The Silverback
The morning came quickly and we packed and prepared all of our things before setting out to track. When tracking you travel in a group of no more than 8 people and are given only 1 hour with the gorillas as to reduce stress on them. You also travel with armed guards to keep any mountain elephants or other wild animals away. As we set off our group also consisted of two Scandinavian couples from the UK (France, England, Switzerland) and one girl from New Jersey. We beat our way through the jungle, our guides hacking the brush with their machetes before one turned to us and said ‘okay, ready yourselves to see gorillas.’ We broke the clearing and came into a small area with a family of 9 silverback gorillas. The youngsters played with one another, jumping and wresting, while the mother slept and the large male silverback leaned against a tree, watching the scene. It was incredible. We were literally 1-2.5 meters away from the gorillas as they ate, played, and generally conducted life as if we weren’t there. As we edged closer they became annoyed with us and started back into the dense forest away from our group. We followed them through the brush for nearly an hour, snapping photos all along the way. It was an incredible encounter despite the difficulty of jungle tracking. When we returned to Gorilla Mist we were all smiles.
We also heard about the Pygmy people in the area (aboriginal Ugandans who still live in the forest) and so we set off to see them as well since we weren’t sure if we could make our bus to Kigali in Rwanda that same day. The Pygmy people were incredible and they spoke with our translator as they explained how they hunt, dance, cook, celebrate and conduct life in the forest. We got to join in their tribal welcome dances and practice hunting with a bow. So. Cool. One amazing thing we learned was that the pigmy people, like all Ugandans have a spare room in their homes, solely for the purpose of hosting guests. It made me think of the hospitality we’d received and how we saw that to be true regardless how humble their circumstances. We left Gorilla Mist, much wiser about Ugandan culture than we would have thought from a day trekking gorillas.
As we arrived in Kabale we found that we hadn’t missed the bus at all and that we could catch it in 15 minutes! What a blessing since we wouldn’t have to wait an entire day to head to Rwanda. We boarded the bus and set out on the next leg of our adventure.
Arriving at the border of Rwanda was an experience all of its own. With images from Hotel Rwanda in my mind we exited the bus, passed through the immigration check, and crossed by foot into Rwanda. The first thing that was apparent is that no plastics are allowed, making the entire country extremely clean. The second… That you should always double check the country website as we had to have a Visa to enter the country! Short on time (before our bus left) and short on cash it was a close call but we had enough to purchase the visa and make the crossing. We were greeted to Vincent at Nyogobogu station and given a tour around town. Vincent is a Rwandan member of the church who was baptized almost 5 years ago. He is finishing a degree in English teaching and runs a small business. A fun, kind person, Vincent showed us his favorite places in Rwanda before taking us to our guest house – those places consisted of two LDS chapels, the sports stadium and downtown Kigali. It was a wonderful experience!
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