I generally tie all my blogs to either of my two published books. But I want my next two to stand alone. Not only because of their significance to me, but to all humans. There are usually lessons to be learned from my experiences and I want to share these with you.
My early recollection of primates in the U.S. left me saddened. A childhood experience of seeing a caged monkey in a pet store, and later as a middle-aged adult viewing a gorilla and an orangutan in a zoo, was depressing. I saw the despair in their eyes. When I viewed documentaries of primates on TV, I never once thought I could see the gorillas in the wild. But as international tourism to these remote areas of the world became more commonplace, my journey to view them became more plausible.
Just as my interest peaked, COVID paralyzed the world and the gorilla areas were hit hard. Humans can transmit the virus to them, in fact, it was documented that some had actually acquired the disease with no known deaths reported. Once restrictions were lifted, I booked my trip with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) for March 2023. I intentionally chose my country of origin to be Rwanda instead of Uganda for three reasons: both countries lead gorilla trek tours, but I had been to Uganda before; secondly, I heard of the gorilla preservation efforts in Rwanda and wanted to learn about it (click on this video clip done by 60 Minutes); lastly, Rwanda had the most gorilla families, leaving greater chances for me to see them. So, off I headed to Volcanoes National Park. (My photo from the title of this blog)
By the time of my departure, airports/airlines and most places were not requiring masks or COVID testing. However, restrictions were very high to see the gorillas. As extra precaution, the 10 tourists in our tour group wore masks many days prior to the trek. We were required to have two PCR tests: three days before and one day prior to our gorilla trek. We were all so nervous of having our visit thwarted by an infection. The morning of departure, we all tested negative. Whew!!!!!
I was assigned to the gorilla family of the silverback called “Hirwa” meaning The Lucky One. This family was formed in 2006 and now has two silverbacks which is uncommon (I will explain this later on.) In the beginning of our trek with 8 tourists, 8 porters, and one guide in our group, we were beginning to feel “unlucky”. The trackers that were hours ahead of us, and in constant communication with our guide, could not locate the Hirwa family. For more than two hours we walked and waited in the village farm fields along the gorilla preserve boundary. One positive thing was that I upheld my nickname of “Sunshine”. Days before there had been heavy rain and drizzle. But the day of our departure, we had sunshine with clouds, and NO rain.
Our guide (in the photo above) communicated with the villagers working in the fields who stated the gorillas were in the farm fields the night before, but they had returned to the preserve. Funny thing, wild animals don’t regard man-made unfenced boundaries. We trudged further over the potato fields. Suddenly other villagers shouted to the guide telling him they saw the gorilla family near their fields that morning. From my high vantage point, I scanned the hilly area with my binoculars and about 200 yards ahead and saw a very large black figure with a white back walking up the hill. I yelled to the guide, “I see the silverback!” My heart raced. Soon we we all ran as hard as we could over the wet terraced potato fields, soft toiled earth, and water drainage streams. Here is where the porters came in handy. Running in this terrain in the thin air of the 9,000 foot elevation was challenging as they pulled and pushed some of us tourists through the fields. As I stumbled and plowed my way, I looked up to now see smaller black figures walking around the silverback. It was Hirwa’s family of 18. OMG! We found them. And they were out in the open and we didn’t have to trek MORE difficult terrain with our porters slashing the dense bush with machetes that we had all heard about.
But, what were they doing in the farm fields??
30 minutes later we were about 20 yards from the family who were in a thicket of Eucalyptus trees and we all donned our masks and given directions about keeping our distance of no closer than 10 feet. Soon we experienced what the gorillas were all after. Mothers, babies and silverbacks alike all stripped the bark of the Eucalyptus to collect the essential nutrient of salt from the cambium of the tree with their fingernails or their teeth. We viewed them for a solid hour with the primates all around us.
Click on my YouTube videos below to view this incredible experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si9VLHqsYuM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshOyLrqhRQ
What we learned is that the elder silverback, Hirwa, (featured here) has allowed one of his sons, now a smaller silverback, to stay with the family rather than chasing him out, as is customary. Hiwa allows his son to mate with a few females, maybe as a way to to preserve this family linage when he, the elder, passes. More about this in my next blog.
Remarkably, the villagers worked in their fields in close proximity…maybe as close as 10-15 yards to the gorillas munching away as you can see in the above photo of Hiwa’s son, the lesser silverback. The Eucalyptus tree is valued by villagers for firewood, housing and fencing, and necessary to the gorillas for its nutrients. However, the damage done by the gorillas killed the trees and it takes years for it to spout new sizable trunks. About 25-30 trees were damaged in our one-hour viewing. The government created a reimbursement program to the villages for this damage, allowing both the gorillas and the villagers to thrive and live harmoniously together. There has been no reported villager deaths from the gorillas.
Here are Susan and her trusty porter, Patrick, trekking to see the gorillas with the volcanoes in the background. Many of the porters and trackers were gorilla poachers in the past. The gorilla hands and heads were sold as souvenirs and those animals captured alive were sold to zoos around the world. Now, these previous poachers, turned protectors, can earn a good living using their skills to keep the villagers and gorillas thriving. The money earned from the steep entrance fee for us tourists ($1500) goes this local community surrounding the preserve to construct schools, clinics and market buildings. Gorilla tourism is a $445 million annual revenue to Rwanda. A Win-Win for all!
