They still monitor the gorillas, and the group they had earmarked for us required a pleasant hike across the sunny valley to the foot of the forest. We then scrambled up a dry riverbed through a lush-green tunnel of trees and ferns, vines and creepers, scattering butterflies in our wake. After 30 minutes, we met three more rangers who told us to put on our masks. As we did so a young male gorilla emerged from the dense undergrowth behind us, stared for a moment, then loped off on all fours. We were astounded.
The next hour was magical. We watched a 180kg silverback called Nyakamwe, the patriarch of this group of nine, nonchalantly munching leaves as he sized us up. Younger males beat their chests as our guides made grunting noises to reassure them. The youngest gorillas playfully fought, rolled on their backs, did somersaults or climbed trees as their mothers looked on. One performed a perfect pirouette as he brushed right past us. They regarded us with almost as much curiosity as we regarded them. Some showed interest in our camera lenses, perhaps because they could see their own reflections. They were astonishingly human – not just in their facial expressions and dexterous use of fingers and thumbs, but in their conduct.
They displayed affection, petulance, playfulness, mischief, boredom, protectiveness and even humour. Some were quite clearly showing off. Watching them was unlike watching any other creature. You could sense the almost human intelligence behind their eyes. You felt an unmistakable connection, a deep sense of kinship, which was hardly surprising as the family tree split a mere nine million years ago and gorillas are some of man’s closest relatives. We were so utterly absorbed that our hour passed in a flash.
Late that afternoon we reached Mikeno Lodge, a huge thatched affair built on a wooded hilltop and surrounded by handsome guest cottages. Written instructions advised: ‘If you hear prolonged gunfire stay in your bungalow, turn off the lights and our rangers will come and collect you’. This time we had evening drinks on our tennis-court sized deck, with monkeys cavorting in the trees and fine views across a forested plain. Being almost the only guests, we dined with Richard and Gilly Thornycroft, a charming couple of former Zimbabwean farmers brought in to run the lodge and develop the tourism that Virunga desperately needs to rebuild itself. We returned to our cottages in a pitch-black African night to find log fires burning in the grates.
Into the volcano – Rumangabo has other attractions – hikes to a coffee farm, chimpanzee-watching, and the world’s only sanctuary for orphaned gorillas, which presently has four young residents. It is also within striking distance of Nyiragongo. Check in advance that the volcano trek is possible, but if the security situation allows, it is unmissable. We drove to Nyiragongo’s base. There we were joined by seven rangers armed with AK-47S to protect us against rebels from the infamous FDLR militia who are still camped on the far side of the volcano. We also took no less than ten porters, most wearing rags and pathetic plastic shoes, to carry our tents, sleeping bags, food and water.
We felt embarrassingly like Livingstone or Stanley. We set off for the summit shortly after noon, walking gently upwards through tropical forest. We crossed lava fields deposited when Nyiragongo last erupted in 2002, and now covered with wild flowers amid the odd charred tree trunk. As we climbed, the gradient grew steadily steeper, the temperature plummeted and the green valleys below us vanished into the haze. Eventually we emerged from thickets of giant lobelia and heather trees on to the black cone itself – a near vertical wall of jet-black lava devoid of any vegetation save odd clumps of tiny yellow flowers.
To climb so far and discover we could not see the lava lake was disappointing, but we had no time to mope. Night was approaching. It was too cold to stand around. The park had long ago built eight tourist huts on a ledge below the rim, but their roofs had been lost to gales and their metal frames eroded by sulphurous fumes so we pitched tents instead. Watched by two black ravens, the only other life on that barren peak, we heated food on a charcoal fire. We ate it beside a cross commemorating a Chinese lady who fell into the crater in 2007. It seemed a truly desolate, godforsaken place.
Then someone exclaimed. We looked up. There was an orange glow above the crater. We scrambled to our feet, peered over the rim and gasped. The mist had vanished. Far below us a great cauldron of magma several hundred metres across boiled and bubbled in the darkness. Its surface was riven by deep-red veins and mini-eruptions of molten lava that flared and flamed before subsiding. It resembled some hideous living entity, a malevolent being possessed of enormous latent energy and power. It was like a fiery vision of Hades. “The devil lives down there,” a porter solemnly declared.
We watched, awestruck and utterly mesmerised, until eventually the extreme cold drove us to our sleeping bags. By dawn the mist had returned. The lava lake had vanished like a dream. It was, we reckoned, an apt metaphor for Virunga, a park that has long offered brief, tantalising glimpses of its treasures to the outside world but quickly closed up again. It is open now, but whether its gorillas attract, or guerillas repel, tourists in the future is anyone’s guess.
Where to see – Probably 99% of travellers who go to see gorillas head for Uganda or Rwanda. These are the gorilla nations with the best infrastructure and the most habituated gorilla groups (in both instances, mountain gorillas), greatly increasing both your chance of a sighting and the ease of the experience. But how do you choose between the two countries? And what if you do want to head a little further afield? Here’s a quick guide.
Rwanda – Where? Volcanoes National Park.
What? This is true Gorillas in the Mist territory – it was in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park that Dian Fossey studied mountain gorillas, and popularised their plight. It’s not just the movie connection that makes Rwanda a good choice, though: the habitat here is relatively open montane vegetation, which offers both spectacular views and improved chances of good gorilla watching. In Volcanoes NP there are 10 habituated gorilla groups (other groups are habituated for research), each of which can be visited by a maximum of eight tourists a day. Some groups are easier to reach than others.
On the day of your trek, you must be at Kinigi at 7am for a briefing, and will be allocated a group then. The largest is the Susa group, which has around 40 members; however, as it tends to range high into the mountains, it’s the most difficult to get to. The Sabyinyo group is the smallest, but is easily accessible. What else to do? Rwanda is small (about the size of Wales), so it’s easy to get around and see more of the country. A two-week trip might include time in capital Kigali (to visit busy markets and the moving genocide Memorial Centre), boat trips and waterfront lodge stays at Lake Kivu, the Royal Palace at Nyanza and hikes in Nyungwe Forest NP, home to 13 primate species including chimpanzees.
Uganda – Where? Mgahinga Gorilla National Park & Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
What? Uganda’s south-west is home to two gorilla parks. Lofty Mgahinga Gorilla NP, which teeters between 2,227m and 4,127m, is part of the tri-national Virunga Conservation Area; its one habituated gorilla group has a tendency to amble over into the Democratic Republic of Congo or Rwanda. However, it’s a spectacular location, dominated by three extinct volcanoes and rich in Batwa pygmy culture. Gorilla treks usually start at 8am from the Ntebeko gate. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP, to the north, is at a lower altitude. It’s also home to about half of the world’s mountain gorillas, as well as masses of other wildlife, from forest elephants to 350 species of birds. There are now 12 habituated gorilla groups, some easier to reach than others. One group is primarily a research group and only sees tourists in peak periods when all the other groups are full. But all treks will offer other pleasures, from waterfalls to orchids and myriad birds.
What else to do? There’s a lot to do in Uganda. Combine a gorilla experience with chimp-tracking in Kibale Forest NP, safaris in Queen Elizabeth NP, and boat trips at Murchison Falls and Lake Mburo. The more adrenalin-inclined could try whitewater rafting at Jinja (the source of the Nile) or treks in the Rwenzoris – the central circuit trail from Nyakalengija to Nyabitaba takes seven days.
