The Misadventures of Joey Tafuro

As you can see in these 2 photos I have been too busy to blog the last few days. I mean, I had several different hammocks to choose from and I’m telling you… choosing the right one takes some time. Some were too hot, some caught too much of a breeze… some were just dirty. But there were a few good ones.

I have decided to take up an interest in Sci-Fi books and took one from the shelf of the “lobby” of Santa Maria Coral Park. Ok, it isn’t a lobby it is just a hut with a shelf with a few chairs. The rooms were simple. Electrity and water were a guessing game but who needs to shower when you have the Indian Ocean at your disposal.

Daisy and I have spent the last 3 days on Pongwe Beach situated at the east coast of Zanzibar Island which is off the coast of Tanzania. It is known for diving, eating and… well, relaxing. We did plenty of relaxing and eating but no diving this time around. We chowed down on some lobster the 2nd night and I had a huge crab the 3rd night. I really wish I had more to update but really, it has been nothing but lounging around in hammocks, walking along the beach, and eating seafood. The staff was really friendly and I think the waitress was hitting on me when she asked me if I was Christian or Muslim. She was, surprisingly for Zanzibar which is prodominantly muslim, a Christian. The staff which was mostly made up of females would struggle between playing traditional Taarab music and terribly lame American country music. I preferred the traditional.

The only real source of excitement came from following crabs around on the beach and the incident in the middle of the night last night that woke both myself and Daisy in a fit a terror. It was about 12:40a. An hour or so after falling asleep to my Ipod. I am not sure what I was dreaming about or what state of sleep I was actually in but I was suddenly jerked awake by the squawk of an evil beast. Aaaaaaaaaaaarchhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I jumped up fast as if I was waking from a TV nightmare. “What the (expletive) was that?!!!” I was in a sweat. Not a cold sweat but an actual heat induced sweat. The rooms don’t breathe well. Back to the squawk. It was a horrifying sound but I had heard it before on the island. This time it was only a few meters away. I immediately assumed the monkey was in the room with me on the ceiling. I battled with myself on whether or not to grab the flashlight which was tucked securely away next to my pillow. I was too nervous. I’m not afraid of monkeys but just like I’m not afraid of giraffes, I don’t want one in my bed with me.

A few seconds after I heard the first noise I heard a thump underneath my bed. Still confinced the monkey was in the room with me I started to panic. I reached for my flashlight and wondered if I should lean over the side of the bed and take a look. I imagined as I did it slowly, that once I got my light under the bed and had a good look the monkey would shred my face. Luckily, it didn’t happen. I was releaved but then I saw Daisy’s flashlight in the bungalow next to mine. I thought she had heard the same thing. She asked me why I was still awake and I told her about the monkey. You could yell across the bungalows since they weren’t that far. It was really like being on a camping trip.

So, the ending to this story is anti-climactic since the monkey apparently was never actually IN my room or UNDER my bed but for a short while I had thought maybe it would have been a good idea to get a few more shots before I left.

Mzungi is another African term for foreigner.

After 3 days of worrying about whether or not we would have finances figured out for the gorilla permits we finally purchased them and headed off to Ruhengeri where I currently am. It is the staging point for gorilla treks in Parc National des Volcans (Volcano Park) It is a chain of about 7 volcanos that make up the border between Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo and it is the best place to view mountain gorillas. Ruhengeri is nice town. We had a great 2 bedroom apartment that only cost about $20 a piece. We arranged transportation for the following morning (which was yesterday) and we were picked up around 6am by the driver.

The drive towards Volcano Park was breathtaking. We would pass through farmland with the occasional break in foilage to see fantastic views of the mountains coming up. It was exactly how you would picture it. The green lush slopes where the gorillas live were covered in a beautiful white mist. Photos WILL be available soon I promise. We arrived at the park head quarters and met with our guides. We chose a somewhat easy trek and went with the Sabyinho group which were named for the volcano they were first discovered in.

It was about a 30 minute walk to the entrance of the rainforest itself. We were stopped and told to wait because they were sending trackers ahead of us to try and spot them so that we weren’t wasting too much time in the jungle itself. Our group consisted of 2 other Americans, 3 Australians and British girl. Plus, 1 guide and 2 soldiers who are required to accompany tourists due to the threat from poachers and rebels from the Congo. In 1998 2 tourists were shot while gorilla tracking and ever sine then the security is tightening.

