Mzungu In The Mist

Rwanda

Click 'Older Post' at the bottom of each page to follow the trip backwards, or go HERE and click 'Newer Post' at the bottom of each page to follow the trip chronologically.

Wow, great day!

Click on any photo to see the larger, high-res version.

Our group at the Mountain Gorilla Lodge, with our drivers, Eric and Bernard.  We had set this trip up because it was the only one that had the gorillas as an optional extension.  We were not disappointed.

Eric and his Trump impressions kept us laughing...

Our freestanding abode at the Mountain Gorilla Lodge.  A man came each evening with a shovel full of coals, and built up the fire in our fireplace.  There was an air of excitement in the lodge and the dining room... everybody was here for this singular experience with the gorillas.

We were up early for our gorilla trek... so excited that we didn't mind the early hour...







Our group at the assembly area...

Our gorilla family was called the Hirwa, meaning Lucky.  We indeed felt lucky to experience these gentle giants in their natural habitat.  This family had 21 or 22 members.  I think the confusion is that there was a brand new baby in the group.  The local community has a naming ceremony whenever there is a new baby gorilla, and we wondered if one they had just had was for naming this baby.

There's a picture of the baby nursing, below with the gorilla photos.

Our leader, Francis, below.  We got to a point where we had to go almost straight down into this lush volcanic crater where the gorillas were today.  I took one look and told Francis that I had better stay back because they would have to take me off of my stretcher, or helicopter as they called it, and get me down the precipitous slope to continue.  I told him I didn't want to slow things down and spoil it for the others.  Francis asked me if I had heart problems.  I said no.  We're going to make it happen then, he said, I'm the one making decisions here, basically saying he was the captain of this ship.  Thank you, Francis!!!

I would not have believed it.  They basically handed me down the slope until they got to a spot where they could get me back on my helicopter. and begin hacking out a path through the thick growth.  We were already seeing gorillas.  As it turned out, I had every bit as good viewing and photo ops as the rest of the group, and they were all amazed when I, thanks to my incredible charioteers, aka helicopter pilots, showed up right along side them.  At one point the porters set me down and stood me up, and were pointing my attention in all directions, as we were right in the middle of this family of gorillas.  The gorillas went about their business, occasionally making eye contact, but otherwise not at all threatened or bothered by our presence, passing within touching distance of us as they foraged for food and a place for their mid-day siesta.  Wow!!!

Photo ops and passing me down the slope...

Jan and her walking stick in the bamboo forest...

The bamboo forest in itself was fascinating.  In season, the gorillas will be here foraging amid the lush growth.  This part of the trek was not far from where we started.

I had a great view of the bamboo canopy, lying down in my helicopter...

Out guide, Francis, and Jan taking a break.  They couldn't keep up with me in my helicopter.  Really!  The porters were simply amazing!  They chatted softly, joking and laughing, positive and happy... while carrying me on their shoulders and hacking out a path through the jungle!

You're going to what???

My Helicopter.  Our driver, Eric, who kept us rolling on the floor with his Trump impressions, took great delight in pointing out this 'Best Wishey' on the blanket in my helicopter...

And we were off!

VIDEO:  Onward

Including the lesser mortals, who had to walk.

We don't usually fly first class... but I tell you what!



VIDEO:  My unique view as we made our way through the bamboo forest.

And, oh yeah, there were gorillas all around us...

Click on any photo to see the larger, high-res version.

We were literally right there in the middle of this band of gorillas.

VIDEO:  Hanging out...

The Hirwa Group has a pair of seven year old twins, seen here shortly after birth, and below in photos we took on our trek.  They frolicked together... and hugged a lot.  Twins are rare for mountain gorillas, and a female only gives birth every 4 or 5 years, so this birth was good since it adds doubly to this threatened population.  Kabatwa has turned out to be a good mother and the twins are thriving.

VIDEO:  Kids!

This one looked into my eyes, as if to gauge whether it was safe for the youngster on her back, then passed by only inches away.  It seems that these gorillas are of the mind that there's room on this planet for everyone, without animus and confrontation.  Imagine!

VIDEO:  Checking me out...

VIDEO:  Frolicking

Look into the eyes.  Feel a connection?



Gorillas eat anywhere from 40 to 80 pounds of vegetation per day.



VIDEO:  Yum Yum

VIDEO:  Nature's Playground

Gorillas eat so much lush vegetation that they rarely need to drink water.

