Rwanda: hills, gorillas, more hills, chimps, and another wedding
After a short and smooth flight on RwandAir, mostly spent sleeping, we arrived at a locked down Rwanda. We were met by temperature checks and the health protocols which we have come to expect. Everything went smoothly, until I passed my backpack through security to leave the airport where they confiscated my drone because I hadn’t registered it. After some back and forth, I filled out a form to pick it up and left the drone with Rwandan police at the airport. Nothing on them, travel blogs do say that you need to register it to enter the country so my fault for not being thorough. We arrived at Heaven Boutique Hotel ready to rest and shower without the worry of water running out.
We planned on sightseeing Kigali but because of the lockdown, our city tour was limited to the nearby supermarket: Simba. Back at the hotel our stay turned into a relaxing pool day, reading, and having a few beers, including banana beer, which actually tastes more like Quetzalteca Tamarindo than anything else. No complaints, Kigali was great to us and a wonderful dinner at The Retreat had us ready to venture off to Volcanoes National Park the next morning.
We left at 8am, what has no become a late morning for us, and by noon we were at the Da Vinci Lodge near the park. The staff were incredibly warm and welcoming. They greeted us with a smoothie and immediately took our lunch order before accompanying us to our room adorned with flower petals and towel animal figures. After lunch, we went back for a siesta understanding that everything was closed and we wouldn’t have any activities until the gorilla trekking the next day. Oh, were we wrong. A knock on the door had us up and dressed to visit a local village and learn about their traditions and how people used to hunt for meat in the area. It was an artificial village where reformed poachers (I’ll get to this later) and local villagers showed us how they used to make weapons, hunt, produce banana beer, use natural medicines, and even celebrate marriages. It was all very interesting, we even shot a bow and arrow, but the biggest surprise came when they married us, again. We were given no option. Ileana, “you go back there”, Jose, “you go into the house”, and you, a random American, “you take pictures of them”. As I walked to the house, every person in the village began singing and through an opening comes Ileana, carried in on top of a sort of stretcher and everyone following. Not even our facemasks could hide our laughter as the men carried my bride to me. We later had the party with dancing and music, it was fun all around and something we’ll never forget.
On our way out they explained to us that most of the people were “reformed poachers”, meat poachers, only to feed themselves and their families, not for ivory or trophy. They were locals who hunted the areas for meat but were then taught and showed how the preservation of the area and its animals would be much more beneficial to them than the meat they were hunting. How the tourism industry would generate much more if the areas were preserved and they were key players in the preservation as no park management is possible without the support of the local people. The village was a fun and memorable experience but the poachers’ story was the most interesting part of the day.
The morning was early and we were at the park by 7am. They gave us a briefing on the hike and the gorilla family we would be visiting: Susa. Of course they were one of the families that lived the highest up in the mountain. After about an hour drive on the “African massage” roads we get to hike’s starting point. Technically we just stopped in the middle of the road surrounded by farmland being tended to by villagers all around. We walk through different plots of land until we get to the entrance of the forest a small sign pointing into the thick bamboo forest. After a short bush bathroom break the guide tells us the trackers have found the family and we’re in luck because it’ll only be an hour hike to get there. At first it wasn’t bad at all, not too steep and the incredible bamboos everywhere kept us distracted and busy taking pictures. It felt pretty magical, something about the endless stalks of bamboo towering over you give it that sensation. Half way through the hike the vegetation drastically changed and it turned into this thick, overgrown, leafy jungle. Oh, and the rest of the way up was riddled with these “stingers”, plants these hairs that went through our pants and gave a horrible burning sensation on our legs. That was pretty much the rest of the way up, and it just kept getting more and more dense. As we macheted through the jungle, not knowing when we would reach and almost giving up hope, our guide turns and orders us to leave our bags and food on the spot. We had finally reached the gorillas. We walk a few feet and there he is, a big male silverback, not the family’s alpha, but a silverback nontheless. We take a few too many photos of him and keep pushing through the jungle. Down a ditch and through this tunnel of thorny branches, we get to an opening where there are about ten gorillas, chilling.
