gorilla trekking!

so saturday morning atfer good ol' community clean up (read the next blog) we finally got on a crampted mutatu to ruhengeri, the town at the base of parc national de volacans(where the mountain gorillas are). after we confused boda boda drivers and got taken to a couple different places that we didnt ask for, they finally understood where we wanted to go and we got taken to this little back alley building with a tiny cramped office for the ORTPN. (office regionale de touriste parc national...or something like that). which made me laugh because the ORTPN is supposed to be, according to lonely planet, the big office where all the gorilla trekking stuff is done and here was this eentsy weentsy dirty office with one desk and a few posters. whatever the case, leslie charmed the officer with her lovely french accent and we got hooked up with a place to stay and a guide for the next morning. the place we stayed at (called touist rest house) left something to be desired..like maybe a toilet that flushed more often or a sink that water would turn off, or maybe a light that didnt disco you to death before actualy turning on...BUT IT WAS CHEAP and we flat out exhausted (stayed up with the people we met a leeeettle late the night before) and fell asleep at 6pm. hahaha. we woke up at 5:30am and were picked up and driven in a landcruiser about an hour to the base of the volcanoes mountains. this is the start point for trekking. there are 56 trekking permet sold per day, so quite soon after we arrived there were loads of tourists from all ages and nationalities.

i'm just going to stop here and let my personality shine through and tell you that the best part of the day(besides seeing the gorillas) was that there was REAL LIVE COFFEE FOR FREE!! FROM A REAL LIVE COFFEE POT MADE WITH REAL COFFEE GRANULES AND A REAL FILTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND i could drink as much as i wanted AND there were nice flush toilets.
honestly, it doesnt take much to thrill me anymore. i would have be satisfied leaving right then and there.

ok so anyways we got into a group with 6 other people(who mostly all work in kigali for the Millenium Village project...if you've read jeffory sachs 'the end of poverty' or stephen lewis' 'race against time' you'll know what i'm talking about and how dang cool a job THAT would be) anyways, we chose a group of gorillas to visit and a guide showed us photos and told us edicate(sp?) about the visit and whatnot. then we drove another..30 minutes to the edge of the rainforest and started to hike. it wasAWESOME. so lush, so tiny paths that werent really paths, you really felt like you were hardcore. about 2 hrs hiking we found the 'group 13'. they are truly phenomenal creatures. there are only 720 mountain gorillas left in the world and they are all found in these mountains in east africa- bordering on the DRC and uganda. i thought it was trulyneat beacuse it was the same gorillas and area that the legend dian fossey did her work with /(watch 'gorillas in the mist'). they are beautiful and majestic and terrifying and gentle all in one. we saw mums, MASSIVE MANLY SILVERBACKS, and 2 week-2 year old babies chasing each other and pounding their chests and racing up trees. wow was it cool. i dont think i can try to describe it anymore. we took loads of photos and videos and got a certifcate saying we 'graduated' as mountain gorilla trekkers.

we got on a bus back to kigali strait away and the drive was breathtaking...i love rwanda. what an amazing place. i didnt even notice how full my bladder was or how revoltingly dirty my pants and hiking boots were or how many bugs and pieces of forest had taken root in my hair until i jumped in the shower at our hotel and realized i wasnt really that tanned after all...i saw it all wash down the drain. ewwwww. but it ended awesome with us staying in a nice hotel (thanks to leslie and her french charm) for cheap, drinking a rwandan beer and eating our first meal of the day. fantastic. now read the blog entry below this.