Home » Uganda Rwanda » Uganda and Rwanda –An Impromptu Trip December, 2004

I have been in constant motion since I left Loren on Friday morning at 6AM. Had a fabulous time with Loren: dusty, fabulous camping safari and gorgeous, chilled-out, relaxing beachtime. So good to see someone from home and hear all the gossip, chitchat about all and chitchat about nothing. I wish more of you would come and visit! But, sadly, I have no takers for India, except maybe Wendy.......... (fingers crossed).

Uganda and Rwanda –An Impromptu Trip December, 2004

Lasulo
2006-01-06 18:08:45

Displayed times (last time: )

it; they like to smile. Amazing considering the unbelievable genocide the Rwandans experienced less than ten years ago. They just seemed happy to see someone on the public bus instead of taking a tour, which is what most travellers here are doing. I loved every minute of it. If there could be song to back this part of my trip, it would be the Cheers song because everyone, and I mean everyone, knows my name: mzungu, mzungu, mzungu!

Anyway, back to the gorillas.... This is, by the way, where Dian Fossey did all her research on the gorillas which just makes this place all the more magical.

After trekking for two hours up the forest and then only twenty-five minutes in the forest (some people trek for six hours), we found the gorillas, a family of 35 with many babies, three silverbacks (all brothers, only one in charge who gets to have fun with the ladies), and many females. The jungle is like nothing I've ever been in before. I don't know how the gorillas get through the undergrowth as it is just a tangle of think branches, ropey vines, and broken bamboo. The floor is actually not dirt but a tangle of vines so it feels as if you are walking on a bird's nest. When we entered the clearing and saw the gorillas, they were all napping from their morning feed. I just squatted down about six feet from a huge silverback and started crying. I don't know what it is about the gorillas, but, even in the Bronx Zoo with a six inch piece of plexiglass between us, I was overcome with emotion. Maybe it is the infinite wisdom evident in their eyes. Maybe it is their peaceful and sociable nature. Maybe it is the fact that there are only 700 left in this world, and they couldn't have chosen a worse place to make their home, on the border of three volatile countries: Rwanda, Uganda and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Right now, Rwanda has apparently sent troops to the Congo so conflict could be imminent. The forest where they live is right on the corner of all three countries. We stayed with the gorillas for an hour, following them into the forest when they awoke and started eating again. I couldn't believe how close we were - less than five feet most times. The two smaller silverbacks got up and beat their chests a few times but the guides just made noises that calm them -- imagine Young Frankenstein's yummy sound. It appeared to work as they never charged. Thankfully, because they are unbelievably huge and scary when flexing their muscles. It is something I will never forget. I think I was choked up for the first half hour, wiping away tears. I can only hope that these majestic animals will live for our children and grandchildren to see. We share 97% of the same DNA. Why should we be the ones allowed to decide if they can live???

So, I am back in Uganda at Lake Bunyonyi, a divine place in the south. I will stay for a few days and then head back to Tanzania. Next week this time, I will be in Sri Lanka.

One last thing... my world came almost full circle. Many people here wear second hand clothes from America. It is not uncommon to see someone with a Smith Family Reunion, Chattanooga, Tennessee or Notre Dame or Cathy's Bachelorette Party logo on their t-shirt. I thought, if I see someone with a North Babylon or Valley Stream shirt, my world will have come full circle. Last week, whilst walking in the hills above Lake Bunyonyi, through small clusters of houses, I came upon a teenager wearing a Lynbrook Fire Department shirt. So close and so crazy. The world is a small place.