Adventures of Tom Sako and Damien Waterford

Rwanda - Gorilla in the mist

There was an immediate change entering Rwanda coming from the isolated Tanzanian's west. We were welcomed by the gushing brown waters of the Rusuma falls. There is such a force in these waters that it was spellbinding, watching the course of this river wind its way north, towards lake Victoria creating the beginning of the Nile River.

Meanwhile, across the road was the immigration and customs office.

Rwanda is a French speaking country and after paying $50 each for a visa, we didn't immediately understand why our money was rejected. They wouldn't accept notes unless they were printed after 2003. We stood there in disbelief for a second then wondered what our chances were of having new notes. After going through our remaining US dollars, we were pleased to find we had exactly enough.

As we took off, the next thing we learnt, and very quickly, is that they drive on the right side of the road.

Rwanda is full of lush mountains and valleys, b ana na and coffee plantations everywhere. They utilise every inch of soil by tiering the mountains no matter how steep they are.

We got into Kigali , the capital the next day and were greeted by at least a dozen blokes running towards the van. They wanted to change our money and being a Sunday with closed banks, they got a deal.

Rwanda has some recent colorful history. Some may remember the Genocide that took place in 1994, with hundreds of thousands slaughtered by machete wielding gangs.

The original Rwandans were the Twa pigmies and were gradually displaced by the Hutu tribes' people about a thousand years ago. In the 16 th century the Tutsi moved in and conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi has been ongoing to the build up in 1994 when an estimate 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 3 months. Three million people fled the country to neighboring refugee camps and 7 million of the 9 million Rwandans were displaced.

There is an international crimes tribunal in Arusha Tanzania , set up to bring justice to former military and government officials for acts of genocide.

The current government has done an extraordinary job bringing the people together as Rwandans and their past is a distant memory for most.

In the west of Rwanda bordering the Congo is a beautiful picturesque lake surrounded by volcanoes called Kivu, where we spent some time before heading north to the Vulcan's national park to see the Gorillas.

It cost almost 400usd to visit them and when Tom asked why so much, the head ranger said there are only 700 of them in the world. They want to reduce the amount of people to see them. The Gorillas are in separate families and each have their own area. There are 8 families in Rwanda , a few in Uganda and the Congo . No more than 8 people can visit a family of Gorillas in one day and for 1 hour only. The day we went there were 8 people in total. Tom and I went to see the largest group called the Susa Family and were joined by a British journalist and a guy from Thailand . They were further away than the other groups and we drove for over an hour before we started trekking.

The first hour was walking through fields and villages before we came to a dense forest full of bamboo and rainforest vegetation. Armed guards, guides and trakers accompanied us. I think there were 12 of them in all to take the 4 of us in. The trek in was quite difficult climbing always upwards through the dense jungle. We stopped for breaks then moved on. We changed course as one of the trackers got word back to the guide that they were on the move.

It was without warning that our first Gorilla appeared. He was about 3 meters away, huge and staring. It was one of the 3 male silverbacks with the family. He wasn't frightened by us, nor we it. After about a minute he got up and walked back into the forest. We were in luck today as we found the rest of the group in a clearing nearby. We were able to walk amongst them. The guards and trackers held way back and it was the 4 of us and a guide who spent an hour with the Susa family. They are so human like in their movements and very accepting of us. They were going about their daily life of eating bamboo shoots, picking insects from each other, playing, fighting, resting, climbing trees and showing off. There were a few young ones and a set of twins. I unknowingly was in the path of a silverback and he waited until I got out of the way before he proceeded.

It was the most moving experience to see these beautiful creatures in their own environment, so peaceful and accepting of us. It was so worth the money. The reason there are only 700 of them left and they live only around this area is that they have been hunted for trophies and meat and killed just for fun during the genocide. Of course they are protected today and there should be about 750 by next year.

We traveled north into Uganda , Idi Amins old country and got back on the right side of the road. I mean the left. Here also is some of the prettiest country on earth. We traveled past volcano's and lakes with terraced hillsides going right into the abundant lake waters. The pigmies live in this lush area of the southwest.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that the wet season was upon us with hours of torrential rain all through the nights.

Kampala is the capital and a very busy place. The streets are packed with thousands of people with market stalls or just standing around, but the highlight of Uganda was Jinji on lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and the 2 nd largest in the world. It's the source of the Nile . It is known for its white water rafting so we took a trip out with 3 other Israeli's and a guide followed by two safety rafts. Our first rapid was the Bunjari falls, a very picturesque waterfall 10km from Jinji. One of the Israelis was thrown from the boat on the second rapid and was fairly shook up but calmed by the end of the day. We traveled 30km's that day down the Nile through rapids and calm waters and look forward to seeing the other end in a few short weeks in Egypt.