Jan made eye contact with this big boy.  We've always been told not to make eye contact with animals in the wild, especially the big cats.  That's not the case with these gentle giants though, in part because, with the conservation and protection efforts, they do not feel threatened by us anymore.  This is not to say that the problem of poaching and trapping is totally eradicated, but strides have been made in that direction... there were only about 250 gorillas in this area several years ago, and now there are around 900 individuals.  Yay!

VIDEOS:  Family Time

The silverback male below... leader of the pack.  He's munching and making a bed for a mid-day siesta.  An adult male mountain gorilla will weigh 450 pounds, give or take, and are about the same height as an adult human male.  And oh so strong!  Females weigh in at about half as much as the males.

From Wikipedia:  61% of groups are composed of one adult male and a number of females, and 36% contain more than one adult male. The remaining gorillas are either lone males or exclusively male groups, usually made up of one mature male and a few younger males. Group sizes vary from five to thirty, with an average of ten individuals. A typical group contains one dominant silverback, who is the group's undisputed leader, another subordinate silverback (usually a younger brother, half-brother, or even an adult son of the dominant silverback), one or two blackbacks, who act as sentries, three to four sexually mature females, who are ordinarily bonded to the dominant silverback for life, and from three to six juveniles and infants.

VIDEO:  Munching and making a bed for a nap.

The silverback actually brushed up against Jan as it was moving through the jungle.  It was difficult for her to not reach out and touch it, but we are not allowed to touch them.  Also one of the young males reached out and playfully slapped one of the other women on the leg.  Apparently the gorillas don't have the same no-touch rule!

The new baby nursing.

These magnificent beings are so gentle.  And loving.  The youngsters roll around, cavorting and playing just like we humans do.  And they hug a lot.  Looking into their eyes, one feels a connection that millennia of divergent evolution have not erased.

VIDEO:  Ahhhhhhh...

These guys made it all possible for me.  Thank you!

This is Emmy, one of the porters who helped me a lot, even taking whichever camera I wasn't using and taking more photos for me.  We thought he looked like Cuba Gooding.  Poaching, trapping the youngsters to sell on the black market, was the biggest threat to the gorillas.  But now, those who might otherwise turn to poaching to feed their families are hired as porters.  A poetic solution!

Some kids from the farms near the gorillas.  The kids are happy to pose because they love to see their picture on our cameras.  They think it's magic, I suppose.  And we think they live in a pretty magical place!

Some of the money from the gorilla viewing licenses, as well as some from the porter's organization, goes to the community.  And some goes to preserving the habitats of the gorillas, and enforcing anti-poaching laws.  A win/win for everyone.

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Mizungu in the Mist

Dian Fossey's book, 'Gorillas In The Mist' inspired these fun t-shirts.  The word Mzungu comes from Kiswahili, where zungu or zunguka is the word for spinning around on the same spot.  Kizunguzungu is Kiswahili for a dizziness.  The term is now used to refer to 'someone with white skin' or 'white skin.'  The word Mzungu in Sahili can also mean someone who speaks English.  A person in Swahili is Mtu and 'English' is Swahili is Kizungu, hence the combination of the two words to make up a word 'Mzungu.'  The possessive translates as 'behaving rich.'  However, in some areas, such as Rwanda and Burundi, it does not necessarily refer to the color of one's skin.  Traditionally, Europeans were seen to be people of means and rich and so the terminology was extended to denote affluent persons regardless of race.

By any other name, we felt lucky, as our gorilla family's name, Hirwa, denotes, to have this rich and rewarding experience.  There but for a minor variation in a chromosome, go we!

Rwanda

We arrived at the airstrip... well, I hesitate to call it an airstrip as there was no runway, no buildings, nothing except this one small plane.  We would fly back to Aursha, Tanzania from here, and then on to Kigali, Rwanda.

Sorry Jan, no snyrting and no coffee for sale...

Vincent and Ony, our Tanzania drivers, and Jumanne.

We were assured when we got on board and the pilot said, 'My name is Liz, and I'm an alcoholic.'

Some in-flight entertainment was in order...

