Travel Destinations
Rwanda
Mountain gorillas live in the western rim of the Great Rift Valley where the Nile River drains and Congo River borders. Three countries, Rwanda, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of Congo, meet here. This area is the only area where mountain gorillas are naturally. There is lush vegetation and forest that covered the mountainous area. There has been war going on surrounding these gorillas for many years. When we hiked through the area we could hear what we thought at first was lightning, but was told it was bombs going off in the Congo nearby. The war affects the gorillas and their habitat destroying it and, in some cases, injuring or killing the gorillas. There are about 604 mountain gorillas in this area.
Mountain Gorillas
Gorillas are large mammals and the largest living primate who are very similar to humans. They are intelligent, have emotions, and experience the 5 senses. Female gorillas weigh 150 to 270 lbs. A male average weight is 353 lbs. Gorillas need a ton of vegetation to eat each day, so they roam large areas to get their food. Their land needs to be protected so they have the food they need to survive. An adult eats about 44 lbs a day. A gorilla takes the leaves and bark off. They use their hands to only eat what they like. Gorillas love bamboo. They eat around 70 different plants. Gorillas build nests each night to sleep out of leaves and plants. Gorillas use 25 recognized sounds that can be grunts, roars, growls. This makes many think they have a language. At about 10-12 years males fur change a silver color on their back which is where the get the name Silverback. The dominant male called the Silverback is in charge of each family can weigh up to 500 lbs. The Silverback is the leader. A silverback can eat as much as 77 lbs a day.
Trekking Gorillas in Rwanda
Mountain gorillas are protected allowing a specific number of permits for a specific amount of time for humans to observe each family’s behavior for 1 hour. There are 96 permits per day and they cost $1500 per permit. We arrived at Virunga National Park. You are permitted to visit a specific family. The families are known as Susa, Igisha, Karisimbi, Sabyinyo, Amahoro, Agashya, Kwitonda, Umubano, Hirwa, Bwenge, Ugyenda and Muhoza.The hike to find the family you are assigned to can take 30 minutes to 4 or more hours and can go as high as 2500m to 4000m. My grandpa went with us so we took 2 porters to help carry items and help hi m as he climbed. Permits only allow 1 hour of observation to prevent the gorillas from getting too socialized to humans. The trackers help to determine when the gorillas are when you leave to hike to locate them. We went on an easy hike due to my grandpa’s age. Typically, that hike would be about 30 minutes to an hour. Our gorillas kept moving so our hike ended up about 4 hours. Our leader used a machete to cut us a path since much of our climb did not have a set path and one had to be created.
We were assigned to the Muhoza Gorilla Family. We first saw a mom carrying her baby on her back when we saw the gorillas. A baby when born weighs about 4 lbs. A mom cares and protects her baby. The baby eats from mom for over 2 years. A baby gorilla can get on a mom’s back within a couple months and travel there for about 3 years. Gorillas came within 6 feet of us. We loved seeing two brothers wrestle and play having a ball for the hour we are observing. They ran in circles playing tag and rolling around beating each other up. We saw our Silverback or leader to the family, Silverback Ma'Mrbo. He was very calm and seemed to just observe everything was happening.
