Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

Back in 2013 - gosh, I find it hard to believe this was seven years ago already - I was extremely fortunate to visit Rwanda and, while there, go on a Gorilla Trek in the Volcanoes National Park.

I was invited there for another reason - not important here - but when the invite came, my instinctive reaction was to decline as my limited knowledge of Rwanda focused on the 1994 genocide. This was a truly horrendous chapter in human history where, over the space of 100 days, around 800,000 people(estimates range from 500,000 to over 1 million) were slaughtered by Hutu extremists.

The purpose of this blog is not to look into the history or the rights and wrongs of those awful days, I am merely laying the background in terms of my limited knowledge of Rwanda at the time.

Instead of immediately declining the opportunity, I did some research as the thought of visiting the heart of Africa and seeing gorillas in the wild was tremendously exciting. I soon found out that Rwanda had moved on considerably - socially and economically. Widely viewed at the time as one of the safest countries in Africa, Rwanda had largely modelled itself on Singapore - aiming to be, in some reports, the “Singapore of Africa”. Further digging found no reason to be cautious about the trip - so flights were booked and off I went. I flew from Singapore to Kigali(capital of Rwanda) via Qatar.

I had a couple of days in Kigali where I met up with the rest of my group, they had flown in from Europe and the US. We attended a couple of events, explored Kigali then headed off for the Volcanoes National Park. As the trek was an early morning start, we left the day before and stayed the night in a hotel in the north of Rwanda. This gave us a wonderful chance to see more of the country and meet some local people.

The night before the trek we went to a local restaurant for food, beers and chat. I think “nervous excitement” was the prevailing feeling. We did not really know what to expect.

Anyway, let’s move on to the pictures and more of the story…!

In Kigali we were based the Hotel Des Milles Collines. This hotel was the location of the real events depicted in the movie Hotel Rwanda. During the 1994 genocide the hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, effectively turned this hotel into a refugee camp and a place of relative safety with rooms, corridors and lobbies packed with those trying to escape the violence. His heroic efforts saved a great many lives.

It is an incredible story. Incidentally, the movie was not filmed at the hotel itself - it was filmed in South Africa, I believe.

On the drive to the National Park we had a few stops for photo opportunities. Rwanda is a beautiful country and not as hot as you may expect - it is mountainous and the elevation keeps the general temperature down. As you can see from the clothes worn by this handsome model, long sleeves were required at the time of his visit.

Not all stops were planned, however. Our vehicle suffered a puncture up in the mountains. You may get a sense of the elevation from the misty clouds around us as the repairs were taking place. I did offer to help with repairs, of course I did - because I’m just that kinda guy.

But the group was absolutely adamant that I should stand back and just take photos and not get my hands dirty. “We need a photographic record of this, Fatman”, they insisted “and there’s no one better than you”. As I recall, those were their exact words and I felt duty bound to oblige.

I felt that by taking these photos I was contributing to a historical record. As you can see, some others are just standing around. Not even taking photos.

Look, I don’t even know why I’m justifying myself. Some journalists get Pulitzer Prizes and OBEs for this kind of on-the-spot and in-your-face reporting, garden parties and meeting The Queen. This is real life drama and grit from the heart of the action. I’m like a male Kate Adie. Kate Adie CBE to be exact. I’m like her without the recognition. Fact.

I kinda like this shot. It’s probably up there with “Afghan Girl”, but unlike Steve McCurry’s shot this one (I call it “Rwandan Boy”) isn’t shrouded in controversy. But whereas he gets fame and global recognition, I get this blog and obscurity. Where’s the justice? Pfffft….

(Actually, for anyone unaware of the “Afghan Girl” controversy, it’s worth a read and you can do so here)

OK, let’s skip the rest of the drive and the beers, food and chat - and move on to the gorillas!

Just a snap of the park entrance. Fully accept not getting accolades for this shot. Think of it as a scene-setter.

It’s actually quite an interesting procedure, going on a Gorilla Trek. Places are limited and time with each gorilla family is limited - to reduce human interaction. You book well in advance, turn up on the day and then each visiting group of humans is allocated a gorilla family to visit.

There were, as I recall, 6 gorilla families in the area. They are free to roam, but tracked by - well, a tracker - who has a radio and GPS. Roughly based on the fitness of your human group, you are allocated a gorilla family to see - based on distance, terrain etc. Then off you set with your guides.

At least that’s how it worked back then, I’m assuming still similar, but happy to be corrected.

