Bubba and Me
On August 3rd, I woke with high hopes to see the gorillas at Volcanoes NP again. It had rained hard all night and the rain continued to pour as we ate breakfast. Charlie and Sharon had permits, but their son did not due to his age. Also, Bernie and Amy (all of us from California – odd) had their permits. I definitely wanted the permit because I could sense some magic coming, but I knew this was my only day to go to Democratic Republic of Congo so I was a bit torn. The heavy rain also made it hard to get excited about trudging up the mountain.
But that same rain is probably what caused someone to want to give up their permit and all six of us were in. I ended up in the same group as Charlie and family. Willem and Nanon from Holland also joined us as well as a mother and daughter whose name I forget from NYC and Philly. The group is named Hirwa which contains eight gorillas. We only had a fifteen minute hike to the wall and 45 minutes to the gorillas albeit all of it was very steep bamboo. Since it was raining so hard, I decided to just take my Olympus 810 point and shoot which is weatherproof.
It rained hard for the first twenty minutes with the Hirwa group and then it stopped. Our guide, Dee, allowed very close proximity with the eight gorillas who were much more active than Group 13. They had slept in late due to the rain (not much different than us humans) and were moving a lot when we arrived. We were often only three meters from them. Early on I discovered that my camera has video and I started to film two females. Sharon, just to my right, made a sound and I looked over to see the silverback was walking by less than a meter from her. He walked right into my video about a meter in front of me, beat his chest and then made other sounds. All I could do is film and laugh at this completely outrageous spectacle. I was no longer afraid of these guys. After twenty minutes, the rain stopped and the gorillas went down a ten meter cliff.
We watched from above and then Dee started talking about it being over yet it was only 30 minutes into the encounter. A tracker started to go down the vine covered cliff and I didn’t think twice about following. Everyone followed and we were soon in the midst of the furry ones again. We were standing on a log or rock (who could tell with all of the plants) above a female and her baby. We were in a line side-by-side while the silverback was up the hill a bit. Dee moved right in front of the mom when she charged him holding onto the baby and knocked him over into an area of flattened greenery. It then put its hand on his head while be remained still. I took a few photos and roared with laughter noticing that Dee was not worried about his situation. He remained calm and the gorilla moved down the hill. I think she was kind of telling him that he got too close to her and her young one. He got up and joined us.
I started to turn off my camera when I heard what I thought was someone in our group falling. I was still laughing and started to turn towards the noise planning to get a good chuckle from their predicament. My head only turned an inch when I was suddenly hit from behind on my shoulder blade causing me to fly through the air. While in mid-air I noted that the camera was safely off and my landing area looked soft (same place Dee had just been). I tucked in my arms in front of me and prepared for my crash. I flew about four meters total and landed quite nicely. I rolled over and looked at everyone and they all had bugged out eyes and dropped jaws. I said “I’m OK”. I sat up a bit dazed and then stood and looked around. It was only then that I saw the silverback down the hill and I realized I had been stiff-armed from behind by 200 kilos of gorilla meat!!!!!! He had been running down the hill to get to his family and I guess I just happened to be in the way. The weirdest part was that I never saw him before, during or after the hit and I barely heard him coming. Charlie saw it unfold and he said the silverback made three leaps down the hill before reaching me and it happened so fast that he couldn’t get any words out of his mouth. It was a great sight for all and I could only laugh harder loving the idea that I had been tackled by a beast that could make mincemeat out of a whole NFL team. Dee announced that the hour was up and the gorillas seemed to be telling us the same – “show is up for the day, now go home”.
We climbed up the cliff using the vines ala Tarzan and had a great hike back down the hill. We learned that the Hirwa silverback has no name yet and I suggested Bubba.
On the way back to the lodge with Charlie, Sharon and Matthew, we saw two villages having genocide meetings. Everyone was gathered dressed up very nicely (unless you have seen a group of dressed up women in Africa, you cannot imagine the colors and the beauty of it all). There was a table in the middle with a handful of men seated. The beauty gave way quickly to the realization that these people are dealing with serious, ugly business. The meetings are tribunals where locals are accused of their attrocities. If the local group finds them guilty, their case is referred to real courts. Twelve years into this and I imagine it will go on much longer. Charlie pointed out that we are still trying civil rights violators from the 1950s and 1960s. The seriousness of the matter was heavy and quite a swing from the joyous time with the apes. Now that I have read my genocide book, visited the Kigali memorial, talked to Rwandans about their experience, I will digest it all and have something to say soon.
As we got closer to the lodge, we came across a wedding procession walking down the road. Everyone was looking beautiful and my mood swung once again 180 degrees. Upon arriving at the lodge Paul informed me that I can go to Democratic Republic of Congo the next day so I was able to have my gorilla cake and eat it, too! This day is the highlight of my trip. My expectations were so high and they were so far exceeded. I will never forget my second encounter with gorillas and the feel of Bubba’s hand on my shoulder.
Tags: Travel
vagabondrick
hi rick,
i’m not often lost for words, but …… wow ……
peace out
Ben
I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like, but wow, it must feel great that you got to feel it! A wedding walking down the road…..a meeting of the town’s people regarding genocide…it’s overload for sure. Looking forward to your writtings about genocide and your experiences around it. Love, Julie