Volcanoes and Gorillas

Last week Sean, Lara and I visited the Volcano National park - situated in the Northern Provence of Rwanda, on the border of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Our aim was simple - to see the Rwanda national icon - the mountain gorilla. We borrowed the school car and made our way there via Kigali, dodging Rwandan children, livestock and buses that seem to think they are on Australian roads. These buses will come hurtling at you on the left hand side of the road while we are still on the right. Only at the very last moment will they pull back to there side - followed by an amicable wave and honk of the horn. This is Africa.

We stayed three nights in Kinigi - the closest village to the national park. We reserved our Gorilla experience for the second day. First off was Bisoke (pronounced bissokey) - the second highest Rwandan volcano at 3711m. The walk was muddy and lacking in oxygen, and unfortunately it was too cloudy at the top to get a good appreciation of our achievement. We settled for the view of the crater lake on top of this dormant volcano - split right down the middle by the DRC border. Very rarely do visitors see gorillas on this mountain stroll - so we were considered extremely lucky to have happened upon a silverback feeding on the trail - too bad we had already paid US$500 to see them the next day.


We were escorted up by a NP guide, a porter and three machine-gun armed soldier from the Rwandan Defence Force. It was mentioned that this was for our protection against mountain buffalo, antelope and elephant - although we were quite convinced that it also conveniently allowed the Rwandan government to survey and maintain their Congolese border.


The same applied to visiting the gorillas (guide, porter + guards) - this time with the addition of trackers that we intercepted 40 minutes up the mountain. We spent an hour watching a family of gorilla's called Group Sosa - the largest mountain gorilla group in the world - 43 strong. It has one head silverback (adult male) weighing in at 250kg. Fortunately they are herbivores. It was well worth the money for first timers - but apparently it is going up to US$1000 - pushing it wayout of my budget for a second visit. Money aside, it was totally worth it, seeign the gorillas was amazing - I probably shouldn't be suprised at this but they were really quite human in their mannerisms and social interactions. Dad and mums sat relaxing while the children had it out with each other. Children would go to mum for attention, realising it was a lost cause would move on to dad, who would brush them off with his 80kg backhand. Truly amazing - a definite must see for anyone visiting Africa.


Thats it from me tonight - a little more on our trip to Gisenyi/Goma border, Hospital Rotation (who would have thought that's why we are here)and Uganda when I can. Currently trying to balance blog posting with hospital attendance (at least eight hours per day, plus sometimes night shift) and writing/submitting report for School of Medicine(so far I have done zip towards this).