(narrated by Shortbutkute, Australia)
In September 2005 I went on a day trip trekking through Virunga
National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Africa Travel
Company.
There is a lot of information floating around on different websites
saying the Congo is a dangerous place to visit, you must be mad to
visit there etc etc etc. I can only describe my experience and maybe
help out with decision making when considering where to go gorilla
trekking.
At no stage during my time in Virunga National Park, did I feel
unsafe or threatened in any way or form. The border control was as any
other border control in under developed countries, a little slow but
overall no hassels at all. The villagers we met along the way were the
most delightful and happy people you could wish to meet. Running
alongside the vehicles, waving and saying hello. Yes, most likley
wanting money or goodies, but they definately didn't seem that they
would hurt us. Every local I spoke to had comments along the lines of
"You going gorilla trekking, you bring money to our country'. They seem
to realise that a proportion of the money from gorilla permits goes
towards such projects as education and public health to name a couple.
I also rationalised that a reputable company like Africa Travel
would not take clients into a dodgy area and risk their reputation. As
anywhere in the world things can happen in the Congo and you do need to
take care, but my experience whilst in the Congo was a positive and
special time.
The day of our trek started early leaving our Kisoro (Uganda)
campground and travelling to the border in our overland truck. At the
border we were given a briefing on gorillas and what to do and what not
to do in situations. We were split into 3 groups of 8 - a slow group,
medium group and fast group. Needless to say I definately was not in
the fast group and opted for the medium.
Our group were all females accompanied by 2 local rangers. We
travelled in a Pajero 4WD to "base camp", where once again we got
another briefing. By this stage I was beginning to wonder what I'd
gotten myself into. Were we going to be attacked by these gorillas or
what?
We started heading up the first mountain at around 9.30/10am. Just
as the sun was beginning to warm up. We trekked for close on 3 hours
before we had a short break on top of a hill. The countryside was
amazing. We walked through potato fields, terraced mountains with
coffee crops and then started into the jungle. There was quite a lot of
hidden rocks and roots, that yes I kept tripping over.
Finally found them!!
After a total of 7 hours trekking up and down gigantic mountains
(to me they were) I had just about had enough. I thought I was fairly
fit but the heat was starting to get to me and my determination to see
the gorillas kicked in. I came across a fluorescent green caterpillar
and bent down to pick it up.
Our "leader" Sabine, started tapping me on the shoulder and I
thought she was telling me not to touch the native wildlife, when she
pointed to a gorilla about 5m in front of us that I hadn't seen cause I
was so buggered. The feeling I had when I first seen them was one of
absolute amazement. I was finally fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams.
It is government law that you can only spend 1hr with a family at a
time. This may seem unreasonable, as the price of the permit isn't that
cheap, but if putting a time limit on visits means that it protects the
gorillas from catching any human disease and basically from being too
accustomed to us, I'm all for it. You cannot eat, drink, smoke or go to
the toilet near the gorillas. Talking should be kept to a minimum also
so as not to disturb them.
Spending time with the "family"
We witnessed about a dozen gorillas, (including the silverback and
two babies) eat, play, sleep and mate. The similarities between them
and humans was amazing. Little things like when they were scratching
under their arms, picking their nose, breastfeeding the babies down to
the Silverback farting and lying back and sleeping, after mating with
one of the females (mated 3 times while we were there) just made me
feel like somehow we must be decendants of the ape family.
The babies were so cheeky. I even had them running over my boots a
couple of times. They wouldn't keep still. Trying to break down small
saplings so they would fall onto us and then running off and hiding,
but come back and have another try. They were so inquisitive. I guess
just the same way we were about them.
At the start of the trek you are cautioned not to yell, make eye
contact or sudden movements that might make them feel threatened. I was
worried I would be a big girl and forget all this and scream and get
attacked or something. At the end as we were starting to move away from
them, the silverback mock charged us and I had him within a metre of me
and all I could think about was I hoped he didn't think I was going to
be mate #4. Thank God I was sensible and straight away put my head
down, not making eye contact. I could hear his breathing and even
though my heart was beating pretty fast, I really wasn't scared. The
other girls started to run and screamed a bit, but I managed to get a
pic (a bit blurry of course) of him charging us. What an experience,
even if it was only a mock charge!!
I felt extremely priviliged to be a part of their family, even if it was only for an hour.