Hi everyone.....Another epistle....up Wednesday morning at 3.30 am for our 4.30 am departure to the mountains to see the gorillas...gorillas in the mist...it sure was as we had a lot of fog as we drove up into the mountains...oh for a flat country...we are getting tired of climbing mountains...it was very dark until about 5.45 am...the hotel packed us a  breki box and hot coffee which I managed to spill over myself in the dark...we reached the park about 7 am where you meet your guides...all very interesting as there are 10 families of gorillas they track each day and so they only take 10 groups of  8 people...the permits each day are limited to that number.....even before it came light we couldn't believe all the people walking on the side of the road (not like Ethiopia) carrying their goods to market...they have a white line on the roads here too and they are very good sealed roads...we can't believe the cleanliness and tidiness of this country, even in the rural areas, it is all tidy around their houses which are all built of mud or bricks...you have to get permission to chop a tree down here but we don't know how they police that....the cultivation of crops is everywhere...as you leave Kilgali the soil is more of an orange colour but as you get to the park the volcanic soil is so rich that they get 3 crops a year off it....cultivation everywhere, potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes...they grow a sweet potato and an Irish potato...lots of banana trees, pineapple, beans, beans and more beans and paddocks of pyrethrium (used in insect repellent)  but so back to the park...they had tea and coffee there for us (coffee excellent here too like in Ethiopia and they grow their own tea here too) and there was a cultural group of males and females entertaining us with their dancing whilst we were sorted into groups....then we travelled further with our driver from Kilgali who took us to the starting point...there is about a 45 minute drive into where we start the walk that they call the 45 minute massage...just a boulder road if you could call it that which wasn't much good for Michael and I as we still have stomachs that leave a lot to be desired!! And so our group of 8 assembled with our guides and porters...they encourage you to take a porter and pay them $US10 each as these guys were once poachers and they have turned this whole thing around now with the park and the gorilla numbers are really increasing and they have really totally stamped out poaching within Rewanda.... BUT we had 2 guys, apart from the guides and porters, come with us and they were carrying machine guns as we were 5 kms from the Congo border...they are paranoid about security here and we can see why...that day in Axum when we had the hassle with me, we were right on the Eritrea border there so it is all pretty dicey stuff....and so we set off on about a 2 hour walk into the mountains...first going through all the cultivated paddocks of the locals and finally into the bush....the guides had radio contact with the trackers who had gone ahead to find the gorillas...we were sent in search of a group called Umbumbo or something like that and the big silver back is Charles who is 28 years old...they live to 40 to 45 years old and they are vegetarian and enormous...we climbed to about 2,700 metres and even though our stomachs are still not good we were fine with the altitude...so Liz and Geoff DON'T take altitude pills...just drink lots of coco leaf tea!!   When we got within about 100 metres we left our porters and had to leave our walking sticks which we had been given and go just with our guide and the trackers....all of a sudden there was a big silver back...not Charles but one of the lesser boys in the group....the group were all split up yesterday in that about 8 of them were together...we spent probably 45 minutes with them...the silver back charged us at one point....the guide has us all making the right noises...we think we got it right Francine....even our guide was shaking as we were so close but every time this happened the guide made the 8 of us get close together.....then the trackers took us off to the rest of the group...Charles was up a tree but eventually came down and there would have been another 6 here but they were all over the place and one black back came at us and we were on the side of a bank and couldn't move...Michael was in front and truly there was 6 inches between him and the gorilla if that...the black backs are the males that have not yet developed into a silver back but boy are they big....with the 1st group of gorillas an American couple with us said one touched me...I had my hat on which was difficult but I was protecting my ear but you were scrambling through bushes and getting caught in the vines under your feet and with no stick, it was difficult at times and sometimes the gorillas moved quickly so we had to all reposition ourselves....then it was back to our Gorilla Lodge for the night in the mountains...so lush and green everywhere in Rewanda but particularly in the mountains and they grow lots of gum trees here...unbelievable....what was interesting though is that the trackers go back into the bush and stay with the gorillas until around 5 pm when the group gets back together again and beds down for the night  and so the trackers will have an idea of where to find them in the morning as they do move around quite a lot...to think they have 89% of our DNA....it was cooler in the mountains....Michael was still in a shirt but I had to put a jacket on....they came and lit a fire in our bedroom so we went to sleep with the fire light...we were in a separate unit all built in rocks and removed from the reception area as are all the units so the lodge is spread over a big area...AND Michael couldn't resist it...he has bought himself a walking stick with gorillas carved on it....2 Kenyan girls were in our group and they are carrying a herbal medicine their grandmother makes...they gave me some and after one dose I am feeling better...we are certainly keeping of those altitude pills and malaria pills...that medication has really taken us to the brink!!
It was quite nice to have a cool night and get a good sleep...our driver picked us up at 8 am this morning and so back to Kilgali.....such a busy road with everyone carrying their goods to market but not the shambles of the roads in Ethiopia...the women here wear such colourful clothing although quite a lot of jeans and pants creeping in here but some of the Rewandan women dress beautifully....interesting that their parliament has 63 women representatives here...they really respect women and children here....and so all the cultivated fields as we drove back down through the mountains and it got warmer as we got to Kilgali....push bikes and motor bikes everywhere and the loads they carry on those push bikes would blow your mind...mostly they don't ride the bike but just use it to transport loads of stuff...like 130 kg sacks of potatoes....on arrival in Kilgali we spent an hour at the genocide museum.....very sad and makes me question a lot of things but I won't go into that here but in 1994, 2 million of their then 7 million population was killed within 7 months....we had the voice control thing you hire and it was very interesting if not tragic to hear about what led up to the conflict and some of the pictures we really graphic...shades of our visit to the killing fields in Cambodia....then our driver took us on a tour around Kilgali which has tripled in size since the 1994 genocide....incredible some of the homes.....all the countries have their various embassies here and to think this has all happened since 1994....our driver took us to old Kilgali which is very tidy even though he called it their slum but in 1994 there was no water, power or roads there...now people are buying into this area for the land and building new houses....a very interesting country, nothing like what we expected.....security everywhere though...going into the genocide museum we had to get out of the vehicle and get frisked and even coming into our very nice 5 star hotel they put the mirrors under the vehicle even though it is the vehicle of a local company and then all our bags go through and x-ray at the hotel door and we get frisked...tomorow another flight, another country and so it will be shoes off, shoes on, shoes off, shoes on...we're getting good at it...5.30 am start....oh for a lazy day ....thanks for all your comments...we love to hear from you....M & F