Rwanda 2010 – Day 5

"The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow." -- Dian Fossey

We were waken by our 5 am wake-up call once again, with coffee delivered to the room. Sage said she still wasn’t feeling well and was going to skip breakfast. We had another big day planned, with our hike to the original Karisoke Research Station that Dian Fossey founded in 1967, which is also home to her grave and the graves of numerous gorillas that she studied. Sage wasn’t going to miss the hike, no matter how badly she felt, but food was not in the plans. I went up to breakfast by myself, mentioned to the other couples there that Sage wasn’t feeling well (Mort told me that Judy wasn’t feeling well either, and it sounded like the same thing), finished my breakfast and headed back to the room. Sage felt like her nausea was fading, but didn’t want to risk eating anything. We all made it to our Land Rover at 6 today (again, us 2 and the other 3 had to ride together) and started our drive to Park HQ. Today required Francis, our driver, to do some work to make everyone happy. We were doing the Dian Fossey Hike; Mort and Judy were doing another gorilla trek, although they didn’t want to do one too difficult; and Jeff was also doing another gorilla trek, but he wanted to do one that was more challenging than one his parents might do. Because all hikes leave from different trailheads, Francis needed to coordinate rides to and from the hikes for everyone, since he couldn’t be in 3 places at once. Judy showed her annoying, ugly American streak during the drive to Park HQ by saying the following to Francis: First, she wanted to remind him that they wanted to do a “better” hike than the previous day (Of course, she never defined “better”, just assumed he knew what she meant – and he didn’t even hike with us!); That the hike shouldn’t be too long, but shouldn’t be too short either; and that they wanted a more interesting guide, because she heard from others during dinner the night before that they had a guide that was better than Mr. Augustin (DOUBTFUL!). I really couldn’t wait to get rid of these people.

We got to Park HQ a little before 7, and while in the “milling area”, waiting for our guide assignments, I noticed Ulrich, from our previous day’s trek, with his wife Irina. I was hoping I’d see him as a lot of the photos we took didn’t come out too great due to the low light levels in the forest. Ulrich had been using this really fancy camera with a huge zoom lens, and mentioned the previous day he had taken over 400 photos. So I went up to him, gave him my email address, and asked that if he was putting his photos up on Flickr or Kodak Gallery if he could email me the link, as I’d love to see them. He said no problem, he’d be happy to, and although we still haven’t heard from him, I’m hopeful this is only because he’s on a long, 3-week holiday to Africa and hasn’t gotten home yet to email them. I hope.

Sage at the "milling area" at Park HQ

Francis worked his magic and told us the plan for the day. He was able to get Mort and Judy into a gorilla trek that 2 others staying at our lodge would be on as well, so they were going to ride with their driver. Then Jeff’s trek was going to leave from the same trailhead as our Dian Fossey hike, so the 4 of us would be able to ride together. We met the others who would be on our hike, and it turned out to be a small group: Us, a couple from South Africa, and an older woman from Germany. Our guide for the day would be Felix, who said he’s been a tracker for 20 years. He gave us some feedback on Dian, all of which we knew, and then we got into our vehicles for the 45 minute drive to the trailhead. Once again, it was 10 minutes of paved roads, and 35 minutes of bone-jarring craziness. (The drivers have a term for these dirt roads: Massage roads -- because it’s so bumpy the drive will massage your legs. It stopped being funny after a while.) At the trailhead there were about 10 other vehicles there, as we found out that several hikes left from this same spot: Our hike to Dian Fossey’s grave; the hike to the top of Visoke Volcano; and at least 2 other gorilla group treks (including the one that Jeff was on). We started out around 8:45 am, and we seemed to be at a higher elevation than the trek the previous day (or maybe it was just a lot steeper, or both), because Sage and I both were sucking wind soon after leaving the parking area. But thankfully the German woman with us was walking slowly, so we were able to easily keep pace. I hired a porter again, this time I remembered the guy’s name, Bonface. (At least, it sounded like Bonface…who knows if I got it right.) Felix led the way, and during the day he had many stories to tell – almost all of them about himself. For one, he mentioned how he guided Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman to the gorillas when they were traveling and filming “A Long Way Down”. He said, “Look for me on Disc 2!” He also went into a long story about how he was bringing a group to the top of the Visoke volcano when one of the gorilla research groups came by. I guess that there used to be a rule that tourists were not allowed to even look at any gorilla group that wasn’t habituated to tourists. Since they walked right in front of his group, he couldn’t do anything but to stop and let them pass. The researchers ended up reporting him, to which he had to defend himself “against his actions”. So I guess now they say that if you’re hiking somewhere in the park that isn’t specifically to see a gorilla group, and you come across gorillas, you are allowed to watch shortly, but no photographs are allowed. I kind of understand the reasoning. First, you don’t want to put the research groups at risk to human diseases, so it’s best if they stay away as much as possible. And second, tourists pay a hefty amount of money to go see the gorillas; I could understand the Park Service not wanting word to get out that you could go on a hike that costs next to nothing and still see gorillas.

