Mountain Gorillas in Northern Rwanda

This post is far overdue! Especially being that last Thursday was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve had to date. I’ll start at the beginning, as most stories should. When I began my preparations for Rwanda I came across several people who had traveled here before. Time and time again they told me about the mountain gorillas. That Rwanda was one of the only places in the world that they were still alive in the wild, and that you can go into the forests and track them. As amazing as the experience sounded, what they had done and described was a bit out of my price range, besides, it was the kind of experience that you want to share with other people. So while I admittedly said a God-if-only-there-was-some-way prayer, I never actually gave it more than a passing thought. Sure enough, God surprises me in the ways he seeks out my joy. And that is what this was, it was God seeking out joy and placing it right before me.

As stated, I didn’t plan on seeing the gorillas here. Then one day in the office I was talking to Becky, a regional coordinator for Food for the Hungry. She mentioned that she and a few friends where finally going to see the mountain gorillas, after having wanted to do it for a long time. Intrigued I began to ask a few questions. It turned out, a friend, Mike, had an SUV and was willing to drive; further, the cost was much less than I had originally been told. Suddenly this was looking like it might happen. After talking for a while she invited me along and ran it by the rest of the group. It was a crazy moment. One I’ve experienced before, the kind of moment that is best described by comparing it to a dream. It’s like that brief 5 seconds when you are a kid opening a Christmas present, you don’t have all the wrapping paper off yet, but the box is familiar and your heart leaps at the mere possibility of what lies just beyond and almost within your grasp . But this was even better. I started to see God’s love taking shape right before me. This is no exaggeration. Most people in the group that was going had lived in Rwanda for at least a year, traveled all over, but had not yet, until this very time, decided to go see the gorillas. Truly, God does want to bless his children and truly he knows better than any of us how to provide joy.  I just can’t pass on making clear that this trip wasn’t just a great experience because of the experience itself; it was a gift from our Creator, from which all good things come!

Ok, on with the adventure. It all came together and I left Kigali Wednesday evening having tagged along with Becky. I soon met the rest of the group; Mike, Liz, Melissa, Hadley and Niloo. All live here in Kigali (except for Niloo who was days from leaving) doing amazing work for a variety of great NGO’s. We headed north, after a few stops for snacks and then dinner we finally arrived at the Kinigi Guest House. I think I finally got to sleep around midnight. Having enjoyed my six hours of sleep, I awoke to the obnoxious alarm on my phone. We at a quick breakfast, Becky got trapped in the bathroom stall and ripped her pants, and then we were on our way! (I know I eased that in there pretty casually, but there is a picture below that you can dwell on longer to get the full humor of the situation)

After arriving at the meeting point we were soon introduced to Augustine, our tour guide. Augustine, grew up in Rwanda, more specifically in a little town right near the Virunga Mountains. The mountains themselves are actually dormant volcanoes, they are covered in lush vegetation and are pummeled with rain almost year round. The Virungas, spanning across Rwanda, Uganda, and the DR Congo are the only place in the world to find the mountain gorillas. The gorillas were nearly extinct as poachers hunted them both out of fear, and for their pelts. It was Dian Fossey who fought like no one else for the preservation of these animals, as she perhaps better than anyone else, understood just how special they were. Okay, enough of the history lesson.

So as we talked with Augustine, and as a torrential downpour burst onto the scene, he described the group that we would be tracking- the Amahoro group. He explained that the group had two full grown Silver Back males, and that the gorillas can only be identified by their unique noses, similar to our fingerprints they are never alike. You can see part of the Amahoro group by clicking here.