I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of the trek. I think I had visions of lovely strolls through fields and open grasslands before coming across a gorilla family quietly sitting in open pasture, awaiting myself and my camera. It wasn’t quite like that…

The trek started calmly enough - lovely walks through some farmland with view of the mountains in the distance and cloud cover keeping the temperature down. Rwanda has some stunning scenery! However, after this sedate start, things moved rapidly downhill (metaphorically speaking - in a literal sense we went uphill. or rather upmountain. I’d never experienced a descent cause by going uphill before. Bit weird)

Up muddy hillsides…

Think the gardener missed his shift - paths weren’t maintained to proper standards…

Nearly stood on this damned thing - it would have had my foot off, I’m sure! I think its a python or something similar.

Yours truly with one of the guides. That’s me on the left. I’d shown him my photo of Rwandan Boy and he insisted on getting his photo taken with me, assuming, quite naturally, that one day I’d be famous and he could say he met me back in the day. Life deals some cruel blows at times.

To get back to facts for a second, the gun thing is interesting. We were told at the start of the trek that the guns were to protect us from any rampaging animals that took a dislike to trekkers. We found out afterwards the bigger threat was more likely to have been poachers and these guys were trained to kill. Not sure, but I suspect they were ex-soldiers. Very surreal, but also kinda cool (after the event).

A bamboo forest was thrown into the trekking mix

Let’s throw in another steep hill. Because, well, why not?

Just to clarify on this - the gorillas are free roaming, so the guides cannot predict or prepare in advance. You play with the cards you are dealt. Your guides are being constantly updated with the location and movements of your allocated gorilla family - and your route adjusts accordingly. At one point, genuinely, our lead guide had his machete out and was chopping through raw jungle. That was very cool.

So, how do you know when you’re getting close to the gorillas? Well, let me tell you.

Poo. Gorilla poo. Fresh gorilla poo. And lots of it. My God, someone needs to teach personal hygiene to these animals. There was poo all over their “nest”. This was their bed from the previous evening - I hope to hell they were building a new one for the next night. (Apparently they do - the nests are only temporary)

If nothing else, though, this was to prepare me for the experience of sharing a camper van with my brother six years later.

So we had reached the gorilla family! In absolute seriousness, this was a wonderful moment - on the verge of witnessing a gorilla family in the wild in the heart of Africa. I still get a sense of excitement, even now, when I look back over these images. So - we had found the poo. The family were close. We had to leave any extra bags at this point (yes, near the poo…) and then we were given last-minute instructions from the guides. All common sense stuff - don’t go too close, don’t touch them, don’t annoy the silverback. All common sense stuff. Anyway…

Just to give you an idea of the terrain and on how close we were to the family group

The picture above doesn’t make this clear, but we were based on a fairly steep slope. Our instructions were, if the silverback moved towards us, to get out of his way in a “calm and controlled manner”.

Let me tell you this, if a silverback approaches you, “calm and controlled” doesn’t come into the picture.

Imagine a huge male gorilla on point A and wanting to go to point C. And on point B is a group of silly trekkers with cameras. Do you skirt around them? Do you go via point D? No sir, you do not.

Well - picture us sitting on a muddy slope, snapping and admiring the gorilla family - and the Big Daddy looks at you and starts to approach. You move, scramble, crawl, grab roots, grab each other and do whatever you can to get out of his path. Then, just in time, the path is cleared and he literally walks right past you. He doesn’t look at you, doesn’t acknowledge you in the slightest - just ambles past, within touching distance as you hold your breath, sweat and pray to any god you can think of.

Absolutely one of the most incredibly awesome moments of my life. The size, the power, the sheer presence of these magnificent animals is beyond my ability to explain on a blog.

So, on with the photos…

The big fella…

There were a number of young ‘uns in the group and they showed a huge amount of curiosity towards us - they would approach, have a look, show off a little with somersaults etc - then their mother would come along, pick them up and carry them away to a safer distance. And then the process would repeat itself! Kids, eh?

No words…

For anyone curious about these things, I was using a 400mm lens for this shot

Some of the youngsters played right in front of us. Until mum came along and spoiled the fun!

I have dozens and dozens more of these images, but I think I shall leave this here for now. I hope that, in some small way, this little blog has increased appreciation of these truly majestic animals.

I also hope that we as a species become more aware of the wonderful world around us - and take more care of each other, the animal kingdom and the environment in general as we emerge slowly from this lockdown period. Seeing this gorilla family in the wold, in their natural environment was an extraordinary experience from start to finish and I feel incredibly privileged to have been on this trek.

For anyone interested, some of my nature/wildlife images - amongst others - can be found on the Redbubble Store.

On that note, I wish you all well - stay strong, stay safe, be kind.

Fatman xxx