But, we arrived, safe and sound, in Arusha, from where we would take a flight to Kigali, Rwanda.  It was an enjoyable flight.  We flew at 11,000 feet, and the flight was not quite an hour long.  Our favorite Africa flight though remains as our flight with Alex on our first Africa trip.  The plane, much like this one we flew to Arusha on, wouldn't hold the last 2 of us in our group.  So two would have to go with Alex in his 4-seater.  Jan and I were all over that, volunteering immediately.  We weren't disappointed, Alex flew at about 200 feet, right over the animals.  Jan sat up front in the co-pilot's seat and had to keep picking Alex's Radio Shack GPS unit off of the floor after it had slid off of the dash!  Yee haw!  We loved it!

Our digs in Kigali.  Each 'room' was a 2 story apartment.

There are Genocide Memorials in most towns in Rwanda.  The horror will not be forgotten.  At the same time, the sides have come together in many ways to heal and get beyond this horror.  Yet the people are kind and happy, and always have a smile and a song and a dance to share.

Always a dance...

The women below are part of a 'cooperative,' established to bring both sides together in a peaceful and learning and healing way.  They make Peace Baskets together. Hutu and Tutsi working side by side, while not so long ago they were killing each other at the instigation of others. And then they give the baskets away.  Jan and I both came away with a basket, and a cheer for these resilient people.

Imagine

Children, teach your parents well.

We had lunch at a lovely outside place, replete with nice music and ambiance.  A far cry from box lunches shared with monkeys!  Eric regaled us with his Trump impressions.

This is Bernard, one of our drivers.  He lost his parents, and I think 4 siblings in the Genocide.  He was spared because he was off in another country studying.  We sure understand why he didn't want to tour the Genocide Memorial with us, since he was working and preferred to come and reflect and pay his respects by himself.  He has the nicest manner and smile.  He looks so youthful.  I couldn't believe that he is 52.

Reminding us that tomorrow we will see the gorillas we came for...

We stopped below for a bathroom break as we made our way to the Mountain Gorilla Lodge.  They had a bathroom suitable for Mzungu (definition in tomorrow's post about the gorillas).  The light in said bathroom would be on for about 10 seconds, then off for 10 seconds   It was ok as long as you made your plans while the light was on.  We didn't mind.  As a fellow traveler liked to point out, we were lucky to be here.

There was a tribal dance demonstration at the lodge before dinner.  This boy had it going on.  He got Jan to get out and dance!  Like I said, always a dance!

We were excited, tomorrow was the day we had been looking forward to.

The fire was welcome when we got to our room after dinner.

Photos and stories from our day with the gorillas will all be in the Sept 4 post.

It was time to start making our way home the day after the gorillas...

Dian Fossey (gorillas), along with Jane Goodall (chimps) and Birute Galdikas (orangutans) were called the Trimates, sent to Africa to study these primates.  Dian Fossey paid with her life.  She strongly supported and worked toward protecting the gorillas.  It is theorized that her anti-poaching efforts were the reason for her murder in 1985.  While we were on this trip, a renowned and dedicated anti-poaching activist was gunned down in Tanzania.  The clash is that those poaching have few options and are trying to feed their families   We thought it inspired in Rwanda that those who might be out poaching are now paid to be porters to help tourists on their gorilla viewing treks.

There's a lesson here.  These people were subjected to a horrific genocide, family members and friends forced to kill each other, torture, mass murder.  Yet, almost to the person, they are kind and gentle, and yes, I think happy.  They have come together to heal.

We stopped to see a local family make banana beer.  Jan trekked up to the family's abode and even sampled the product, little floating things and all.

The kids are always her favorite photo subjects.





Bananas...



Banana beer...



Umm...



Oh, the magic we shared!

We stayed in the lobby area of The African Tulip Hotel until it was time to go to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam.  Security was heavy!  Our bus was stopped, right on the road, on the way to the airport, and we all had to exit the vehicle and put our luggage on a platform for them to have dogs sniff.  We put on our game face and our luggage didn't interest the dogs, so we loaded back up and were off to deal with more layers of security at the airport.

My appendix ruptured, apparently in Amsterdam, following the flight from Rwanda.  Never again will I complain about a long flight across the water, not after this one!  I went in the ambulance at the Minneapolis Airport to the closest hospital's emergency service.  After 3 hours, I hadn't been seen, so decided we should just catch a flight home and let me handle this with my own doctors.  I still didn't know it was a ruptured appendix.  I slept on the flight to Denver, then slept the night in my own bed, then went early to the emergency room to discover it was a ruptured appendix.  I was operated on immediately, lucky it hadn't been worse from traveling in such a state.  But all's well... we're planning our next trip.