Always Rwanda

This started as my on-line journal while I was living, working, and conducting my master's field research in Rwanda in 2003. I returnedto Rwanda as an Assistant Director for an educational program and decided to pick it up again.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Gorillas in the Mist

This is one of the best weekends I have had thus far in Rwanda. We were originally going to leave Friday for Ruhengeri to climb a volcano, but after learning it would cost another $50 after the $250 gorillas permit we had already purchased, we decided to can it. Friday did not start out particularly different than any other day but then I got the call from my old roommate that my package from my grandma and aunt had arrived. I excitedly grabbed the next minibus into town to pickup my package and what a package it was -it was huge! So I carry my package down to meet Laura and Anke for a late lunch and people kept offering to carry the box for me. I suppose it looked strange for the Umzungo to carry such a big package. We finish lunch and head to the market to get the week’s veggies and fruits. The market is always a bit of a crazy experience but even more so on that day. Laura agreed to run in to get what we needed as Anke and I would sit outside with our bags and my package. A guy suddenly brushed very close to Anke and she grabbed her backpack to realize that the guy had managed to open it – but not grab her wallet. Usually I always where my backpack on my front side to lessen my chances of getting robbed but with my package I had to wear it on my back. It was the first time in Rwanda that I felt that people were eyeing me to steal my backpack. They could see that my hands were full and several guys kept walking next to me staring at my bag. We were just laughing because these guys were not too sly.

But we made it safely back and decided to venture out and try some Rwandan aerobics at the national stadium by our apartment. I felt like I was in kindergarten gym class again. The room was packed and taught by one leader and another guy who was shouting out crazily in Kinyarwanda as he sweated buckets of sweat – literally. The floor around him was a puddle! We ran around doing different activities, such as running in circles holding hands with another participants. I thought it was hilarious and really enjoyed the experience. We also went for our first real night on the town in Kigali at a popular club and live band. I will save you the details…

Saturday was a lazy day of cleaning and getting ready to go trek the gorillas on Sunday. Anke and I met Deo and Julianna (two Rwandans) who were going to accompany us on our visit to the gorillas. We stayed in a lovely little hotel in Ruhengeri and to our amazement, the quickest restaurant in Rwanda! Typically one should expect that food service in Rwanda will take a good hour or more to be delivered after ordering and if you in any way deviate from the set menu to request something special or without sauce or anything like that, it will take much longer, yet still come exactly as you did not want it.

We met at the Ruhengeri tourist office at 6:30am sharp on Sunday morning to meet the guide and the other gorilla trekkers. Not surprisingly, our group was largely expats (5) but there were three Rwandans. We drove up to the park (Volcanoes National Park) and started the hike at 7:30. We have one main guide, several armed guards, and one man with a machete-like tool for clearing the path. We requested to see the Susa group, as it is the largest and most active. The Susa group is also the hardest to reach, but the guides told us it would be about a four-hour hike. After spending such a large sum for our permits, we agreed that we really wanted our money’s worth. So we begin the climb and after 15 minutes, Deo and Juliana turn around to go home. I don’t think that Juliana had ever hiked in her entire life and was complaining that it hurt her stomach. So Anke and I are stuck there now with our ride gone (Deo says he won’t wait) and our stuff sitting in their car. Deo says he will give our belongings to one of the soldiers at the park entrance and then a few of the fellow hikers speak up to offer us a ride back to Kigali after the hike. Ok, we say, and continue on, hoping that our belongings will show up at the end of the day.

From the get-go the ascent was steep. We reached the border of where the dense forest began and our guide gave us a briefing on the forest and what to do and not to do once we reach the gorillas. We enter the forest, which is REALLY forest: deep vegetation, trees, mud, stinging plants, etc. This is no Boulder Chautauqua Park with nicely groomed trails and signs. As we really begin to climb I realize that I have underestimated just how tough this would be. The guide with the machete-like knife seems to immediately decide that I will be the one he will assist and he hacks off a piece of bamboo and makes it into a nice hiking stick. Little did I realize that this man would become my savior. It was difficult during the first two hours, but I kept assuring myself it couldn’t get any tougher. And my friend with the machete told me it would be about another hour. Not so. At about 10:30 we gather the group together again, take a brief snack, and then the guides point to where we will be heading next: down a huge muddy cliff in which a little slip could mean a broken neck. We all say, no, this can’t be! But the guides insisted and we followed. By this time I had greatly regretted not bringing hiking boots as my tennis shoes were already soaked through with mud, and I essentially made it down the cliff on my rear-end. My short legs also proved physically challenging when it came to climbing a mud cliff on the opposite side of where we had just descended. Machete man came to my rescue, as these mud cliffs became a regular occurrence. I cannot even count the number of times when I was sliding down in mud about to drop to who knows where and the machete man would grab my arm and pull me up. Why am I here again?

We continue on and the hours continue to pass. An hour after Machete Man told me one more hour the main guide told us two more hours. We reached where the Susa group had been the day before, giving us some hope (gorillas don’t usually travel too far in a day), but we still had several hours to go. By noon we are growing increasingly irritated and wondering if we are even going to be able to find the gorillas. Finally before 1:00 we are told they are very close. We leave all of our bags in one spot and hike up another mountain with our cameras in hand, just as we hear thunder and the sky becomes darker. Suddenly we were just there with the gorillas. We were a few feet away from a silverback and some babies/toddlers. Typically you are able to see the Susa group together, but as we hiked much longer than anticipated, they were feeding and thus not all together. So for our one-hour of allotted time with the gorillas we follow our guide to try to get as close as possible and see as many as possible. The gorillas are not even phased by our presence and barely give us a look. The hour passed quickly and soon there was a downpour of rain. As hard as the hike was to get to the gorillas, the worst thought was going back the way we had come. I had bloody hands, mud in every imaginable place, and my legs were just jello and sloppy. Luckily there was a “short-cut” down to another side of the park where we could be picked up. Don’t know why we couldn’t take the short cut on the way there, but there is no time for questioning. We start the vertical descent and I am of course falling behind as my knees are screaming and I am slipping and falling in the mud and over branches. But I push forward, wishing again I had been bright enough to bring hiking boots and put on my knee braces, but hours pass again and we were trekking through a beautiful bamboo forest and at last we saw the clearing and a village not far in the distance. We descend through people’s gardens and soon hear the familiar shouts of UMZUNGO!! We met a little pickup truck and all of us piled into the bed of the truck to get back to the park entrance, just as the sun was going down, with perfect views of the volcanoes and the patchy green hills of Ruhengeri. And to our great pleasure, a heavily armed soldier came to hand us our belongings.

So we hopped into the car of our new friends and went to retrieve our certificates and grab dinner. So we were now a German claiming to be African, a Norwegian, a Rwandan, who just returned from many years in Uganda, Anke (Dutch) and me. We had a great dinner, got some fresh American jokes (I know I won’t do it justice to retell), and returned to Kigali, mud and all (I was also not bright enough to bring clean clothes to change into).

Next??
Uganda! Anke and I will leave bright and early on Friday for our bus to Kampala where we shall enjoy glorious Indian food (supposed to be the best on the continent), lounge on Lake Victoria, and go white water rafting at the source of the Nile! I have never rafted and it I am not sure if class 5 rapids are the way to start, but why not?

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