I learned that even a country once plagued with genocide can fully recover from that atrocity and go beyond that to create mutually advantageous living conditions for both animals and humans. Witnessing and learning about the Gorillas in the wild has certainly been one of my top highlights of my travels around the world.
I will blog next on the Gorilla Doctors visit and what else I learned about this “Win-Win” phenomena. If you like this blog, click applause and/or leave a REPLY at the bottom of this blog.
Please vote below if you would or would not like more blogs about my travels that would may not be related to my books. I have traveled to 9 countries in the past 6 months and there is so much I’d love to share with you about what I have seen and learned.
Click HERE to read my previous blog about Rwanda….
Susan E. Greisen 
Susan, This was a very interesting and moving blog about your trip to see the gorillas and to understand the genocide of Rwanda. Your photos are beautiful and poignant!
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Rwanda was certainly a country worthy of a visit and their support of transforming their society as well as saving their animals. I was very touched by my experience there.
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I really enjoyed reading about your trip to see the gorillas
Jim Ditter
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Thanks Jim, it was truly an adventure for me to treasure.
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I’m happy to read about your non-book related travels, too! You’re an inspiration for doing retirement right 🙂
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There’s so many places in the world to experience and I’m doing my best to do that and support the causes that mean so much to me. Jessie you are an inspiration to me also with your heart in the right place.
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I am jealous of your trip, so glad you took me along! Can’t wait for you to meet the orangutans at the Indianapolis Zoo–it will be a different experience, but you will love it!
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Yes, I can’t wait to see them there and the flamingos of course! I know many zoos have improved overall and I’m glad for that. We are losing so many of our endangered animals it may be one of the few ways left to preserve them, sad to say.
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Really an enjoyable read, Susan – thanks for sharing all the details! And incredible photos – what kind of camera did you use?
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Hello Judy, thanks for your comments. I am now using my cell phone camera almost exclusively. Having both video options and still photos quickly available in these kind of situations is a must. It worked out really well. I have a Samsung phone. Hope all is well with you and Don.
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An exceptional experience, Susan! These gorillas seem to adjust to their “human interface” quite well. As you indicated you were fortunate to see them up close and not in their interior forest habitat. I wonder if salt blocks are available in Rwanda and if several strategically placed would deter the gorillas from destroying the young eucalyptus trees for their salt content (or perhaps salt blocks would be too rich for them). The need for firewood from the eucalyptus trees is another of the human-wildlife conflicts as both are directly dependent on this tree. Interestingly, firewood consumption represents about 25% of all wood consumption worldwide. I’m glad you’re enjoying your travels and hopefully not stuck in a country without a visa! I like the the nickname 🌞; only met one other person in my years with that nickname. What’s your next adventure?
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Hello Randy, thank you for your perspective from a forester’s point of view. In my next blog I will talk about a conversation with the gorilla doctor. I will do some more research about salt blocks I’m sure that they had thought of it, but let me see what I can find out. I’m taking a bit of a travel break at the moment and plan on camping locally for the summer and fall. But then again I might get restless by winter. I will certainly keep you and my readers fully informed of future and current travels. Wishing you and your family a wonderful summer .
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The three towns I saw in Rwanda and how I got to them reminded me of my travels in West, North and East Africa in the 1970s.
I hired a private guide on my free weekend in Rwanda to see the gorillas. On the way we passed a place called Africa Rising. I had read about that and saw a short documentary about it, Rising from the Ashes. Here is the link to the trailer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXfq0DxS4KM. Africa Rising is a bicycle racing facility started by Jonathon (Jock) Boyer. He was the first American to get into the top ten in the Tour da France (spelling?). I told my driver we have to stop there. He said on the way back. And we did. We just drove right in.
We walked into the bike shop and the classroom. No one was around. We came out and this couple comes up to us. The guy says can I help you. I look at him and say, Are you Jock Boyer? He says yes. I say, Can I take a selfie?
Wow!
I’m sure OAT told you about how everyone in Rwanda has to do a public service once a month. Such as sweeping the streets. Did you try the goat shish kebab and the grilled small potatoes? I mostly ate those. The cafeterias we went to were pretty bad. So I would just walk out and find someone grilling.
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Susan, you are remarkable. Lots more energy than we have. Please, please don’t quit writing about anything, and sharing it with others. I need a break from all the awful news of the world.
And keep traveling. Cheryl DeSautell
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Hello Earl, I don’t know many who have visited Rwanda, but I would certainly encourage anyone to add it to their list. Glad you enjoyed the blog and thanks for reading and sharing your information. All the best.
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Hello Cheryl, Yes, we all need to find good energy somewhere. Thanks for reading and being an avid fan. AKA, Gowee Sue
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Oh My Gosh! National Geographic! This is sooo oo incredible! The only negative comment is that I wanted to see much longer videos. And more photos. I definitely want to hear more stories about your trips!
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Hello Terri,
Rwanda was definately a trip of a lifetime. My OAT travel group was remarkable. The key to writing is for the reader to want more. And it looks like I have accomplished that. I am working on the rest of my trip back to Africs and you will see it soon. Thanks for following and commenting which inspire me.
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