DAY 8 NAIROBI TO CAPE TOWN
We were up at 0400 and out to the truck to setup breakfast, we gathered all our camera gear and bundled ourselves into the waiting 4x4s which took us up to the Volcano National Park Headquarters where we were welcomed by a traditional dance ceremony. We then met our park rangers Oliver & Roger who gave us an introduction about the park, the 10 groups that are allowed to be viewed, studied and most importantly the group we would be seeing "Agashya" named after the silverback who is the leader of the 22 strong group. The park is situated on the border with Uganda, Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. The Gorillas are strictly observed for 1 hour only. The trackers track them in the morning and afternoon so as not to interfere with their natural activities and the park only allows 80 permits per day (8 people per group).
We got back in our 4x4s and headed towards our entry point into the park. Once at the entry point we were given walking poles and offered porters to carry our gear. We started our walk towards the foot of the mountain range which was a 30 minute brisk walk. The weather was fantastic and the possibility of some great photos spurred us on. Once at the bamboo forest Oliver informed us that the trackers had found the group which were grazing and ran through some safety rules, do's & don'ts and what to do when the gorillas come towards you (be submissive!) After a tough 20 minute slog through dense jungle we came across our trackers. We took off our bags, dropped our poles, gathered all our camera gear and slowly followed the trackers toward the sounds of breaking branches and grunts. The first gorilla we came across was a juvenile she was only a meter from us and happily munching on leaves oblivious to these 2 legged things passing her. We then dropped down into a valley where the Silverback was. The group was moving a lot finding fresh leaves and roots so we were also on the move continually with them. After cutting through the jungle to reach the main group we saw "Agashya", the 200kg leader of the group. Where he moved the others followed and photographing him proved challenging initially then he rewarded us with 5 minutes of posing 2 meters from us, it was incredible to finally see these amazing animals up close and we continued following them out of the jungle to the fields where they were eating Eucalyptus leaves to aid digestion and ward off illness. Sadly Oliver informed us that our time was up and we took our last photos with these majestic creatures before walking back towards the entrance of the park. We relived the incredible experience for the rest of the day before having dinner at a local restaurant then out on the town to party the night away.
