Time is running out to secure your gorilla trekking permits for dates in summer 2011. Explore our Rwanda and Uganda Gorillas trip, take a group trip, or we can customize your gorilla adventure. Remaining permit availability and dates are as follows:
Uganda is slightly less limited, however many dates are already sold out - especially in July and August. September still has good availability. Permit availability changes daily, so book your trip quickly to secure your spot for this magical wilderness experience!
We are also pleased to announce that there is now a new gorilla group open for trekking in the Kisoro/Clouds Lodge area. The group is called 'Mishaya' and it currently has 9 members. In July 2010, the second ranking Silverback called 'Mishaya' broke away from the main Nshongi group, taking 8 other individuals with him.
After our community visit, my guide and I headed off across southwestern Uganda to the Nkuringo area of Bwindi. The drive is breathtaking. After getting back to the 'main' road, we took that road essentially to its end. The hills became steeper, and if possible they seemed greener. That may have been the storm clouds making the scenery looking dramatic!
We drove through the town of Kisoro, arriving just after what must have been a very substantial rain storm. The streets were running with water - knee deep in some places. People were picking their way through town trying to stay somewhat dry while balancing goods on their bicycles or their heads. It was a chaotic, colorful scene.
We had another hour and a half drive from Kisoro to our lodge. The area we drove through seemed less developed and more remote than anything we had experienced so far. There was less agricultural development due to the steepness of the landscape, and the hills were packed ever more tightly together.
We finally arrived at Clouds Lodge around dusk. This beautiful lodge is perched at the very top of one of Bwindi's hills, surrounded by forest. It is community owned, and employs its staff from that same community. The clouds were in fact present, swirling just below us on the mountainside. I was warmly welcomed by the staff and escorted into the lodge for a quick briefing. This had to go in the books as the best briefing ever, as it was accompanied by a complimentary hand and arm massage from the local spa staff.
The main lodge is airy and light. It has several fireplaces for cool nights and is full of couches that just beg to be curled up on with a book or a drink. The bar is at one end, while the elegant dining room is at the other. It has a veranda around 2 sides, with fantastic views of Bwindi and the Virungas beyond. Every day is a different view depending on how clear it is or where the clouds have landed, but every day is beautiful.
My room, or perhaps I should call it a villa, was just down the hill from the main lodge. It had a porch with another tremendous view and was surrounded by flowers and trees, with its own little garden in the front. Once inside, I found an enormous sitting room with those same welcoming couches and my own fireplace. The bedroom was as light and airy as the sitting room with an enormous bed, and access to the same pass through fireplace. The bathroom was large and luxurious with a shower.
Meals at clouds are fantastic. In the mornings, I enjoyed custom made smoothies with mint and ginger, muesli and a cooked breakfast (essential when trekking!). Lunches were hearty but not too heavy; things like salads and fishcakes. Dinners were sublime; three course affairs with expertly executed dishes with surprisingly creative sauces and desserts that I couldn't resist.
My second day of trekking could not have been more different from the first. The ranger station is only a few minutes walk from the lodge, and is much smaller than the Buhoma area. There is only one group to trek to see from here, with a total of two groups in the Nkuringo area. There is a small village and shop area outside the ranger station.
Nearly all of the trekkers wisely hired porters this time (see why that is important here). We began our trek from the ranger station. Trekking from Clouds to the gorillas is downhill, which is unique. It also means your return trek is uphill! The trail is very good for most of the way, and you don't reach the forest until you hit the valley floor and pass by the tracker's camp - about an hour into the hike. We once again lucked out with the weather and needed sunscreen rather than rain gear for our hike.
Once in the forest, it was only a matter of minutes before we were told to leave our gear with the porters and to take our cameras and follow the guides to the Nkuringo family group. We excitedly crept through the forest to the group and suddenly found ourselves nearly in the middle of it. They were feeding on the ground and in trees; there were babies, adolescents, black and silverbacks all within sight.
The gorillas were obviously comfortable with our presence and continued their feeding without interruption. One blackback came and sat directly in front of our group. He had a small wound on his left hip which he almost seemed to be showing us. Our guide confirmed that this family does in fact show the rangers and trackers any injuries they have in the manner we were witnessing. After he gave us a good, long look at his wound, the gorilla moved on to feed some more.
We enjoyed what felt like quite a long time of uninterrupted viewing of the gorillas as they moved around the clearing feeding, as well as the fun of two juvenile gorillas playing up in the trees. The group finally started to move off and as we still had time left in our hour we were able to follow them further into the forest for a bit more observation. At one stage, the silverback slapped the ground two times not far in front of me; I could feel it through my feet! This behaviour is considered to be one that prevents conflict between and among groups.
The final and most exciting part of the day for me was when one of the blackbacks (named Karibu - thank you in Swahili) sat nearly at my feet to feed. Because of the dense vegetation, I was unable to back away, so the guide advised me to stay put. The gorilla sat peacefully feeding for a few minutes before moving on his way, continuing to follow his family. Our time was finally up, and we left the Nkuringo family with regret, but also with joy at the privilege of spending time with one of the planet's most amazing creatures.
