Gorilla Trekking

Yesterday Nathan and I had the privilege of trekking with the Titus family of gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park near Musanze.

We arrived at the meeting place at 7am where we organised gumboots after realising how muddy the Golden Monkey trip had been. We also chose what level of trekking we wanted to do (easy, medium or hard), we chose medium because Nathan hasn't been feeling well. We then drove 45 minutes to our starting point and as a group of six tourists with our guides and porters, we headed off to meet our trackers who had been following the Titus family so they know where they are for us. We hiked about 45 minutes through farmers fields (think very steep fields at the base of a volcano) up to the edge of the park where we entered in through a rock wall (to keep the buffalo out). From there it was an intense battle through thick African jungle, with copious amounts of mud, stinging nettle and low-hanging shrubbery (we had to crawl through on our hands and knees at one stage). It didn't take long until we met our first gorillas.

We were able to get so close to them, we were recommended to stay at least 7 metres away, but I think we were closer at some points. From there we followed the family for about an hour watching them eat (silverbacks need to eat 30kgs of food per day! Though they themselves can weigh up to 200kgs!). We got to see a few silverbacks, including the chief, some mothers and even a little baby who was so cute and decided to somersault down the hill.

As we followed them as they moved from feeding point to feeding point, we were moving a fair way up the volcano, but we didn't realise quite how far we had gone up until I started to feel quite dizzy and nauseous, then we realised I was getting altitude sickness. Nathan chatted to our guide about it and mentioned that in Australia our highest 'mountain' is 2000m high, and our guide just laughed and said that we started at 2600m! So we think we may have reached about 3000m which explains why I was feeling sick. So after needing to stop and rest for a little while, the guide dragged me through the jungle so I could sit down but continue to watch the gorillas.

After spending the hour with the gorillas (including one gorilla deciding to charge us down) we hiked back down the volcano with a few slips and slides because of the steepness.

All in all, even though Nathan had been feeling unwell and I'd felt sick, it was still so worth seeing. The gorillas were amazing to see and watch how they interact. They're such beautiful animals and it was a privilege being able to sew them in their natural habitat. We have some amazing photos on our camera, but here are a few from Nathan's phone to share with you all back home.

A once in a lifetime opportunity! Definitely worth it!

Sophie

P.S. One of the photos is of me with our driver named Safari. We think he looks like Kanye West!