Gorillas in the Mist

The journey to Rwanda was excruciatingly tiring. Starting in Kumasi, we had to drive 6 hours back to Accra, where I had to catch a 5 hour flight to Johannesburg, which left at 11pm and arrived at 6am (it’s in a different time zone). I then had a 5 hour stopover at the airport, and then another 4 hour flight to Kigali, via Bujumbura. The entire experience was surreal; the second flight wasn’t announced at the airport, wasn’t on the departure board, and there were only 20 people on a jet with seating for 150.

On arrival, immigration lovingly gave me a 50% cheaper visa than I was expecting, and my bag miraculously appeared on the carousel. Outside, my guide John was waiting for me with a little sign with my name on it. Tick that off my list of things to do. John then told me that I was the only person on the tour; 4 days of John and me.

First stop was a rather deserved rest at the Lemigo Hotel in Kigali. I ended up getting a club sandwich from room service, and it only cost me 5000 Rwandan Francs ($8 AUD). The next day, John was scheduled to pick me up at 2:00pm, so I decided to walk around the neighbourhood near the hotel. I ended up at Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, which served up this rather interesting interpretation of sweat and sour pork. Avert your eyes if you’re easily offended.

At 2:00pm, we made our way to the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, though the magnificent Rwandan countryside. I can’t explain how pretty Rwanda is as a country; everywhere you look there is a view more beautiful than the last. The lodge itself was fantastic, with very attentive staff. The fire place in my room was kept burning all afternoon and well into the evening, and someone else delivered a hot water bottle before I went to sleep.

I did not enjoy the 5:30am wake up call for the Gorilla trekking, but the excitement of getting to see a gorilla in the wild soon overtook the sleepiness. John and I had a quick trip to the Parc National des Volcans headquarters, where I was assigned to see the Agashya Group, which is the second largest group, and one of the easier to locate. We drove out to the starting point, and then after some 30 minutes of trekking through some rather muddy forest, we located the group. They were almost all sitting down eating.

After about 20 minutes, the giant silverback decided he wanted something else to eat, so he headed off. This is where things got interesting, as we followed the group through the forest with the guides cutting a path through the thick vegetation.

All too soon the magical hour was over. It was a privilege being able to see such magnificent creatures in the wild.