When we last heard from our hero he was contemplating
traveling to southwestern Uganda
and Rwanda
in defiance of U.S. State Department and British Consulate Travel
Advisories....
Well I did it. Perhaps against good sense I went to track the gorillas in Rwanda and it
was an incredible experience. As many of
you know, the border areas of Rwanda,
southwestern Uganda and
eastern Congo
have long been an unstable area that has seen war and genocide of epic
proportions. The unrest in this area
dates back centuries and is the result of ethnic and religious conflicts as
well as a legacy of colonialism. In Rwanda (and Burundi--a country with similar,
and today, greater problems) the population primarily consists of two distinct
ethnic groups: Hutus and Tutsis. The Hutus in Rwanda account for approximately
75% of the population and are the indigenous people. The Tutsis, approximately 20% of the
population, emigrated to Rwanda
from present day Ethiopia
and Sudan. Despite their smaller numbers, the Tutsi
control the government, the military and most business. Conflict and bloody retribution has been the
history of these two groups for centuries.
The conflict took on a barbaric quality in 1994 with the genocide in Rwanda which
left over a million Tutsis and Hutu moderates dead, hacked to death with
machetes, shot through the head or butchered with anything on hand. In March 1999 the region made headlines again
when eight tourists who were gorilla tracking in Bwindi
National Park in Uganda were brutally
killed.
Since that time there have been few problems and security at
all the parks has been greatly increased.
Following this increase in security, the US State Department again
approved visits to the parks. However,
approximately two months ago, they again issued a travel warning urging people
to avoid this region. In determining
whether or not to make the trip to Rwanda I did reflect on the fact that if I
were sitting in my living room at home, reading about it in the New York Times,
I would have marveled at the stupidity and audacity of any traveler who would
disregard an unequivocally-worded travel advisory warning not to visit a
particular area. I will not go into the
reasons for the advisory, but suffice it to say that further investigation of
the reasons for the advisory convinced me that, if not unwarranted, it was at
least overly cautious. The level of
security that I witnessed while in Rwanda leads me to believe that
things are in fact safe.
I remember following fairly closely the genocide as it
occurred in Rwanda and Burundi in
1994. So it was with a certain sick
fascination and curiosity that I visited this area and met some of the people
involved on either side. While waiting
to track the gorillas the next day, I killed time at the guesthouse
"bar" where I had some interesting conversations. The first was with a soldier in the Rwandan
army (which is posted in and around the park to guard against any guerrilla
incursions). In the course of our
conversation--conducted in broken english and broken french--I slowly became
aware that he had been a member of the Interahamwe (the group responsible for
the 1994 genocide). He described how he
had been living in eastern Congo
for the last several years and had just recently returned to Rwanda and had
joined the army--a sort of amnesty given to former guerrillas who renounce
their old ways and pledge their allegiance to the Rwandan army.
On the other side of this conflict and another person with
whom I spent a lot of time speaking was the woman who ran the guesthouse. We did not discuss the genocide that had
occurred until the morning I was leaving when we discussed the impediments to
tourism in the region. It was then that
she told me her husband had died "on April 7, 1994, the day the killing
began." In a country where one in ten
met with a similar fate, her story is only too common. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to
now live side-by-side with those responsible for the killing.
Enough about guerrillas, let's talk gorillas.
There are thought to be just 600 mountain gorillas left in
the world, all found in a small area of East Africa straddling the borders of
Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. Gorilla
tracking is possible in three parks: two in Uganda--Mgahinga
(straddles the border with Congo)
and Bwindi (also known as the Impenetrable
Forest because of its thick stands of
bamboo trees), and the one I visited in Rwanda--Parc Nacional des
Volcans. Parc Nacional des Volcans is
where Dian Fossey was based and where the film about her work was made
(Gorillas in the Mist). The region is
physically beautiful with seven towering volcanoes and rainforest-covered
slopes. With its towering volcanoes
forming a backdrop for gorilla tracking, this is probably the most beautiful of
the three parks and arguably the best place to track the gorillas.
Gorillas are the largest primate in the world with the
mountain gorilla being the largest of the three gorilla species. The males can grow as large as 450 pounds,
while the diminutive female tips the scale at a mere 250 pounds. Mountain gorillas are distinguished from
their lowland relatives by longer hair, a broader chest and a wider face. Gorillas generally live in family groups of
varying sizes, usually including one or two older silverback males, younger
black-back males, females and infants.
The family we visited numbered thirteen and included two silverbacks and
two infants. For centuries gorillas were
considered fearsome and aggressive and it was only this century that it was
learned they are gentle and vegetarian.
Their diet consists mainly of bamboo shoots, giant thistles and wild
celery.
Gorillas are fairly placid and serious confrontations
between gorillas are rare, although violence can flare up if there is a
challenge for supremacy between two silverbacks. Although fights are rare, they can be serious
given a gorilla's canine-like teeth.
Interestingly, the day before our visit the two silverbacks of this
particular family had come to blows. One
of the two silverbacks--clearly the loser--sported a disfigured lower lip and
several open wounds on his back and, while not banished from the group, he kept
at a respectful distance from the others.
To view these creatures one has to hike through dense forest
frequently walking in a crouch and turning one's body sideways to fit through
the closely-grown bamboo trees and bushes.
Our group consisted of six tourists, two guides, three trackers (that I
know of) and a healthy number of armed guards.
At any time there were eight to ten soldiers with us, but we also
encountered many dozens more as we trekked through the jungle. It is the job of the tracker to locate the
gorillas and lead us to them. To do this
the tracker first identifies where the gorillas slept the previous night and
begins his search from there. Gorillas
are nomadic, moving each day to forage for food. The silverback dictates movements for the day
and at night each gorilla makes its own nest.
Nests are only used once. We were
fortunate to reach the gorillas within an hour and a half of beginning our
hike. Upon reaching the gorillas a
tourist group is permitted to stay with the gorillas for exactly an hour--not a
minute more.
I had read that one is permitted to get within fifteen feet
of the gorillas, but in fact, if one is standing in place and a gorilla comes
walking by inside of that distance, there isn't much one can do about it. In this way we definitely got up close and
personal with the gorillas. In one
instance, while pursuing the gorillas through the forest, we came upon a female
foraging and sitting back on her haunches.
Because of the tightness of the woods, we were probably less than ten
feet away. One by one we took our turn
in the spot best for getting a good close-up photo. When it was my turn I squatted in front of
her and just after I snapped the picture, while still looking through the
viewfinder, the gorilla lunged at me in a fake charge and began beating her
chest. (No kidding, they do a lot of
chest pounding.) Instinctively and in
contradiction of the earlier instruction we had received to stand our ground
and slowly back away, I leapt to my feet and stumbled backwards into the others
in my group. No harm done; she had shown
me who was boss and was back to foraging.
When our tour was over, I got back in a jeep and we drove
the ten hours back to Kampala, Uganda and a couple days later I caught a bus
across Uganda into Kenya and ultimately to Nairobi from where I flew home. Driving across these two countries, there
were no particular tourist attractions or anything to visit along the way, but
it did give me a small insight into what everyday life is like in these
countries. About this I have nothing
particularly profound to impart, but was continually cognizant of and thankful
for the opportunities and advantages we have in the first world. I should also note that Uganda has a
lush, physical beauty that I had not expected. Everywhere there are banana
plantations and bananas are an important staple of the Ugandan diet. This led me to conclude that bananas are to Uganda what rice is to Asia.
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