Northern Africa and the Middle East - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 148

seven groups of gorillas that are habituated
to humans. Tours range from a one-day trek
(based at the Mountain Gorillas Nest hotel,
2km from the Kinigi park headquarters at the
base of the Virunga Mountains) to a six-day
hike that includes a visit to the Dian Fossey
Research Station where you can hear about the
programme's Mountain Gorilla Conservation
work ( W www.gorillafund.org). The pick of the
bunch is a ten-day “Best of Rwanda” tour where
you'll see mountain gorillas and also visit local
villages, Lake Kivu and Nyungwe National Park
- the only place in the world where you can
see more than five primate species in a single
location, including chimpanzees, mountain
monkeys and Angolan black-and-white colobus
monkeys.
Rwanda Ecotours is co-run by Edwin
Sabuhoro, a Rwandan who was awarded a young
conservationist prize for his work in turning
gorilla poachers into tourism guides. Edwin
helped local communities establish the Iby'Iwacu
Cultural Village in the Musanze district, where
you can practise drumming with the villagers,
taste local food and beers, and meet a traditional
healer. Visits to the cultural village have become
integral to Rwanda Ecotours' itineraries en route
to seeing the gorillas, and as a fifth of the income
from these trips goes directly to the villagers,
Edwin's tours have convinced many to turn their
back on poaching.

190 fACE To fACE wITH A
MounTAIn gorIllA, rwAndA

No matter how many wildlife documentaries
you've seen, nothing can prepare you for the
moment you first see a mountain gorilla in the
wild. The trackers tell you over the walkie-
talkie radio that you're close, but it isn't until
you hear a muffled sound among the dense
foliage that your senses spring to red alert. The
adrenaline flows faster as your guide points
to a small clearing in the undergrowth. There,
just a few metres away, the bulky black figure
of an adult silverback mountain gorilla squats
calmly among a nest of vegetation in the dappled
morning sunlight. Weighing some 200kg and
not far off 2m tall (when standing upright), with
deep-set eyes, a mass of coarse fur and bulging
muscles, it is a fearsome sight.
Yet once you've reeled from the terror of being
so close to this huge wild animal, you become
mesmerized by it. The shock turns to awe. At
first you are encouraged to make a low grunting
sound to let him know you are there - and to
stifle your giggles at the release of “gorilla gas”
(a consequence of their diet). Then after a good
deal of posturing and staring, you are accepted
into the fold and it reverts back to eating,
grooming, playing in its natural home and
letting rip with the occasional whopper. Most
people spend the full allotted time (usually one
hour) transfixed.
Finding a mountain gorilla in the wild takes
patience and skill. There are only about 680 left
in the world in just two dense forest regions of
Central Africa - in the Virunga Volcanoes region
(which straddles Uganda, Rwanda and eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo) and the Bwindi
Impenetrable National Park in southwest
Uganda.
One of the best places to see the gorillas
is in the Parc National des Volcans in the
far northwest of Rwanda, which is home to
half of the entire population of mountain
gorillas. Rwanda Ecotours runs trips to see

Need to know Tours begin from Kigali
International Airport, where guests are transferred
to Mountain Gorillas Nest in Ruhengeri. For
itineraries, reservations and more about gorilla
conservation see W www.rwandaecotours.com;
T [phone]. Edwin is the Rwanda contact for
Your Safe Planet (see p.378). For more information
on places to stay, other tour operators and contact
details for permits to visit the gorillas (issued by
The Rwanda Tourism Board in Kigali or Ruhengeri)
visit W www.rwandatourism.com; T [phone].
Tours vary depending on levels of participants'
fitness; porters are recommended.