Volcanoes NP - Gorillas in the mist

The Suza family

The mountain Gorillas of Rwanda is one of many success stories of this tiny little Country saddled between the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Uganda. The border of these three countries is also host to the last remaining wild mountain gorilla populations.

 

3 of the 7 Volcanos that form the Volcanos NP and border between the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda and home to the last remaining wild mountain gorillas in the world. 

Its’ a miracle that the wild population, thought to be around 800, have survived this long given the challenges it has faced in the recent past. Thankfully, today all stakeholders appear to understand and have embraced the value attached with tourism as opposed to the horrors of poaching and encroachment, which had a devastating impact in the past. The most influential person in the protection of the mountain gorillas was Diane Fossey who paid the ultimate price with her life in the protection of the mountain gorilla.

Head of the family, one of 4 silverbacks of the Suza family. 

The mountain gorillas can be tracked in Rwanda, DRC and Uganda with a large discrepancy in pricing. Apparently, there are challenges with the distance, terrain and the suitability for photography, which we are unable to comment on having only done Rwanda. 

The Bamboo forest, the start of the climb.

The Gorillas live in the upper reaches of the cloud forest and need to be booked in advance thus some forward planning is required to get make this work. The starting point is the Volcanoes National Park, about a 30-minute drive from Musanze, the Eastern District capital that is a 3-hour drive from the capital Kigali. The town is dominated by the chain of volcanoes that border Rwanda, DRC and Uganda. The volcanoes - like most mountains - spend a lot of time hidden by clouds so you need to keep an eye out, especially at first and last light, for best chances to view the volcanoes.

Last light, the clouds finally lifter to reveal the volcano. 

The track starts at the park office in Kininyi at first light. After checking paper work, you are assigned to a group consisting a maximum of eight along with a Gorilla family. One can make requests according to your fitness level and difficulty and we were assigned to the Susa group based on the highest difficulty level. This family has a pair of rare baby mountain gorilla twins. These are wild animals that roam free and there are instances where groups have trekked for hours and instances of failures to locate the Gorillas. However, if it is a total failure, you are given a maximum of another day pass the following day to track the gorillas.  

The twins.

From the office, the different groups head out to your respective trail heads to begin the climb. Our trail head was an hour drive on a dusty track but the turn off the dusty track to the trail head was a rough off-road track requiring high clearance and 4x4. We heard from others that the trailhead was close as 10 minutes from the office so there are plenty of options depending on what you are looking for and availability of time.

The choice crop here is potatoes

Anything would flourish in the rich volcanic soil

The climbing team led by our very knowledgeable guide

The trek starts through fertile farmland, which ends abruptly at the entrance to the National Park with a dry moat to keep out the buffaloes from the farmland. This is where you meet the armed person who accompanies you in to the mountains. 

The entrance to the Volcanos NP and the climb in search for gorillas

The first part of the climb is through a huge bamboo forest and you will need a decent pair of hiking boots and gloves so you do not end up with a handful of thorns or splinters as you grab on to vegetation in order to balance. We had a very knowledgeable guide and extra porters to carry your bag. Hire the porter to carry your bag to support the local community and it’s a strenuous climb that I would rather do without lugging my bag. 

The climb through the bamboo

The lush cloud forest in the upper reaches

Your bag should have a rain jacket, water, energy bars, toilet paper and your camera. Make sure the camera is in a waterproof case, as it will most likely rain at some stage. Grab the walking stick on offer, as this will come handy on the steep climb. It’s easy get mesmerized and start looking around but make sure to watch your step as there are many potential hazards along the way and the climb is slippery and steep. What was surprising for me is the total lack of bird life along thy way. Even when the bamboo cleared in to montage forest, there were no bird sounds which was a surprise.

Our group was in the upper reaches of the montane forest

Out of the bamboo forest, you enter the montane rain forest and if felt as if you were in new world and Tarzan would swing off one of the branches! Then the trackers, sent out at dawn the track the gorilla families, were waiting for us signaling the family was close. 

The big guy surrounded by his family

You are only allowed one hour with the gorilla family per day and to ensure you have a decent chance of catching one, the trackers go up ahead and track down the family. At this point, you need to get rid of your bag and everything except your camera and rain coat in order to spend our hour with the gorillas. You are not allowed to climb if you are sick or have the flu so it pays to prepare in advance to be sure you don’t miss out after coming all this way.

The first gorilla we saw was this Silverback on his own

Our family of gorillas were chilling around and hardly took any notice of our arrival. Some of the individuals did not move from their original positions for the whole hour. One big Silverback slept for the whole hour and did not even raise its head to look at us. The main movers were the youngsters but the adults just hung around gaping around like Baboons! The older gorillas exchange stares at each other while munching away on leaves; it was a very quiet and peaceful encounter. 

