Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park

The day to see the gorillas is here! After s 5am wake up call we set out for a 45 minute drive to the park headquarters. On arrival, there's a bit of a waiting game while all the groups are assigned. 

There are 10 gorilla families that tourists can visit in Volcanoes National Park,  ranging in size from about 8 to 40 gorillas in each group. The largest family, Susa, is one of the more difficult treks as they tend to be further in the park. Travelers can request specific groups, although not guaranteed - also, for those not as fit or wanting an easier hike, will be considered as well when assigning the family. 

We told our guide, Sam, that we wanted lots of babies - to our luck we were given the second largest family, with loads of babies! The Agashya group, with 22 gorillas in the family - Agashya is the silverback and known as the playboy of all the groups, a bit of a stud, with attitude.

After orientation with the park rangers, you drive to the starting point based on which group you're hiking to. 

Our hike started out in farmland moving up the volcano - we spotted another group of gorillas in the distance, adding to the excitement...moving slowly up into the mist, it was like a scene out of movie, breathtaking (physically and emotionally), the hike was moderate, and challenging at times. It's encouraged to hire a porter to carry your day pack, for $20 it supports the local community, and they help you every step of the way. Literally holding your hand helping up steep muddy areas, always watching out for your safety and embarrassment of sliding down the mountain. 

After 2 hours of trekking we could hear the them! Within meters, we take only our cameras and leave the porters. All of sudden we can see the gorillas in the bush, everyone is so excited. Our 1 hour with them starts now.

As we walk through a clearing, there is Agashya, the massive silverback sitting on what could dub as a throne. Eating away at the bamboo he quickly gets up, pounding his chest and charges at my roomie, Marisa, giving her a punch in the shoulder as he runs by. She was of course a little freaked out, not hurt, with a story to share for a lifetime. 

During the briefing we are told by the guides that the gorillas will sometimes come up and slap or touch you on the way by, and the best thing to do (if you can't back off in time) is to stay still. The guides constantly make moves and watch our proximity, telling us where to go if they are coming too close. 

After Agashya's welcome more gorillas start coming out, swinging in the trees, and through another clearing there are about 4 more sitting around, eating bamboo. At this time of year the gorillas feed off the bamboo, getting 'drunk', so to speak. Some of them really were, 'loaded', bobbing their heads around acting strange, playing with eachother, hugging eachother, and fighting.

A few of the juveniles were eating up a storm, starting to hit and kick at eachother, Agashya had enough and came storming out of the bush to break up the fight. As we're standing there watching the branches above start moving, another gorilla coming down right at us! We quickly moved out of the way just in time for him to reach the ground. 

Next we come across a little one year old baby, playing with his older brother. This was a highlight watching the baby rock back and forth on all fours, so similar to a human, the brother was cuddling with the young one, poking and playing, and farting up a storm. Our hour was coming to a close, we soaked up the last few minutes and said goodbye - everyone was in awe, it felt so surreal. 

Meeting back with the porters we could hear all the gorillas starting to fight again, screaming and shrieking we sat and listened before making the trek back down. 

The gorillas were truly a lifetime experience, I cannot recommend it highly enough. After speaking with other travelers at the lodge, seeing the terrain and learning about the different parks you can visit to see the gorillas, just about anyone can do this. I'll be adding another write up on the logistics of gorilla trekking, from the permit process and difference between parks. Stay tuned..

Chimps and Kyambura Gorge

One of the draws to come to Kyambura Gorge is to see the chimps - there is a group of 20 in the area, disruption to the land has prevented them from moving around to other communities, and they have started to inbreed - there are talks of planting fig trees to create a channel that they can travel through. 

I had read a bit about the tracking in Kyambura prior to coming, the chances are 50/50 that you'll see them, so I came with no expectations. A day earlier we met with a team from Departures magazine who raved about the experience with the chimps, that they saw them from the road and didn't even have to trek into the gorge to look for them. This got my hopes up, but should have known if they saw them the day before, what we could expect. 

An early morning start we drove to the starting point, registered and sorted the permits - must plan in advance as they can be hard to obtain on arrival.

Getting out the car at the side of the gorge, we start our decent, about 70 meters, STEEP steps...pretty crazy, I think I hugged the ground crawling on all fours getting down. 

Once you're at the bottom its like a scene out of fern gulley - absolutely magical, the trekking fairly flat and follows the channel, monkeys swinging from the canopy above...beautiful. We walked for about 2 hours in search of the chimps, our guide calling back to reception where they'e been hearing their calls, they are on the cliff near the highest point of the gorge, about 100 meters. Too hard to reach, it would be impossible, and dangerous to keep going. We're all super bummed, somber and pouting. 

This fueled another reason to return. I have to see them now. 

Tip - if you have a couple days planned here, book the permits for both days (only $50 each), that way if you don't see them the first day, you have another chance. 

For anyone wanting to experience the chimps, there is a rescue center in Kampala where you can have a hands on experience, Brian, in our group did this on arrival and said it was amazing. You can also go to Kibale (Uganda), and also into southern Rwanda...both areas well known for chimps. 

Aside from not seeing them, the hike was awesome, and the afternoon would soon make up for it.