The first part of our hike went through the steep, terraced fields outside the park, where the locals were growing potatoes and pyrethrum -- the flowers of which they dry and use to make insecticide.

Field of pyrethrum, outside the park.

Sage on her way to the park boundary

After 30 minutes or so we made it to the park boundary where we had to (once again) climb over a stone wall to enter the park. Once in the park the trail turned even steeper, as we climbed over hard-packed mud. The day was sunny, and even with the thick vegetation and trees around us, it was a pretty warm hike. After about 30 minutes of hiking we ran into a bunch of other trackers and a pile of bags. This was one of the other groups who went gorilla trekking from our trailhead – so the gorillas were nearby! Of course we knew we weren’t allowed to go look for ourselves, so we moved on up the trail, where we saw a lot of signs of gorillas (through their dung droppings) as well as buffalo (through larger piles of dung, as well as their huge hoof prints in the mud). I ended up stepping in both, neither by intention.

After about 2 hours total of hiking we reached a small clearing that marked the trail split between going to the Dian Fossey site and heading up the mountain toward the Visoke crater. Felix told us that from that point our hike would get flatter, but the hike from there to the top of Visoke became even steeper. Sage was still feeling the effects of her stomach problems, plus the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything all day, so she was more than happy NOT to be climbing to the top of Visoke that day. The signpost at the clearing said we were at almost 3,000 meters, so we were easily over 9,000 feet.

Looking up the mountain toward the peak of Mt. Visoke

Thick vegetation and hagenia trees

Our hike continued, and Felix pointed out a few other notable locations. The first was a small stream that had a name in Kinyarwandan that meant “Go Back”. It got that name because, when Dian was at her mountain Karisoke location, the stream was the point where porters would drop their load of goods and head back down the mountain. Workers from Karisoke would then come to pick up the goods. A bit further on was the original sign that Dian had made to let visitors know that anyone past that point must have approval from her or the government to enter. (As you can see, Dian wasn’t the most welcoming person in the world, especially for anyone who wasn’t helping her study or save the gorillas.) Finally we reached the area that Dian set up Karisoke. It was a flat area with huge hagenia trees all around, all of them draped in beautiful moss. The vegetation was not as thick as on the trail, but you could see it beginning to take over where there once were cabins, gardens and trails.

