Lions, Giraffes and Gorillas Oh My

[craven morehead]

We were assigned the Muhoza fsmily - a small family with a large Silverback. He seemed to be quite a family man letting the babies play all over him.

I have to say without my porter I would really have struggled. We were late starting out, so they set a cracking pace and it was quite steep and slippery. However my porter just held my hand and I used my stick and I could keep up (albeit panting like crazy). Mr FM said he was quite worried as I went gray but it did get better.View attachment 137602 View attachment 137603 View attachment 137604 View attachment 137605 View attachment 137606

Just wonderful !!

 

[Flying_man]

Gorilla looks to be amazing creature, but isn’t he very dangerous?

(I also like the band “The Gorillaz”).

 

[Flying mermaid]

Wow, what an amazing experience!

Wondering if they have a odor before you see them? I remember in NT wondering what died (by the smell) before we saw buffalo. Different animal of course but its not like theyre using Dove daily

I see everyone wearing long sleeves and gaiters, are there bugs & mozzies?

not any odor that I could detect. . The gloves and gaiters are for stinging nettles. I did get stung a couple of times on the golden monkey trek because I took off my gloves, but it isn’t that painful and only lasts 15 minutes or so. I would imagine if you were stung a lot, it could get a bit unbearable, so gaiters and gloves were great.

Bisate supplied them and when we went back took them away and our shoes for cleaning. I have never had such clean runners

 

[Flying mermaid]

Gorilla looks to be amazing creature, but isn’t he very dangerous?

(I also like the band “The Gorillaz”).

they are amazing! They have been habituated to people and you are only allowed one hour and only 8 people in each group. They also cycle families around, so they don’t get visitors every day. They can of course be dangerous, which is why you have guides to tell you what to do and they teach you submissive behaviour - I have some photos coming up to demonstrate this

 

[AisleSeat]

These photos are something else. Loving this report!

 

[Flying mermaid]

We were standing watching the big silverback play with the babies when he decided to get up and head straight for us. The guide told us to drop to our knees and bow our heads and make the submissive noises we had practised. One of the group managed to take a few photos with his iphone. I looked out the corner of my eye and all I could see was a big furry back After he had gone past our guide moved us quietly back.

 

[Milboo]

Oh gosh. It goes against your instincts to not keep your eye on the potential danger doesn’t it!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Oh gosh. It goes against your instincts to not keep your eye on the potential danger doesn’t it!

yep - I have to admit to an edge of fear because I had no idea what he was up to .

I am now in trouble with Mr FM because I am so behind with the report so will try and at least finish Rwanda tomorrow ...

 

[Flying mermaid]

We were up early again on our rest day as Alex wanted to take us to the twin lakes Burera and Ruhondo as he said the light would be better. They are volcanic lakes - unfortunately quite a hazy day. We went to Virunga Lodge and had a good view of them. We had a bit of a look around the Lodge - it was quite attractive and if you were looking for a medium price option it looked very good. Would be a fair bit further to the gorillas, but very peaceful.

 

[Denali]

Did you walk it or jeep? If walk, why is Alex torturing you?

So the more you pay for accomodation, the less walk you have to do up the mountain? Amazing experience

 

[Flying mermaid]

For the rest of the day we relaxed, then planted a tree each and visited the local community. We have certificates now with the GPS location of our trees, so can check with lodge to see if they are still alive

The community visit was good. The usual busy women with handicrafts and the local entrepreneur Agnes, who now supplies egg and chickens to Bisate and can afford solar electricity and a TV!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Next day was off to the golden monkeys - a really easy trek, as they were down low in the bamboo area. They love to eat bamboo shoots. We were lucky enough to have a small group of only 8- normally much bigger groups go to the moneys. You are still restricted to one hour.

A couple of the monkeys didn't want visitors, as they kept throwing seed pods at us

We still hired porters, although I think we were the only ones who did. Its not expensive and it provides employment. It was particularly muddy that day, so it still was useful to have a helping hand. View attachment 137949

 

[Flying mermaid]

Normally we ate separately, but that night we had a communal Rwandan feast with singing by the staff. They then bring a basket of gifts which one person has to hand out. I was asked to try to balance the basket on my head. No - that wasnt going to happen! Our chef Angelique was particularly good at that!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Next day was our final Gorilla trek and I was all psyched up to do it - with the help of a porter of course. In the end it was all to easy. We had the Hirwa family (lucky one) and they were also down eating Bamboo shoots, so apart from a pretty hard climb over a wall to get into the park, it was about 10 minutes from the wall.

There was a pair of teenager twins who were pretty drunk on bamboo shoots. They were beating their chests and rough housing. It was one of those who smacked me - it didn't hurt, but his brother was eyeing me off as well, so I moved rapidly back

 

[Flying mermaid]

Did you walk it or jeep? If walk, why is Alex torturing you?

So the more you pay for accomodation, the less walk you have to do up the mountain? Amazing experience

we went by Jeep, as it was about 3/4 hour drive from where we were staying. Although it would have been nice to have a sleep in, on the other hand everything in Africa is about early starts, so keeping to a routine was probably good.

Alex wanted to take us to a museum as well, but we declined that. By this time we were getting on very well - he was having a great time with the other guides - lunches and dinners and going for 7km runs in the afternoon, so all parties were happy . He is a very experienced guide and has been doing gorilla treks from the early days, so he was able to get the nice easy groups for us. He came via Primate Safaris - there seems to be 3 main Safari groups.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Some pictures of the common areas at Bisate and another outside view. We normally gathered for canapes and drinks around the fire before dinner. With only 12 guests it was all very social

 

[Flying mermaid]

Some of the booty from Bisate. Each night we each received a little gift left on the bed. The managers said our long stay was testing their ingenuity as they didn’t normally need to find so many different things. On the last night as well as two bags of coffee there was also a book on Rwanda, which I am looking forward to reading when at home.

We really really enjoyed Bisate - it was boutique on steroi_s. Everything seemed to revolve around us and the service was immaculate.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Alex asked if we could leave after breakfast instead of lunch as he had his mother-in-law's funeral to attend in Kigali at 1pm. he hadn't mentioned it initially, but he realised that we wouldn't mind and we were more than happy to do so. Bisate did a packed lunch for us.

we arrived at the Serena Hotel at 12 and check in was at 2, so we expected to wait, but Alex sorted it out and we were upgraded to a suite, which I suspect Alex organised - he really seems to know everyone!

we were just about to go exploring when there was a huge storm, so had to wait until it finished. People seemed to be out in their Sunday best and lots of little kids came up to us to say hello

 

[Flying mermaid]

The Serena is a lovely hotel with good service. Enjoyed a couple of drinks round the pool and an early dinner and night.

some photos of the hotel and our suite

 

[Flying mermaid]

Breakfast is included in the room price and it was very extensive - each metal container had 3 options of hot food and the bread selection was unusual and delicious