Porrettas in the Mist

We arrived in Ruhengheri ready for perhaps the most exciting part of our trip, an audience with the mighty mountain gorillas, the very same gorillas made famous by Diane Fossey whose book I had been avidly munching through in preparation. The area where the gorillas live is absolutely breathtaking. Lush terraced fields climb towards conical volcanic peaks, occasionally peeking through swathes of blue mist. The flanks of the volcanoes are densely forested and it is in these areas that the gorillas spend most of their days, alternating between different types of vegetation for their feeding. There are patches of dense forest, bamboo groves and open fields, all of which the gorillas choose on certain days.

There are 56 passes available per day at a cost of $500 per person; eight passes for each of seven groups of gorillas. Some live close to the park headquarters and some far away. Mike and I were very keen to visit the furthest possible group for two reasons. Firstly as this group is also the largest, with 41 gorillas, 4 silverbacks and several young. Secondly because as hiking in the area is $150 dollars a day we wanted to combine the two in one day. You have to hire a driver who comes to the HQ in the morning and then drives you to the trail head of whichever group you will be tracking. We chose an established driver called Alex as we heard that the more known the driver, the more chance he has of securing the group you want. We chose well. We were first at the HQ and Alex schmoozed the head honcho and secured us a place to see the Suza Group.

Other groups arrived and we enjoyed a cup of tea as people milled about. The majority of punters were kindly middle-aged Germans lorded over by a fearsome warrior of a woman – a cross between Jackie Collins and Dr Evil’s female sidekick. She marched around in full make-up barking orders at her charges and waving her arms about. One sidelong look at Mike told me he was thinking the same as me ‘sod’s law she’s in our group’. She was. The rest of the group were absolutely charming and we managed to keep a straight face when Jackie Evil introduced her self as the ‘Silverhead’ of the group and said ‘’but you can call me Mama Safari’’. I could think of more appropriate names.

The walk up to the edge of the national park was stunning. We climbed steadily through terraced fields, followed by two armed guards and a gaggle of porters that the Germans had hired to carry their day packs. Small, shy children peeked from between the crops and smoke snaked from their small mud huts. The scene would be almost totally unchanged from Diane Fossey’s days, or indeed many decades before that.

After a couple of hours we reached the edge of the forest and received our safety briefing and the excitement started to build. From here we passed a low stone wall and into the forest, following a trail upwards. It was one of the more beautiful forests I have ever seen. Wild celery, nettles and ‘sticky weed’ carpeted the floor and huge lobelia plants dotted the fields. Curtains of moss hung from the higher trees. As we climbed higher and higher, tendrils of mist crept in intermittently but we were mercifully free from the torrential rain that is typical of this area in this season.
We climbed up for another few hours. The guides were being very secretive about how far we had left to go, which added to the excitement. Finally we reached the advance tracking team. These men leave the camp in the early morning and return to where they had seen the gorillas nesting the night before. They spend the entire day with them until they nest that night. They communicated with our guide through walkie talkies. The advance tracking group remains with the same gorilla group every day and are very well known to the gorillas. Their presence is necessary to reassure the gorillas that we are friends.

We left all of our bags on the forest floor and headed up. My heart was beating and I was almost quivering with excitement. Suddenly, there they were! Two small females crossed my path and I gasped with shock. Then everywhere we looked there were gorillas. Sitting under the base of the trees, munching away in the bushes, passing to within a few feet of us. One of the trackers took my hand and led me over to see one of the silverbacks sitting at the base of a tree and surveying the scene. Suddenly the second ranking silverback moved over to mate with one of the dominant females. The main silverback, outraged at this, came crashing over to head him off and then he too mated with the female. The tracker led me forward and bent small branches to one side to give me a clear view. Gorillas share 99% of their make-up with us and I have to say I did feel a bit voyeuristic watching this intimate moment as it seemed so human! We walked around the area. Gorillas came from all directions. A small gorilla climbed a tree and we were amused to watch as it misjudged a branch and came crashing down with an embarrassed expression.
Suddenly as we were standing in a clearing watching several small gorillas, the dominant silverback walked over. He settled amidst the group, scratched his chest and watched, feigning nonchalance. Then in an instant he was up on his hind legs and running towards us, chest beating. My knees literally collapsed as the guide whispered to move back He returned to all fours and advanced towards us. Mike filmed this episode and you can clearly here me saying, in a quivering voice, ‘I’m scaaaaared’. Such a wimp.

We spent the rest of the hour peering through the undergrowth at various members of the group. We watched one of the older females grooming one of her infants, turning the baby 360 degrees as she picked through her fur. We also saw one mother with a two week old infant, nestling the rag-doll like baby against her enormous stomach.

All too quickly our hour with the gorillas was at an end, and we reluctantly left the group. We returned down the mountain elated and overwhelmed with what we had seen. We both still look at the photos and videos that we took every couple of days to recall the experience.

We loved the area so much that we stayed a further day, taking a stroll down to the neighboring villages. As usual we attracted a procession of children. There were many boys who wanted to talk football with Mike. One boy spent about 20 minutes reeling off every footballer that he knew, then every competition, then every manager and finally every football ground. I amused myself by showing the children the videos of the gorillas I had taken on my camera. Many of them, of course, have never even seen the gorillas that they live amongst and were amazed by both the pictures and videos.

We spent our last evening in Rwanda by the fire, drinking wine and looking through our gorilla photos once more. We are so amazingly lucky to have had this experience and we will never forget it.