On The Way To The Gorillas

So today we went to see the Gorillas at Bwindu National Park. There were three types of hikes. Easy, medium, and hard. I selected medium, but said I'd be willing to go to the easy if they want to me to. With the knee issues I've been having since Amsterdam, I started to say easy.  However, I bought some fantastic pill  in the Nairobi Airport that had largely resolved my knee issues. (Approved by my new nurse friend with Ann Biery's personality.)

They ended up needing 3 people to move from the medium to the hard hike. Since the 2 other singles were already in the hard group, and I didn't want to split any couples up, I agreed to switch. 

Oh my, it was hard and long. They started out rather fast. I probably should have slowed them down some from the beginning, but didn't want to hold everybody up. Beforelong, I got out of breathe and was very uncomfortable walking on the trail. The trail ran right against the side of the mountain (which would have hurt if I had fallen), and had sharp inclines followed by step climbs at the long awaiting razorback - what they didn't tell you is the razorback isn't much less steep than the original path.

Pretty soon they put me in the front is the line to set the pace, which meant everytime I stopped, so did everyone else. Which they did when I was at the tail is the line, but somehow the pressure was greater. Several times I wondered if I would have to turn around, but 1) it was my only chance to see the gorilla in their natural habitat, and 2) is unsafe for anyone to walk alone, which meant if I went down, everyone else would have to as well.

I had a porter to carry my backpack and help me over the difficult parts (alll but a couple of people hired them). We also had a guide and a trainee guide. When I was struggling on one is the hills, I felt my porter put his hands on my butt and push me up the hill. When it got harder, I had him behind me and the trainee guide in front is me pulling me up. They're the only reason I made it.

At one rest about 2/3 up, a couple of other hikers thanked me for setting a slower pace that they were able to follow. So I guess I took one for the team.

Eventually we made it close to the gorillas. A couple of trackers had been following them and told us where they were as we got near the top. At that point we had to leave porters (to keep the number is people down)and bags (to limit risk to the gorillas) and climb with just our cameras.

"Dad", a big silverback gorilla, came right by us and sat down to eat. Unfortunately, he was behind foilage, so it was hard to get our cameras to focus on him and not the leaves. Also because we are in the forest (the Impenetrable Forest!), it is a little dark and there is no flash allowed (it would scare the gorillas).

A couple of 'kids" followed, then a "mom", although she largely stayed in another spot that was even harder to photograph. Then a mom with a baby on her back walked by (she didn't stay long).

 As they were eating they kept moving down the mountain. Finally they had eaten so much they decided to take naps. By now another mother and her 3 month baby had joined the group. And while adults slept, the tiny baby kept watching us (he seemed fascinated, while the others ignored us). In all, we saw the whole family of 12 at some point.

Once we got to the gorillas, we only had one hour to watch - and that went fast. Because of the difficult environment and me only having my backup camera, most of my shots were blurry or too far away for my 3x camera. I did get a few decent pictures, as you can see below.

Our guide said we ended up about 10 feet from rhe top of the mountain. We hiked down the hill (which wasn't as taxing, but was really scary), and along the way, i wrenched my bad knee (not terribly bad, but it ached the rest is the night). We ran into a pygmy who was in her 70s or 80s (she doesn't know). She played and sang a song for us.  We returned to the lodge to find everyone else had had a much easier time getting to their gorillas, had come back hours ago and most had gone exploring in town or hiking to a waterfall.

Before dinner, we got a briefing for the next day. I had pre-registered to visit a pygmy village. Guess whet the village was? Up near the top of the mountain I had just climbed.  My only option was to hike it again or stay home all day. I decided to try walking it again tomorrow. Supposedly, the pace will be slower.  We'll see how I do.