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Chasing Gorillas in Rwanda
There are many great destinations around the globe in which travelers can get up close and personal with animals in their natural habitat. You can travel to the Serengeti and take in the Great Migration or head to Northern Canada for an encounter with a polar bear. Make the journey to the Galapagos, and you'll get to see any number of unique creatures found no where else on Earth. Although there are amazing wildlife encounters on every continent, few can compare with gorilla trekking in Uganda, where each day a very select group of travelers gets the opportunity to hike deep into the jungle and observe the giant primates as they interact with one another. That's exactly what journalist Jeremy Thompson, and his wife Lynn did, resulting in this really great article on their journey for the Daily Mail.
Jeremy surprised Lynn with the trip to Africa for her 50th birthday, and that trip included a visit to Rwanda, where they joined six other travelers who hiked above 8000 feet for the chance to spend some time with the legendary Rwandan mountain gorillas. The shy and elusive creatures are quite rare. Just 700 of them remain in the wild, and because of that, only about 50 people are allowed to enter their realm on any given day, and even then the encounter lasts just one hour. Luckily for this couple, they booked a second gorilla trek just so they could spend a little more time with the apes.
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For Jeremy, returning to Rwanda was quite an experience in other ways as well. He covered the genocide that occurred there back in 1994, and returning now he found a country that has moved on from its violent past, but hasn't forgotten it. Not that long ago, the place was one of the most dangerous nations on the planet, and now it's borders are open and it has a lot to offer the traveler looking for a unique African experience
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Hiking, History, Africa, Uganda, Ecotourism
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Janelle Mar 26th 2009 9:59AM
The mountain gorillas have played such an important role in the Rwandan recovery since the genocide. Just this week, the Rwandan ambassador was discussing this fact for Africa Environment Day
"Conservation has an impact on economic growth," he said. "Empowering people to own the process has an tremendous impact." He also mentioned that the park now hosts an annual Baby Gorilla Naming Ceremony to help promote and publicize their conservation efforts. If you're planning on being in Rwanda this June, be sure to bring a list of baby names.
More details here: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/03/recognizing-africa-environment.html
And Lots of Gorilla info here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/virunga/jenkins-text
Kraig Mar 26th 2009 10:00AM
Thanks for the very thoughtful post and good information Janelle. I've heard from so many people how life changing a trip like this one can be.
Marco Mar 27th 2009 6:06PM
Thanks Kraig for your post....it brought to mind the WILD Foundation which will harness the opportunity offered by ecotourism growth and invite OVCs aged 13-18 in urban areas to join the uMzi wethu training and educational program in sponsored residential secondary schools placed outside game reserves in South Africa. You can find more info about it here: http://www.wild.org/field-projects/umzi-the-full-report/