African Safari Adventures. Thomas Walsh

      

      AFRICAN SAFARI ADVENTURES

      by

      THOMAS WALSH

      African Safari Adventures

      by Thomas Walsh

      Copyright 2015 Thomas Walsh

      All rights reserved

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2515-3

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

      ALSO BY THOMAS WALSH

      NONFICTION

      RAFTING THE RIVER OF NO RETURN WILDERNESS – THE MIDDLE FORK OF THE SALMON RIVER

      FICTION

      CHICAGO STORIES – GROWING UP IN THE WINDY CITY

      A ROAD WELL-TRAVELED

      This book is dedicated to the preservation of the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fifty percent of the profits from the sale of this book will be donated to organizations dedicated to their protection and preservation.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I want to thank my wife, Lee, our friends and safari companions Steve and Nancy, and Bill and Kate for their invaluable help in writing this book.

      CHAPTER 1

      GUHONDA

      Guhonda woke lazily from a mid-morning nap. He slowly sat up in a position like a Buddha. Being the leader and protector of the Sabyinyo Group of mountain gorillas he instinctively moved his massive head from side-to-side looking around the camp to make sure all the members of his group were present and safe. The other gorillas were still sleeping or just starting to rouse. The group had spent the first part of the morning, when the mist was still thick on the volcano, munching on the tender shoots of the bamboo growing beside their camp. It was never ending work finding and eating 40 to 60 pounds of vegetation a day so the gorillas were happy to nap whenever Guhonda decided he wanted to rest.

      The Sabyinyo Group, named after the volcano that was their home, had 12 members. Guhonda, the patriarch is the largest of the silverback mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. He weighs almost 500 lbs. and stands six feet tall as a biped. He is a gentle giant with a broad swath of grey fur down his back. But if the group is threatened he can become a ferocious ape ready to fight to the death to protect his family. The other members of the Sabyinyo Group included a second, younger silverback, adult females, male blackbacks and some children.

      Satisfied that all was well, Guhonda ambled over to the bamboo stand on all fours and resumed eating the juicy bamboo shoots. The other adults joined him. They ate and watched the children playing. Guhonda made some deep rumbling belches, a sign of contentment.

      The group continued to feed until Guhonda sensed danger was near. He became agitated and began to hoot. The group heeded his warning. They stopped eating and looked to him. The only predators that mountain gorillas have are humans and leopards. Guhonda knew that humans were coming.

      Just down the mountain from the Sabyinyo Group, four armed trackers shadowed the group to locate them for the tourists that paid for permits to visit the gorillas. The trackers were not the humans that caused Guhonda’s agitation. He was used to them and knew their sounds. It was the group of nine people that just joined the trackers that worried Guhonda. They made a lot of noise climbing up the mountain through the dense stands of bamboo and heavy brush. Humans came to visit the Sabyinyo Group almost every day, but each encounter was stressful to Guhonda until he was satisfied that they were not a threat to his family.

      ***

      The nine people who joined the trackers included a park guide and eight tourists. The eight tourists were me, my wife Lee, our friends Steve and Nancy, and two young couples from South Africa. We had paid a large fee many months in advance for the chance to be with the gorillas. The trek through dense forest and bamboo, up steep mountainsides at an altitude of 5,000 feet or more can take from 30 minutes to six hours. The reward at the end is to be among the few people in the world, who have the experience of a lifetime spending an hour with one of the ten family groups of mountain gorillas which Volcanoes National Park reserves for tourist visits. The groups vary in size up to 30 gorillas per family. There are other larger groups that are for scientific study only. In total there are about 500 gorillas in the park. Sadly the numbers have fallen greatly over the years due to war, vanishing habitat and poaching. We thought it was well worth the price and effort to see these amazing creatures who may become extinct in the wild in our lifetime.

      The Volcanoes National Park is part of the Virunga Mountains which straddle Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Gorillas also live in the mountains in Uganda and the D.R.C., and sometimes travel back and forth between countries. The mobility of the gorilla families adds to their vulnerability. When they leave the protection of the park and enter the Congo they are much more susceptible to poaching and the civil war that has been raging off and on for years.

      The National Park is home to five of the eight volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains. When you see the mist enshrouded mountains it is easy to understand why Rwanda means, “The land of a thousand hills.” The town closest to the park is Ruhengeri which is about two hours by car from Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda. Most tourists stay at various hotels and eco-resorts within driving distance of the park. We stayed at the Virunga Lodge, a wonderful location on a mountain top with commanding views of the volcanoes and nearby lakes.

      The trek to see the gorillas began at 8:30 am at the park headquarters. There was an air of excitement as 80 tourists arrived for assignment to various gorilla family groups and guides. Our driver Charles from Volcanoes Safari, a tour guide company, knew we wanted an easier trek. It was the first of two days we would spend trekking the mountain gorillas. We were a little apprehensive about the physical demands. Charles arranged for us to be assigned to the Sabyinyo (meaning “old man’s teeth”) Group, which was one of the easiest to reach in the park. The gorilla group often camped only 45 minutes from the edge of the forest. The gorilla family’s patriarch is Guhonda, the largest of all the silverbacks in the park.

      We were assigned a park guide named Paul who was very familiar with the Sabyinyo Group. Paul was a member of the Tutsi tribe, one of the two main tribes in Rwanda along with the Hutus. He was small in stature and build with delicate facial features. The Belgium colonist who ruled Rwanda prior to independence favored the Tutsis over the Hutu because of their Caucasian like facial features. The Hutu’s resented the Tutsis for their favored status. The resentment led to hatred and ultimately an unspeakable genocide killing over a half million Tutsis. Paul survived the killing because his parents saw the situation boiling over and sent him to live with relatives in the Congo.

      Paul worked hard to make our experience exciting yet comfortable. He reminded everyone that they could hire porters to carry their backpacks and help them as they climbed up the mountainside to the gorilla family. Because of the proximity of the Sabyinyo Group to the edge of the forest no one in our group opted to hire a porter. The trek started near a village at the base of the volcano. It was a comfortable day. The area never really gets hot because of the altitude, but everything is damp because of the mist and frequent rainfalls even in the dry season. The first half of the hike was a gradual ascent up a grassy hillside interspersed with light brush and trees. As the group walked Paul provided a running commentary in perfect, albeit slightly accented English on the flora, fauna and the gorillas in particular.

      Paul said the gorillas loved to eat bamboo shoots as they are sweet and moist. The natural sugar in the shoots ferments in the cane and gives the gorillas a mild alcohol high lending to their already mellow disposition. Trackers dedicated