A lazy Sunday afternoon

 

We woke up early today, even though it is a Sunday. At 7 am we are already at the entrance of the Volcanoes National Park in the north of Rwanda. While the guides decide who will join which group, we drink a delicious cup of coffee. Black, cappuccino, latte. It's all available and the coffee is super tasty. We have already forgotten the early wake up. We are assigned to a group of 7 tourists in total. Patience is our guide. After a briefing, we set off. First by car, following a winding road into the the mountains. After an hour, we arrive at a village that is also on the edge of the park. We walk through the fields. It is full of potatoes, in all stages of growth. People are harvesting and planting and other beds are full of young flowering plants. It is beautiful. We climb steadily and finally reach the wall and ditch that mark the border of the park.  This barrier is mainly meant to keep the elephants and buffaloes, who apparently live in the jungle here, away from the fertile fields.

The pace is brisk and I am glad that I am only doing this now, now that I am a bit more adjusted to the altitude. We do not follow a sort of zigzagging path as you see in the Alps, but go straight up the mountain slope. The mountain is covered with bamboo and the sturdy trunks provide the perfect grip in the slippery mud. It is quite difficult, but climbing in rubber boots is not so bad.

Finally, we arrive at a small clearing. Here we have to leave our rucksacks behind. Only a camera can be taken. And, of course, our gloves. The foliage grows denser. Apart from bamboo, it is full of some kind of nettles that sting badly. Hence the gloves and rubber boots. The guide cuts a path through the jungle with a machete. We crawl through narrow gaps, slip and slide, and our progress is slow. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black figure in the canopy of a tree. It is rocking in and out of my field of vision. The foliage is so dense that those who stand a little further down the line cannot even see the figure. A little further on, we get more space. We are standing two metres from a resting gorilla. She does not look at us. She has a massive head, a fur that looks incredibly soft. And how big she is! A few metres ahead, in some sort of moat, a silverback keeps an eye on us, but then decides that we are no danger to his group. A little further on, a number of them are sitting together. It is Sunday afternoon and they are having lunch. Bamboo leaves are picked one by one and eaten. Nettles are apparently also a delicacy, as well as the occasional bamboo shoot.  Other gorillas start their afternoon nap. Yawning, scratching, finding a nice spot and the right sleeping position look so human-like. In total we see 11 of these wonderful but gigantic animals, including a mother with a baby. It is unbelievable. And then visiting time is over. We squeeze through the greenery again and start the dreaded descent.