There’s a big silverback right in front of us, this one’s the leader. Around him are some juvenile gorillas and behind a bush is an adult female, sleeping. We obviously take a million photos and all you can hear are clicks and camera shutters, we all turned into gorilla paparazzi. We were all amazed but, honestly, they couldn’t care less about our presence. The young ones were playing, rolling seemed to be their preferred way to move around, others were grooming, and in the distance, one was climbing a tree. It was exciting but at the same time very calm. Gorillas are pretty lazy, they told us. They take like four naps a day and once their done eating in the morning they just sleep and then make their bed and sleep until the next day. However, as the alpha was, in what seemed to be, deep sleep, the other silverback made a noise and he immediately woke up, pounded his chest and walked up the hill where we had come from. Amazing to see a gorilla in real life showcase the iconic chest pounding. We were now making our way back, everyone very quiet but thrilled at what we had seen.
The way back was just as hard as the way into the jungle but at least it was downhill. We were talking to a couple in our group who coincidentally lived in NYC, a marine veteran and an english creative director for Clinique. Talking about the hike and the remainder of our trip, we share our adventures and as we proudly share them, “Charlie” always seems to one-up them. It get’s to the point where we mention Nepal, and he casually shares how he’s been there multiple times: one during the earthquake, another during the Everest avalanche where he helped take supplies to trapped hikers and the last when he was finally able to summit the peak. The people you meet on these trips are incredible but “Charlie” takes the cake, by far. Expect a book in the future, there has to be one coming.
We drove back to Kigali but looking back at it, it would have been better to drive down to Lake Kivu on our way to see the chimpanzees in the southern park of Nyungwe. When we planned the trip, we were going to Uganda, to the Bwindi park, to see gorillas where its supposedly better and less expensive. Because of the lengthly border crossing process, we were recommended to drive back to Kigali before heading to Nyungwe for the chimps. A week or two before our arrival, Uganda closed its borders and we had to change our plan and visit Volcanoes instead. We would have made better use of our time visiting Lake Kivu instead of returning to Kigali. Regardless, we were back in the city for a night before heading to see the chimps in the south.
Nyunwe is about five to six hours away in an intensely windy road so if you get car sick, brace yourself. After a pit stop for some snacks (Ileana was craving Pringles but had to settle for generic butter cookies) and a few bathroom breaks, we arrived at our first activity of the day. A short hike down to a series of hanging bridges over the tree canopy. Definitely worth the hike. There’s three bridges with the second one crossing over from one ridge to the next where you get the most amazing view of the hills and forests of Rwanda. The excitement was short lived because once you’re done with the third one, you realize the entire way back is uphill, a steep uphill. Ileana basically ran up the mountain while me and the two guides followed a more slow and steady wins the race mentality. We eventually got back to the car and drove out of the park, through these amazing tea plantations and arrived at our hotel for the night, or more like few hours before we had to wake up.
Unlike gorillas, chimpanzees are early risers and incredibly active so the goal is to get to them as early as possible and follow them to where they will be eating during the day. We left the hotel at five in the morning and again drove about an hour on extra bumpy dirt roads until we got to the start of the hike. We were worried because chimpanzee trekking is known to take as long as 5 hours going up and down through the hills and we were definitely not prepared for this if it were to happen. As we begin the hike, we immediately notice its all downhill, all we think of is that the way back is going to be entirely uphill. Way earlier than anticipated, we begin hearing their screaming and leaves and trees moving all around us. We catch up to the trackers and they start pointing them out. We can barely manage to see them before they run down the hill or into thicker forest and disappear. Forget about the camera, we were barely managing to find them, all we could see were the leaves moving and a short glimpse of them. There were lots of them, about twenty or so and all around us they just moved so much that it was hard to keep track of them let alone take their photo.
Little by little, they began crossing the trail which gave us nice, clear visuals ofthem (mostly their butts). As they realized we were there, they became louder and louder, screaming like crazy, trying to intimidate us. Breaking branches and shaking smaller trees, jumping around and, to be honest, they did intimidate us. They’re fast and agile and incredibly strong, plus they’re completely wild (I know it’s obvious but gorillas and even lions don’t necessarily give you that sensation because they’re so calm and relaxed) so you always have that uneasiness because they could just go straight at you and there’s nothing you could do. It was exhilarating and an experience difficult to share because it’s basically impossible to get a good photo or video of them. You’ll see the ones I took, it’s better if you think of them as abstract photography.
