Rwanda provided Dale and me with the favorite highlight of our trip, a close encounter with a pride of mountain gorillas.
Rwanda is an enigma, for it is the place where tribal genocide resulted in the slaughter of 800,00 people in 1994, yet the Rwandans were friendly, welcoming and quiet. In addition the villages, roads and cities were extraordinarily clean in a country where almost everyone walks the highways and streets to get around. The country is poor with subsistence farming being the major work. The sight of women and men walking down the road with a hoe over their shoulder is the most common sight we saw in our travels.
For the gorilla trek, we drove over rough roads into the mountains of Rwanda and then spent about an hour hiking through dense mountain jungle to reach the pride of mountain gorillas. It is an extraordinary experience to be within 8-10 feet of magnificent wild creatures for an hour. As our cousins, they exhibited many human characteristics of family, tribe and individual. It was a moving privilege to spend time in the company of these gentle giants.
At our lodge and at the Gorilla Center, we were treated to native song and dance, and I made both photos and videos, which I hope you enjoy.
Our visit to Rwanda felt like a journey to one of the remaining pockets of genuine, historic Africa, with all the adventure and romance implied in such a place.