Family time - Mum, Dad and Baby

Staying close to Mum

The trackers hack paths right up to the gorillas, to literally be at touching distance. You need to remain quiet and observe but the trackers will keep making rumbling sounds in a strange human to gorilla communication that apparently keeps everyone calm. 

Relaxing with a smoke?

Totally relaxed in our presence

While all eyes were on the main group trackers will point out and take you to other individual members scattered around the main group. The most remarkable aspect was how close we were to the gorillas and how calm they were in our presence. If it were not up on top of a volcano that I just climbed for two hours, one would have been forgiven for mistaking this was a set up in a zoo.

As with any wildlife, or humans for that matter, the youngsters are the most amusing to observe and shoot and in the case of the gorillas’, this is more so the case as the adults tend to sit around not doing much gazing around in a trance like state. 

Hugging Mum

Our group had a few youngsters including the twins who put up a show for us, the most iconic of all gorilla behavior, the chest beating. It only happened once in the hour we were with the family and was lucky enough to grab a shot and glad it was not an adult as they are huge compared to a human. 

Chest beating gorilla

We also had only two sightings of a climbing gorilla, both youngsters and seemed more like a monkey hanging on forest vines as opposed to the gorillas who seemed most comfortable on the ground. However, even the big Silverbacks are comfortable climbing trees and the first gorilla we saw from a distance was a Silverback on a tree.

Monkey business in the trees

 Photographing gorillas offers many challenges, most of all the light, which is never enough at the bottom of the cloud forest. Add to this the black color of the gorilla means your ISO needs to be high enough to ensure you do not end up black featureless blobs! A 400 mm lens is an overkill but manageable but 300 or less would be best but ensure the ISO can be dialed up.

There is also the rain to contend with and you have to hope like mad that the hour you are with the gorillas it not the hour it decides to rain and it rains a lot in the cloud forest. Thankfully, we had a slight drizzle to contend but the sun hardly came out to light up the forest floor. You obviously wouldn’t use a flash from 2 yards away at an animal 3 times bigger than you but the one major advantage is the gorillas do not move about, atleast the group we were with today. A subsequent experience proved shooting almost impossible as the gorillas were on the move and the light was simply not enough for shooting.

The unmistakable silver back

Safe with Dad

He acted like the boss but not sure he is

The gorillas are extremely calm and super quiet except for the constant grunt breathing which the trackers also mimic. Their favorite pose is looking around in a gaze with one arm wrapped around the neck and over the head. This appeared to be the preferred post for most of the adult gorillas. 

The hand round the neck

They always seemed to be in deep thought almost trying to work out what we were doing there or handing around like guilty kids waiting to throw a party when we headed down the mountain after our daily one hour with the family.

What are you thinking?

There was one instance when one of the gorillas, one of four Silverbacks, showed some aggression. He suddenly got up from his slumber and headed straight towards us. The guide yelled ‘put the camera down’ and thankfully he stopped just inches from us. Then it was back to the calm and quiet from a few seconds ago. It was all done and dusted in seconds and it was as if nothing ever happened and I guess nothing did happen.

Not happy and scary

Each family is different in terms of numbers, distance and effort so it is worth knowing what best fits your needs to chasing it. The Susa family had 4 Silverbacks and at least 3 babies and a total of probably 12 gorillas scattered around the main group. 

Looks like some sort of a lesson

The big Silverbacks were attentive leaders and paid a lot of attention to the youngsters who were very relaxed around the big guys. There was no wild screaming or chasing as it’s often the case with humans, monkeys and baboons. Someone seemed to be in charge although it wasn’t apparent which one. The one that charged certainly took the center spot but there was a big Silverback who slept through the whole hour and I suspect he was the real leader. The two other Silverbacks were also around but not in the midst of the core family but on the periphery.

He was big but sat in the sidelines

The climb down is less strenuous but more hazardous due to the steep incline. Even without rain, underfoot was soggy and slippery and I would not fancy my chances up and down this mountain in the rain. Besides being cold, it would be seriously slippery. Gloves are critical to hold on to anything to support the decent and your climbing stick becomes handy. The porters will help you if they see you’re in trouble.   

Happy baby

Being vehicle based self-drivers, a conducted trek never really appealed to us. Neither did the gorillas capture our imagination to warrant planning a trek through the mountains that was only 3 hours from home. However, now having done it, I am glad I did. 

Faces and expressions

The whole experience is well run by the Volcanoes National Park crew and totally doable on your own without a tour operator thanks to online bookings and the efficient team at the park headquarters. For solo travelers, you need plan to get to the trailhead from the park headquarters which can be on a tricky track depending on the family you are assigned. 

Getting in the greens

 It is once in a lifetime experience that one would not repeat unless you were a Gorilla freak. Most of all, the Gorillas themselves are said to be our closest relative and I came away wandering who the real ape was. The Gorillas certainly seemed a calm and quiet bunch totally in tune and relaxed in their environment probably wondering who these wild apes were, that came around every day to gape at them for an hour.