We started off in true African style, boarding an airplane for a "direct" flight to Kigali, but landing in Bujumbura instead. At first we couldn't figure out what country we were in (turned out to be Burundi), but luckily the plane continued on to Rwanda after a short visit on the Bujumbura runway. After clearing customs we were met by our amazing driver and guide, Jared. One thing I quickly learned about Rwanda is that the standard of English is far below that of Kenya, and Jared provided us with never-ending amusement as he occasionally misunderstood our questions and responded with hilariously un-related answers. They were always accompanied by a giant smile, though, so we spent a lot of time laughing together!After driving about 3 hours northwest of Kigali and spending the night in a little African guesthouse, we showed up early the next morning at the Ranger Headquarters for Parc Nacional de Volcans. Our goal for the day was to hike into the jungle and find the elusive, endangered Mountain Gorillas, and we soon sweet-talked our way into being assigned to the best gorilla family with the best ranger/guides! As the sun rose and we drove a few minutes to the start of our hike, we were all in awe of the 5 massive volcanoes that surrounded the area - Rwanda is called "The Land of a Thousand Hills," and it certainly felt like we were right in the middle of them. Before long we were hiking up one of those volcanoes through terraced fields, passing Rwandan women carrying out back-breaking labor with wooden hoes while their little children looked at us curiously. I'm sure we made an interesting sight in this remote place - a group of white people with backpacks following a ranger, a "tracker" with an AK-47, and a guide. After an hour or so, we crossed a thick stone wall and moved into another world - from the sunny, plowed hillsides, we entered the dark, dense jungle of the National Park.
Now, I've done a lot of hiking, but this hike was intense! The trackers in front of us cut a trail through the thick bushes, trees, and bamboo with machetes, and we pushed through the choking brush and stinging nettles to follow them. After another 1 1/2 hours or so, we rounded a bend and found ourselves face-to-face with our first gorilla. WOW. The next hour was absolutely unbelievable...we watched from mere feet away as young gorillas ran and tumbled all around. The little ones climbed and swung on vines above our heads, and the females lazed around, eating celery and bamboo. The highlight for me, though, were the two Silverback gorillas that led this family. A male mountain gorilla becomes a "silverback" at about 16 years of age, and they were clearly the dominant members of the family. We watched in awe as each silverback relaxed in the grass, babies and young gorillas climbing all over them. Justin and I held our breath as we knelt down for a picture and one of the giant males ran directly behind us, grunting and growling less than 10 feet away! The whole group was amazingly entertaining and active, peering at us curiously, beating their chests, and eating constantly.After about an hour with the gorillas we had to hike back down, but I was left with a memory that I will never forget. There are only a little over 700 mountain gorillas left in the world, and I consider myself extremely blessed to be one of the few people in the world who has had an encounter like this with such amazing animals. Their facial expressions and movements are eerily "human" sometimes, and it's hard not to be captivated when a giant Silverback stares straight into your eyes! Praise God for His incredible creation and the chance to see little, but incredible, pieces of it...
"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom."
Isaiah 40:28
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment