The gorilla trek was, as we expected, unforgettable. First, we were lucky because our trekking group only had six members, instead of the usual eight, which meant a little more room to watch the gorillas once we arrived. Second, we were matched with a gorilla family called "Hirwa" which means 'lucky,' so named because the dominant male of the group got booted from his original family after unsuccessfully challenging dad to the top spot and then happened to pick up six unattached females to form a new harem. Now he has six females and six kids all his own (on a side note, Josh is not really sure if this is the proper definition of 'lucky'). The baby gorillas were adorable, chasing each other around bamboo trees and beating their chests in mini-gorilla displays of dominance. Yet when papa silverback decided to move on, the babies immediately followed. It was pretty obvious that he was their protector.
We had some additional "highlights" on our gorilla tour, if you could call them that. When our group first encountered the Hirwa family, the silverback -- the dominant male, all 450 pounds of him! -- took a casual swing at Josh, which he thankfully took in the stomach. The silverback was just trying to push past our group to walk down the path, but his strength was such that he not only knocked Josh over, but also the 200 pound guy standing behind him, and Susan behind that. All is OK, and now Josh can claim he successfully went one round with a silverback gorilla and survived.
Second, Josh's growing beard is definitely starting to cause trouble. When one of the female gorillas passed our group, she stopped and did a double take after she saw Josh, as if to say, are you my cousin?
Josh thinks the new bearded look gives him a new animal magnetism that transcends species, and was a bit interested to see if the female gorilla and Susan would have a cat fight over him. Thankfully this didn't come to pass.
While our trek was shorter than we expected, this meant that we had the chance to spend the afternoon with Fletcher friend Victoria Gellis! We abandoned our tour group for the afternoon,
drove to Kigali, and had a great time hanging out with Victoria, attending a chili cookout and meeting other expats... Susan (predictably) even ran into someone else she knew, a high school classmate that she hadn't seen since she graduated. Imagine - a high school reunion in Kigali, Rwanda.
The following day, we rejoined our tour and spent a few hours in Kigali's moving and poignant Genocide Memorial. The museum gave an effective and simple review of the country's history, leading up to the tragic genocide of an estimated one million Rwandans in 1994.
We left Rwanda pensive and touched, and drove back to Uganda for more adventures.
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