I guess I should give some background information on Karisoke and Dian’s work there. When Dian first came to the Virunga Mountains to study the mountain gorillas (on the behest of Louis Leakey), she originally set up a camp in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC) on the side of Mt. Mikeno. Due to civil unrest and a suspicious government, she ended up having to leave DRC for Uganda, and then eventually Rwanda. The government of Rwanda was much more accommodating to her studies, and she decided to set up her camp in the saddle between Mt. Karisimbi and Mt. Visoke – thus the name Karisoke. This location was also close to the border with the DRC and Uganda, so she was well positioned to monitor and track the gorillas across 3 countries. She first set up her tent camp in September 1967, and eventually cabins were built for her, her research students, and her staff of anti-poaching patrols. She spent almost her entire time from the late 1960’s to the early 1980’s at Karisoke, when she moved back to the United States to work on her PhD at Cornell, as well as writing Gorillas in the Mist. She was back at Karisoke on Christmas Day, 1985, when she held a big Christmas Party for friends and workers. The next morning she was found murdered in her cabin, machete wounds all over her body and her skull crushed by what seemed to be a hammer. (And if you can do the math, it was exactly 25 years to the day that she died that Sage and I saw our first mountain gorillas.) One of her student’s was charged by Rwandan authorities for her murder, but it was obvious they were trying to find an easy solution to this problem that was apt to cause a big stir internationally. The student fled to the United States, and although he was tried in absentia he was found not guilty. Dian’s murder is still unsolved to this day, although most reason it was likely poachers who killed her, angry at her very aggressive anti-poaching tactics. (Felix had some interesting, and in my mind not well reasoned, theories on why Dian was murdered, as well as who was behind it. I guess everyone has an opinion, but I’m pretty sure he was getting some of the facts wrong. But who was I to argue?) After Dian’s death Karisoke carried on her work. During the Rwandan Civil War of the early 1990’s Karisoke was evacuated several times, but always rebuilt. But during the 1994 Genocide Karisoke was abandoned once again, and this time it was looted and ransacked, with almost all the cabins taken down. After the genocide the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund decided to rebuild Karisoke outside the park, and they settled in Ruhengeri, about 30 minutes south of the park, where it resides today.

So back to the hike. Felix pointed out where several of the cabins used to stand, including Dian’s original cabin, the worker’s cabins, and Dian’s last cabin where she was killed. Our last stop was the gravesite where Dian is buried, along with over a dozen other gorillas that Dian studied, many of them killed by poachers. Dian is buried next to her favorite, Digit, killed by poachers in 1977 while trying to protect his family group from them. Dian had always requested that she be buried next to Digit when she died, and her request was respectively honored. The gravesite is incredibly beautiful, with gorgeous trees and a peaceful serenity all around. It’s also incredibly sad and emotional, but there is some solace knowing that the work Dian started over 40 years ago is still going strong, and the latest increase in mountain gorilla numbers in the Virungas is a testament to that work.

Dian's grave, next to her beloved Digit

The graveyard set amid peaceful hagenia trees

We stopped for lunch at a gazebo that was recently built nearby that has some informational signs about Dian and Karisoke. While we were eating some thunder started to roll in, and Felix asked if we could get moving to try to get ahead of the rain. As it turned out we had no chance at that, as in about 5 minutes the rain began. And did it rain! We were in a downpour the likes of which I’ve never been a part of, even in all the time we spent in Florida. It poured for about 30 minutes, which turned our trail into a 3” deep, muddy slip-and-slide. The going turned out to be very slow because of this, as we had to really watch every step we took. On top of that, the German lady was having a really hard time of it; we had to stop often to let her catch up. (At one point she asked Felix to go ahead without her; that she had her porter and an Army dude with a gun with her. Felix said absolutely not, he was responsible for everyone on the hike, and we all had to stay together. No one left behind!) But the hike was tough on everyone as we all, including me and Sage, slipped and fell on our butts on more than one occasion. Sage had the best one, when Felix was helping her come down a short, steep section and her foot hit a wet root; she went flying and ended up landing right on top of Felix. He didn’t seem to mind. We also often would take a step and sink into mud that easily went above our ankles. Thankfully our boots were on tight and no one lost a shoe.

Doug's muddy shoes and pants after the hike

It was really tough going for 2 straight hours, even after the rain ended, and we made it back to the parking area around 2:20 pm, but not before it began to pour again about 10 minutes before the end. So just as we were drying out, we got soaking wet again, just in time for the long drive back to the lodge. Francis and Jeff were already waiting for us (Jeff said he had only gotten back about 20 minutes before us, so that worked out well); we paid our porter and thanked Felix, and headed back to the lodge. The drive felt extra long for some reason; it may have been the rain, which made the road muddy and slow; it could have been our lack of sleep catching up to us; or maybe it was because Jeff was on his phone, screaming to someone over and over, “Do you know Mr. Evans? Mr. Evans? Hello? Yes, Mr. Evans. Do you know Mr. Evans?” But we made it back to the lodge around 3:30 without me killing him, so that was a success. Sure enough they were waiting for our boots again, and the staff were definitely going to have their work cut out for them on this day. I put on my pink crocs, went back to the room, and we showered and cleaned up. While Sage was showering the chef came down again. He said to me, “I heard your wife wasn’t feeling well this morning. Is she okay now?” I couldn’t believe he knew! One of the workers must have overheard me mentioning it to one of the other guests, and then told everyone about it. Too funny.

