfectant when we get onto the truck and before meals. I promise.

13Aug2013

Uganda: On The Road.

by Miss Penny Black

Kampala

I’ve posted lots of photos of animals, camping and my friends but none of what we spend most of our days looking at from the truck windows – the villages and cities of East Africa. Right now we’re in Uganda and it’s wonderfully green here. After the dry dust of Tanzania and parts of Kenya, this is a welcome change. There are banana trees, sugar cane, tea plantations, and all kinds of crops I don’t recognise. The houses are pretty similar everywhere though. Mostly made from mud and sticks, corrugated iron, shipping containers, cement and bricks and surrounded by the ubiquitous piles of rubbish, although Uganda doesn’t seem quite a bad as other places we’ve been.

Kampala

The dirt roads or roadsides mean that everything is coated in ochre dust, although the bright colours of the shops and their hand painted advertising. In Kenya everything was Coca Cola red, in Uganda it’s all Pepsi blue.

I thought people might be interested in seeing the inside of our trusty truck. It’s fairly roomy and in the middle of the back half there’s two tables so people can play card games or work on computers. The front has its own cabin but there is a space through which we can see the driver and hear him singing (if it is Steve) or watch him dancing (if it is David). Happily (for me) it’s hard to see the oncoming traffic so I don’t worry about what’s coming – we just feel the truck braking hard and hold onto all our gear to stop it flying everywhere then listen to Steve swearing at other drivers – or cows, or pedestrians or roadworks.

The front of the truck.

The back of the truck.

8Aug2013

Nakuru National Park

by Miss Penny Black

Who’s studying who?

The alternative title for this post could’ve been ‘Not Our Best Game Drive Ever’. We woke up early and got into the vans (not jeeps this time – the vans are 4 wheel drive but don’t have the clearance of jeeps. This turned out to be rather unfortunate) in groups of 7. I was with Luke, Kat, Lucas, Pam, Ross and Joan.

After very heavy rains even getting out of the property was a challenge but we made it to the park which is set around Lake Nakuru, home of many black rhinos and many more birds than the previous parks I’ve been to. We were hoping to see flamingoes, although the rising water levels meant that most had left to find shallower lakes where the algae was easier to reach.

After a long wait to get into the park we got in and drove around, spotting rhinos almost immediately. Although I’m happy to see them, I don’t find rhinos all that interesting an I’ve seen them plenty of times in the past anyhow. The first one we saw did do something I’ve never seen before – it urinated. Now, this might not sound like something worth mentioning, but it was like someone had snuck underneath the rhino with a firehose, directed it horizontally out between the rhino’s hind legs and intermittently let it off. Quite an eye-opening sight and something you wouldn’t want to see too close up. It went on for ages.

We were part of a group of 3 vans as we drove around and, as I’ve said, there’d been heavy rains. Along one road there were some decent sized puddles and the first van got bogged.

Uh oh.

Fortunately a jeep came by and towed them out. Then the second van in our convoy (we were last) drove into exactly the same pothole, much to everyone’s surprise. There was plenty of room on the other side of the road so what, exactly, the driver was thinking, we had no idea. When that van was extricated, thanks to another jeep, our champion driver, Charles, managed to get across without getting bogged. There was much clapping and cheering within our van.

‘Adventure!’ say the drivers, every time something goes wrong.

Once we were all across we turned back to see that the helpful jeep had also become bogged but much, much worse than our vans had been – on one side the back corner was in up to its window. Of course we all piled out to have a good look and take photos and video. Even Charles got out his camera and had a photo with me in front of the stranded vehicle.

Eventually we all gave up on helping the jeep and headed off. The only noteworthy thing (in my books) that happened on the way out was seeing two young male giraffes play-fighting.

Whiplash!

They were bashing their necks and heads together. Despite this being quite far away I could’ve sat there and watched for hours. I didn’t think I’d get to see that in our travels so I was extremely happy. Oh, we also saw some very cute monkeys along the road, quite close up too.