I mentioned before that it was difficult to put the experience of observing mountain gorillas in the wild into adequate words, and I feel I've had the same struggle in this blog. What I can say is that it is one of the most profound nature experiences that I have ever had, and is certainly amongst my favorite and most memorable experiences I have had in Africa. When we returned to the lodge, I enjoyed an afternoon massage which worked the fatigue out of my muscles and refreshed me immensely. The spa at clouds is simple, but the treatments are wonderful. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the lodge reading and talking with other guests. During our sundowner drinks, we were treated to a performance by a local youth community group. They sang and danced for the guests, incorporating the importance of gorillas to the community into their performance. (see performance video on our You Tube channel!)
We have several itineraries available that offer gorilla trekking in both Rwanda and Uganda. If you wish to stay at Clouds Lodge (and I can't recommend it highly enough!), we can create a customized itinerary for you. Just give us a call!
Next: Arusha and the newly opened Mt. Meru Hotel!
First photo courtesy Clouds Lodge. Remaining photos and video Gretchen Healey
The first iPhone and iTouch application dedicated to protecting the critically endangered mountain gorilla has been launched, and millions of iPhone and iTouch users worldwide can download the app to follow the daily lives of the mountain gorillas and stay up-to-date with the efforts of the rangers to protect Virunga National Park.
The application costs $3.99 and can be downloaded from iTunes. It allows users to select a gorilla family, find out about individual members and follow them through blogs and videos directly from the remote forests of eastern DR Congo.
“The survival of Congo's mountain gorillas relies on our ability to reach out to individuals around the world who care, and to keep them informed on a daily, even hourly basis, of the rangers’ efforts to protect the wildlife in Virunga National Park,” says Emmanuel de Merode, Director of Virunga National Park. “iGorilla provides us with exactly that opportunity.”
New Gorilla Rescue Center to Open in Eastern Congo
10 orphaned gorillas which were rescued from poachers in Rwanda and Congo will be airlifted to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), by the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in DRC. They will be at the new Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Centre (GRACE). The gorillas have been traumatized by violence and mistreatment and need treatment; they must learn how to survive in the wild. GRACE centre is located next to 222,000 acres of forest in the community-based Tayna Nature Reserve.
We'd like to share the latest update straight from Rwanda's Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge near Volcanoes National Park. Book a gorilla tracking adventure in Rwanda and stay at the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge.
The weather pattern in the Virunga Range was very mild for most of the month, with morning temperatures around 48F-50F at 6 a.m. and day temperatures reaching up to 75F in the early afternoon. Many mornings were beautifully clear, offering wonderful views from the lodge towards the Eastern Virunga volcanoes of Visoke, Mikeno and Karisimbi. Usually, clouds would build up rapidly in the afternoons, releasing their first drops well after guests were back from gorilla trekking. The first of the rains arrived on the 2nd of September with a short sharp afternoon shower and the rains then continued until the middle of the month, when the area received on average just under 1 inch of rain per day. From the middle of the month onwards the rain tapered off.
In Volcanoes National Park, the return of the rain brought new growth to the bamboo forests triggering the bamboo to sprout new shoots and leaves. All this growth meant that many of the gorilla families became less mobile, than during the previous three months of the dry season, when they had to wander further afield in search of food. The families tend to stay lower on the mountain closer to the bamboo shoots, making trekking distances shorter in general.
The Susa Group, one of the largest of the gorilla groups in the park, remained split this month and it is though that this will probably lead to the creation of a new, totally independent gorilla family group in Mt Karisimbi area. The dominant males of the two groups (still considered as sub-groups within the Susa Group), seem to be avoiding each other more and more.
The most significant and very sad event in the park's gorilla population was the death of Titus, leader of the group of the same name. This legendary silverback, aged 35 (he was born on 24 August 1974), was found dead in his nest on the morning of 14 September by trackers of Karisoke Research Station. Titus had been followed and studied since his birth. The newborn baby was first discovered by Kelly Stewart, an American student working with Dian Fossey at Karisoke at the time. It seems that the death of the old dominant silverback was hastened by the return of his son, 'Rano', another adult silverback male, who returned to the group after having lived as a lone silverback for a long period. Persistent challenging from Rano apparently exhausted the old leader, who fought for his status position until his end. Titus, may be the most famous gorilla in the Volcanoes National Park, was buried in the gorilla cemetery on the site of the former Karisoke Reaearch Camp during a special ceremony on 16 September;
Back in the lodge Bernard, the manager, has been hard at work creating beautiful new organic vegetable and flower gardens. Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge's property extends over 17 acres and the lodge is still in the process of landscaping the gardens, to give a true "forest feeling" by planting more native trees, shrubs and plant species. In one corner of the property, the lodge has created an organic vegetable garden with carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, potatoes and other vegetables. The produce appears almost daily on the guests' plates. Bernard plans to extend the vegetable garden, so as to be as self-sufficient as possible in the future. In another corner of the property Bernard has planted an organic flower garden to ensure a regular supply of fresh flowers to be used at the lodge. Flowers are cut daily by the staff and made into attractive arrangements that decorate the cottages and the tables in the dining area. Favorites are the elegant The lodge has also invited the neighboring community to put bee hives along the edges of the garden to pollinate the vegetable and flower gardens and in turn provide delicious organic honey.
Uganda is slightly less limited, however many dates are already sold out - especially in July and August. September still has good availability. Permit availability changes daily, so book your trip quickly to secure your spot for this magical wilderness experience!