As was becoming our routine, we went up for drinks at 6 around the fire. Jeff and Mort were there, and Mort started talking about his trek that day. He went on and on about how the previous day’s trek (the 1st one we went on with him) was “disappointing” to him, that it wasn't the experience he was expecting, but that the one he went on this day was much better. I wasn’t going to argue with him, but how he could have been disappointed the first day was beyond me. We saw juveniles at play; we saw a silverback push a human; and we saw a 2-month old gorilla baby several times, including riding on his mom’s back! Some people just can’t be pleased, I guess. But then he started bad-mouthing Augustin and talked about how great his guide today was. That was the final straw, and I think I said something like, “We loved Augustin”, and turned away to talk to some new people who arrived. Oh that’s right…I’ll give you the cold shoulder without ANY impunity.

So the new people who checked in that day were: Chris and Cindy, a couple that had Hollywood written all over them; Another Chris (whom I named Syracuse Chris since he wore a Syracuse sweatshirt); and Ethel, a single woman from Montreal who wouldn’t stop playing with her curly hair. (In fact, if you put glasses on Frieda from Peanuts, add in an incredibly obnoxious personality, and you’ll have Ethel.) Before I even met Hollywood Chris, I got the feeling that he was a Richard Gere wannabe. Turns out I wasn’t so far off, as he and Cindy live in West Hollywood, he used to be an actor, and she used to be a model. (And it appears, she tried her hand at acting, although based on her IMDB page, once her turn in Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity didn't turn into an Oscar winner, I guess she gave it up.) We got to know them pretty well over the next few days, and it turns out that Chris runs an animal welfare non-profit. They had been to Rwanda and Uganda several times before on gorilla treks, and even said they got married on a gorilla trek! Syracuse Chris was from Ottawa, and he was working for a Canadian aid organization in Afghanistan and decided to take a couple weeks to explore Africa. We didn’t get a chance to talk with him too much, but the short amount we did he seemed like a really nice guy. Finally there was Ethel from Montreal, who once you started talking to, turned every conversation to herself, all the “adventures” she’s had in Africa over the years, all the game she’s seen, the times her tent has been attacked at night, etc. Within 5 minutes I thought she was annoying; within 15 minutes I KNEW she was one of the most irritating people I’d ever meet in my life. It became apparent very quickly why she was traveling alone. And Sage and I began to miss Debbie and Kevin A LOT.

This night’s dinner was not too exciting, and considering the issues we had the previous night, we both took it easy on the food. At one point Syracuse Chris was telling the story about how, on his drive from Uganda to Rwanda earlier in the day, he realized it was his birthday! So a few minutes later when Didas, one of the lodge workers who I had a good rapport with, came by with more wine, I mentioned to him quietly that it was Chris’s birthday today. He quietly said, “Oh, yes, we know. Everything is already organized and planned.” I couldn’t believe it -- there must not be even one secret in the entire country of Rwanda! (We found out later that Chris’s driver had told the staff when he dropped Chris off at the lodge.) So at the end of dinner the chef and the rest of the kitchen crew brought out a birthday cake and a bottle of champagne for the table. (When Ethel was offered a glass, she curtly barked, “No thank you”. On top of that, when the staff came around for wake-up times and breakfast orders, her icy reply was "Room 2. Tea." It kept getting better and better.) We got back to the room to find our boots waiting for us, spotless of course. The hot water bottles were waiting for us as well, and after reading for a short time, we were asleep by 9:30 pm.