It took almost 2 hours for the guide to return. He said they had a difficult time tracking the group of gorillas because of all the buffalo and elephant tracks that were throwing them off. We finally hit the thickness of the Rwandan rainforest. It immediately turned into dense jungle. The lower part of the slopes were bamboo forest and it had been raining this week a lot so the mud was terrible. After a few minutes though you tend to forget about it and just tread through the mud and dirt without care. We took several breaks anytime there was an open space. It was suprisingly cool in the jungle and we didn’t hear a whole lot of other animals along the way. I had my first experience with stinging nettles. They were all over the place on the path we were taking and they go through pants and jackets. I had thought that nettles were just thorny bushes but apparently they are razor sharp and actually sting you when you brush against them rather than poke you. The pain went away after a few minutes but it wasn’t pleasant.

45 minutes had past but eventually we hit a really steep portion of the hike and in the distance you could see trees moving. This was our first glance at the gorillas. It was difficult to tell exactly where they were until we climbed up a little further and there was suddenly 2 laying on the ground literally 3-4 feet from me. They were 1 female and 1 juvenile. I couldn’t believe how close we were. They said the rule was 7 meters but the gorillas don’t know that rule so you are really dependant on how they react to you.

We sat there for a few minutes and just watched. I heard a noise coming from behind me and thought it was one of the trackers. It was the baby gorilla in the group and it rushed right past me and jumped towards its mother. Everyone was very quiet but there was a lot of camera snapping going on. I told myself before the trek that I wouldn’t spend the entire time with the gorillas using my camera so I tried to take photos and then put it away and just watch. We had a few professional photographers in our group so it was a bit distacting that they were pointing their zooms so close to these creatures.

We moved up the hill a little further right into the nest and found the silverback (alpha male) resting in the tree. It was amazing to find out that these gorillas make new nests every day. Because of the complexity of what he was sitting in and the difficulty it must have been to actually get himself hoisted in there. This silverback was actually the largest of all the gorillas in the entire region. I was hoping he would come down and walk around but he was taking it pretty easy. Later we saw the baby climb up into the trees and then try and make his way down. He struggled holding onto the branches and looked like he almost slipped a few times but he finally made it.

You are only allowed 1 hour with the gorillas to protect them from overexposure to humans. About halfway through it began raining and the gorillas came down from the trees and found hiding spots. The baby founds its mother and she covered her up and they laid there the rest of the time. The rain came down very hard and I was actually excited about it. I thought it would be interesting to experience the dense jungle with a relentless downpour. It didn’t spot. We were there a little longer than an hour because the guide was hoping that the rain would stop. So we all sat there watching the mother cover her baby and try to sleep. It was extremely cold and you could see the looks on everyone’s faces that they were ready to head back. The guides were a little worried because in the position that myself, Daisy, and the 2 other girls were in, caused us to have to pass directly by the mother and baby in order to get down. We were literally inches from her when we slipped by.

The hike down was pretty grueling. It wasn’t too steep but the mud that was there early was even thicker and harder to walk through than before the rains. You could see the steam… or mist coming off everyone’s body. I really enjoyed the hike both directions. I have always wanted to get dirty and worn out while hiking through the jungles of Africa.

I really enjoyed the gorillas but I can’t pretend to be as passionate about them as most people that do the treks.
That being said, as gross as I felt and as tired as I was I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. In fact, I think I can cross off it off my list of things to do before I die.

There were other activities to do in the park but we really didn’t want to take anymore hikes. We could have visited the grave of Dianne Fossey (mountain gorilla researcher who did A LOT for the awareness of poaching in the region and who was tragically murdered by poachers in 1985) or do a golden monkey trek.

After we returned to the hotel we took showers… COLD showers because the hot water wasn’t working. We had only eaten a few cookies in the morning so all day I was looking forward to a big meal. We ordered a couple of beer, goat meat on a skewer and some fried tilapia. It was all extremely delicious and the best meal I have had for the entire trip. We sat there and talked for almost 7 hours until we were too tired to even think.

We are still in Ruhengri and getting ready to head off to the town of Gisenyi on the border with DR Congo. We will spend a day or 2 there on the shores of Lake Kivu near 2 very active volcanos.

One of the females in the Sabyinho group.

Parc National Des Volcans

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