Sidwell gone Gorillas, by Julia

Julia on the way back down the mountain

With faces of awe and nettle-pricked bodies we made our way up the Rwandan hills this morning. Though the terrain was steep and rocky, we forged ahead towards the mountain gorillas We were not sure our bodies were going to be able to handle the trek due to our very early morning (alarms set to 5:45) and our lack of a substantial breakfast.  Gatored-up and anxious to begin we boarded our trucks and drove to the base of the mountain. Our trek was in one of Rwanda's three National Parks which is the home of multiple volcanoes (Don't worry parents they are dormant ;)  Our first challenge was to make it to a stone wall at the edge of the park. The wall is used to keep buffalo and other wildlife from leaving the park and invading neighboring homes and communities. This was probably the most difficult part of the morning due to the seemingly endless hill but we pushed through it. The beautiful scenery and picture-perfect view also helped motivate us as we hiked. You could really see why Rwanda is nicknamed "The Land of a Thousand Hills." Once we crossed the wall, our guides and trackers led us to the gorillas. We were all in complete astonishment when we came across the first one. We hadn't realized a giant silver-back would be so close to us. It just sat there eating it's leaves, sassily watching us take pictures. After moving further into the forest, we came across a whole family eating together. There was a black-back male, a mom and her baby. Soon the silver-back came to join them. As the baby swung from branches five feet from our faces and the two males bore their teeth and tore leaves from the trees, we knew we were witnessing a very natural and special moment that we could not have seen anywhere else. Though fear induced by close proximity to wild animals was a factor for some, we did not let it overcome our excitement. As it turned out the difficult journey up the mountain had been worth it. After an hour with the gorillas we made our way back down the mountain. We all felt like we were one with nature. As we crossed the road back to the trucks we felt so accomplished and proud of our amateur hiking skills. No hospital visits were necessary :)

Almost everyone got out of the forest alive...

Here is one group before tracking!

Our tracker struggled to fit us all in the frame of the pic, but here is one group after tracking!

Below are pics from the experience :)  Sadly, we were divided into 2 groups, so the pics below reflect one group's experience.  Pics aplenty upon arrival home!  (I tried to load individual sd cards from the other group--got too complicated for a night where sleep was in order for kids who have an early-morning departure for Akagera!)

Pyrethreum Field

more wildlife as we walked back down the volcano!