Rwanda - Mountain Gorillas

[ALH]

Can't go past a good looking Silverback

That must be why I’m still married after 37 years.

 

[ALH]

OK. To start the story, I probably need to travel back in time to Dian Fossey’s murder in 1985. I have always loved seeing animals in the wild, and when she died I feared the Mountain Gorillas, having lost their true champion would become extinct during my lifetime. Over the years, I have been frequently talking about going to see the Mountain Gorillas, and always meeting with resistence from my family members who were concerned about the dangers of me travelling to Rwanda.

Fast forward 31 years to my first encounter with my now BFF, and discovering we had some similar bucket list items. With very definite ideas of what we wanted to see and do, and the level of comfort and style of trip we expected. First/Business class flights to, and throughout East Africa, comfortable 4x4s with our own private driver & tours. Neither of us like group tours. Our Lodges had to be inside the parks and we wanted separate rooms.

We did some preliminary internet research and sent off a few emails to private operators to gauge price and quality of offerings for a bespoke tour. It soon became very confusing and the language barriers made the information coming back difficult to sift through. We made the decision to hand this over to Alicia Clarke who then liased with the African companies, finally settling on one to fine tune and iron out all the bugs. NB. At the end of the trip I have to say, this was the very best decision. Almost everything went smoothly, throughout a series of countries known for corruption, low income/high crime rates and appalling roads.

My first priority was to maximise SCs with Qantas, and maintain WP for another year. I won the lottery with a Double Status Credit offer and a sale to JNB co-inciding. 800 SCs for $ 4,030 BNE>SYD>JNB>SYD>BNE wasn’t too shabby.

I also booked Mr ALH BNE>SYD>AKL>BNE for Xmas on a DSC offer. We flew to SYD together the day beforehand so we could enjoy a leisurely breakfast together in the SYD FLounge. Both flights departing within 20 mins of each other.

I then used my Virgin Points for JNB>NBO>JNB on South African Airways in J

All other flights throughout East Africa were purchased on Kenyan Airways in J

During the middle of our planning, the cost of a Gorilla permit increased from $ 750 USD pp to $ 1,500 USD pp. Oh well. You snooze, you lose I guess!

...anyway, we agreed on our itinerary and sent off the deposit.

Then in October, almost total disaster, with a woman going through a red light and hitting my little Maxda 3 head on. 3 hours being cut out of the wreck and stabilised before a very long and uncomfortable ambulance ride to PA Hospital Trauma unit in Brisbane. 12 hours in traction, and 2 lots of surgery the next morning. With my leg now strapped into a brace and suffering torn abdomen muscles, a cracked rib, bubble in my lungs and terrible Vertigo from a concussion, my BFF drove up from the Gold Coast to reassure me that I’d be fit as a fiddle by Xmas, for climbing a mountain in Volcanoes National Park! Of course I believed him!

The trip was still going ahead.

I booked myself into the JNB Airport InterContinental for the first 2 nights and my Wheelchair Assistant pushed me all the way to the Reception desk! Good thing Mr ALH had given me a wad of USD $ 1 and $ 5 to use for tips.

Travelling with injuries and a walking stick has its advantages. Wheelchair assistance and priority security and immigration worked brilliantly throughout South & East Africa. Pretty haphazard in Sydney!

The upgrade and treatment I received as a Platinum Ambassador at the InterContinental were way more than expected. I stayed from Xmas Eve until Boxing Day.

Photos next post.

 

[ALH]

 

[ALH]

Can’t seem to upload photos of the room or bathroom, but they were both huge.

The bottle of Port was a nice touch and it helped me to sleep Xmas Eve away without needing any dinner.

 

[ALH]

Xmas lunch for 1. Either I was really jet lagged, or the coughtail was very strong, because I had the dessert sent to my room and slept solidly for the next 12 hours!

 

[Denali]

So many comments I want to make about your post but how many VA points was it to fly JNB>NBO>JNB on South African Airways in J?

Thanks and so excited to read, and glad you survived your accident! So scary.

 

[ALH]

So many comments I want to make about your post but how many VA points was it to fly JNB>NBO>JNB on South African Airways in J?

I’m pretty sure ~30,000 Points plus ~$40 taxes

Thanks and so excited to read, and glad you survived your accident! So scary.

Yes. It was very scary. I kept mumbling my husbands phone number so someone would call him. I didn’t think I’d make it and I wanted him with me!

My son in law later found my phone under the back seat of the car!

 

[ALH]

My own special entrance to SAA via wheelchair and scissor lift. Not quick enough to get a decent photo





A light lunch which included champagne, wines and chocolates to finish

Nairobi

 

[ALH]

After a slight delay waiting for Michael at NBO (his flight from Dubai left late due to the fog and arrived 30 mins after mine instead of the 40 minutes prior), we checked into the Nairobi Hilton. He was upgraded to the Presidential Suite, and I got the next suite down.
The Executive lounge is currently being renovated, so we were plied with coughtails and delicious hot snacks in the Bar.

The staff were wonderfully friendly and warm. A theme that continued throughout our trip in East Africa!

 

[ALH]

We depart Nairobi with Mike


The Rift Valley

My dismay at finding none of the seatbelts in working order soon faded once I realised that travelling speed around Kenya would actually be quite slow!

 

[Denali]

Wow, so lucky and again, Im glad youre (going) to be OK with time.

Is the $1500 fee just for the gorilla's? Meaning do you need one for safari parks?

 

[ALH]

Wow, so lucky and again, Im glad youre (going) to be OK with time.

Is the $1500 fee just for the gorilla's? Meaning do you need one for safari parks?

Thank you for kind thoughts. That USD $ 1,500 was just the one permit to trek to, and spend one hour with the gorillas. I then spent another USD $ 500 to hire porters, with a stretcher and give everyone a tip of USD $ 25 pp. I based my tip on recommendation from Drron.

 

[Denali]

Wow and thank you... I'll be quite now and let you get on with telling us your story! Very excited to follow, even though I know it wasn't easy for you.

 

[ALH]

We stop for lunch and a Siesta at Ilkiliana Camp during the hottest part of the afternoon

....and straight into full Safari mode on our way to our Camp

 

[ALH]

 

[ALH]

A few kitty cats

 

[ALH]

 

[ALH]

 

[ALH]

By the end of the first day, we had managed to see all of the Big Five (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Cape Buffalo).


Could not manage a photo of the Rhino when he lifted his head. They are very shy


Despite telling our driver not to do anything illegal, he went off the track for us to get a better look at the Rhino. Out of nowhere a park ranger appeared and motioned for us follow him into some dense scrub, where a heated argument went backwards and forwards for over 3/4 hour in Swahili. As soon as I took this photo, I hid my phone well under the car seat.

The “fine” was reduced from USD $ 100 down to USD $ 20 which I later offered to reimburse our driver. He declined!


I managed to video all of this Leopard going up the tree to extract his kill and bringing it back down, and disappearing into the bush with it. The incredible strength and dexterity was something to see. I also managed to delete the video when transferring from my camera to the phone

This photo credit must go to Mickeyc747

 

[Denali]

By the end of the first day, we had managed to see all of the Big Five (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Cape Buffalo).
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Fantastic!