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AdamWoods wrote:
The rules are pretty simple. Don't approach the Gorilla and don't run if they approach you. Eye contact is fine with all except Silverbacks. You can only make short eye contact with silverbacks. Noise should be kept to a minimum. Other than that, the guides and rangers really do a great job of keeping everyone safe. They carry AK47s with them...I always thought it was in case a Gorilla goes nuts on you. It is not, it is actually for the Buffalo that roam the area. Buffalos are the most dangerous animal in Africa, I always knew that from Safaris, never realized it applied in Rwanda too! Here is a bit of the story from my wife and I's first trek.
Our driver arrives at 6:45am to take us on a 30 minute drive to the Park center where Gorilla families are assigned to the visitors for the day. There is a maximum limit of eight people per Gorilla family per day. There are ten families visited each day for a maximum of one hour. This limits the daily group arriving at the Park to 80 guests, one guide, and many many porters. Porters are an amazing help, but more on that later. Finally, Rwanda Gorilla Trekking permits are $1500 per person, per trek.
20% of the Gorilla Trekking permit fee is distributed among the local residents and used for community improvement projects. The Rwandan government is planning to supply every household with electricity by 2024. They are also providing clean drinking water wells and farmland to communities. Rwanda was a very impressive Country, not what I had expected.
The Gorilla families are assigned by trekking difficulty, for the most part. The guides all get together and jockey for the best treks. If you are older, or maybe not able to walk far distances, you may be lucky enough to get an easy trek. If you are in shape, or just unlucky, you may get a difficult trek.
Once the groups are determined, the eight trekkers gather together and the guide goes over how the day is going to go. This allows some time to meet the people you will be sharing this experience with. He also goes on to explain the various noises the Gorillas make and what the guides will do to calm the Gorillas and let them know we mean no harm. For our first trek, we were paired with a couple from California who have been hiking for 30 years. This was their first time visiting the Gorillas. Also with us was Allison, who we came to find out has been here over 90 times! She was so polite during the trip, allowing everyone else to go first or get the best positioning to see the Gorillas. Allison hired Francois Bigirimana to be an additional guide to the group. Francois is a VERY entertaining character. He was actually one of Dian Fossey’s porters, before becoming a Volcanoes National Park guide. He has since retired, but still makes appearances for various clients.
Our guide told us we were assigned the Pablo Family, which was formed in 1993 after the split of historic Group 5. It grew to 65 members! Since then, the group has split since it was too large for the silverback. It now consists of 17 members:
3 siverbacks
5 adult females
3 black-back
1 sub-adult
1 juvenile
4 infant
We didn’t know it in the beginning, but this would be on the more difficult side of the treks. Once the groups are made and the Gorilla families have been assigned, the visitors are driven to the closet starting point at the base of the Volcanoes. Our drive was about an hour on dirt roads riding through the vast farmland that is Rwanda. As we drove, children would constantly run up to the vehicles waving or yelling "Hi!".
Once at our starting point, we were assigned porters to carry our belongings and help us along the trek. There is a minimum of $10 per porter that can be paid once the trek is complete, but they are worth far more, and you can pay more if you like. We were also provided a walking stick to assist us through the uneven and steep terrain. The sticks were hand made by local villagers and had Gorillas carved into them.
We stopped at the edge of the forest where the Park Rangers were waiting. The Rangers track the gorilla families each and every day. Their job is to know where the Gorillas are sleeping and find them in the morning before they start to move again. This is what enables visitors like us an almost 100% guarantee of seeing the Gorillas each day. The rangers and anti-poachers will even sleep in small hand made huts as part of their duties.
We started off at 9,281 ft in elevation, ultimately climbing to 10,494 ft! It was a challenging 2.89 mile hike. There was a narrow trail that existed from the Park Rangers which we used to climb toward the Gorillas. After another hour or so climbing, and sweating profusely, we were getting close.
A short time later, our guide asked us to put down our walking sticks, put on our masks, and grab our cameras. The one hour with the family was about to begin. The rangers used machetes to make new trails toward the Gorillas. We followed closely behind and within 100ft or so, we have arrived to our first Gorillas.
And just like that, the hour was over. It was an incredible experience.
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Nice work Adam. I just did this same exact Trek in Rwanda and it was by far the most difficult photographic challenge of my Safari. Our hike was insane like yours, to the point people were slipping and falling. We all got dusted with fire ants in one section of the hike, and some ladies were screaming. Our family of Gorillas were "not in a good spot" said the guide when we got to the top of the mountain. They were on a steep hillside with thick bush next to a cliff and we had to machete our way in to even spot them. We were floating on 5ft of thick bush with nothing solid under us. If you tried to walk your feet would fall into the bush like quicksand so you had to slither. Between the flies, gnats, twigs, leaves, branches, etc it was very hard to get a clear line of sight to any of them. I could not control the angle as I was basically hanging on the edge of a steep cliff for a mediocre look at best. I slithered down as close as I could and then a baby got curious and approached me. I knew I was in trouble and the guide told me to move back immediately because Mama Bear was taking notice. We definitely didn't score on our Gorilla trek but it was still an amazing experience. Meanwhile, some friends in another group had a very short/easy hike and joined a large active family in a nice flat wide open space with easy access and great lighting. There were zero challenges and they had amazing interactions with a very active family for the full hour. They definitely scored. Figures as they were the iPhone crew with no photographers.
I have to go back and give it another shot.
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Always remember to look at what a vertical format can offer at times too. These are all very pleasing. If you took the last one and went in tighter and as Joshua suggested on the eyes you would have one heck of thought provoking image with that eye connection! 