Mountain Gorilla Trekking, Rwanda

After we completed our debriefing session that took place last Friday, a group of 5 of us headed back down to Rwanda. On Sunday we had passes to hike to see a family of mountain gorillas in the Parc National des Volcans in the northwest of the country. It took us about 2 hours to reach the gorillas and although it was not much of a climb to get there, it took a considerable amount of effort to deal with the thick underbrush. Because the gorillas are constantly on the move, there is no set trail. Also, the quantity of stinging nettle was high and some of the more unfortunate people were wearing shorts. It was a very nice hike through the bamboo forest with the views of the several volcanoes in the area. We visited the Amahoro family (17 gorillas) and spent one hour sitting with them. One hour is all a group is allowed and it went by very fast. We were very impressed how close we got to sit to them and how peaceful they are. Overall it was an amazing experience

Our giude, Fidel, gives us a briefing in the morning

The area is very scenic. The volcano here is in the Congo

"Don't take photos!" The guide got a bit too close to a friendly gorilla. Good thing they are peaceful animals

Just incredible animals

This big silverback was the leader of the family

Yes I was there

Enjoying the view

This little guy was about 1 year old

This guy walked to within an arms reach of where I was sitting