The rain took a brief respite and we made a rush for the car. Mike did a great job navigating the jagged roads, bursting with volcanic rock. We made our way through farm land and in to a more remote village. After about a half an hour we arrived at the top of a hill, which was in turn the base of the mountain. We got out of the vehicle,  threw on our rain jackets, and collected the handcrafted  walking sticks that awaited us. I would later find out why Augustine had stepped into an extra pair of pants and large rubber boots. At that point the rain was intermittent and it was a bit chilly, but that was hard to notice as we looked upon the striking beauty of the mountain before us, only its base escaped the misty fog that enveloped the peak. I had my camera around my neck and with one hand kept it tucked under my jacket- now is a good opportunity to say that these were unlike any conditions I have ever shot it in; not only was it constantly raining, but the moisture in the air began to reek havoc with my camera and cause moisture build up between my lens and the filter. While I am pleased with the shots I ended up with, I learned a great deal and will be much better prepared to shoot in this kind of weather in the future! – Back to the story.

After 20 minutes of hiking through fields scattered with small huts, the dwelling places of local residents who farmed the land surrounding the base of the mountain, we reached the wall that marked the entrance into the national park. Augustine gave us a briefing that included what to do if hugged by a gorilla, how to conduct ourselves in the presence of the gorillas, and why we would be accompanied by men in full camouflage carrying automatic weapons. The latter was due to other animals that we could stumble upon (or more painfully, that could stumble upon us) such as forest elephants and buffalo. Apparently the sound of gunfire is a good deterrent. After the briefing we took a quick group picture and hit the trail. With each step I became more and more aware of just how amazing the experience was.

The rain had relented to a mere sprinkle, but not before leaving behind a muddied trail and blanket of mist. I felt like we were traveling through another world, maybe the islands of Jurassic Park, each step brought with it a further sense of awe. We continued on through the overgrown path for over an hour. Augustine was using a walki-talki to communicate with trackers who were looking for our group of gorillas. The trackers mark the location of the gorillas each night, then early in the morning return to that spot and follow the trail left by the group tracking it to their new location, at which point he radios the guides and gives them the new location. What a job!

After another half hour we reached a point in which Augustine told us to stop, asking if we were ready to push on he said the trackers had found the gorillas and that they were three more hours away. Though there is no way three more hours would keep me from continuing, I could see on his face that he was pulling our chain (Liz on the other hand looked a little apprehensive as can be seen in the photo below). So walking forward we rounded a corner and after a hundred yards or so met with several trackers. At that point we were instructed to leave our bags and walking sticks. The gorillas can be very curious, and bags tend to draw them a little too close; not to mention they can smell any food. The walking sticks on the other hands can cause aggression as they look like the spears that were once used to hunt the mountain gorillas. Since the average life span of the gorillas is 35, it is quite possible that some of the adults had crossed path with poachers.

After dropping off our packs Mike and I fell into the line behind the rest of the group and we made our way through the narrow path, freshly cut through the thick overgrowth by the machete blades of our trackers. We climbed up and then back down, then as I rounded the next bend I stopped in my tracks. The first half of our group was being signaled to stop and move back by Augustine, my eyes shot from him to the point upon which they where all gazing, a male gorilla had walked over and plopped down right next to them, enjoying a snack just inches away. We all moved to the side approximately 15 feet away. Out came the camera, time to fire away. I could hardly believe how close I was to this gorilla. We were transfixed upon his every move. As I pulled out my telephoto lens (which I am so grateful to Tara for lending me!) I locked on to the gorillas eyes, I was blown away with how expressive they were, though this followed suite with the amazingly detailed characteristics shown across the rest of his face. It was truly incredible.

Totally entranced, I don’t know how much time passed before the trackers motioned us over to another spot. A young gorilla emerged from the bushes. Then to the right a mother briefly passed in and out of view as she walked with an infant clinging to her back, arms hung around her neck. The plants were thick around us, including stinging nettles- ouch! As I looked around I realized we were at the outskirt of the entire group. In either direction you could see leaves rustling or patches of black fur contrasting against the surrounding growth. At one point a youth climbed up a nearby tree, demonstrating an acrobatic act as he picked some leaves to snack on, while casually hanging with his other arm.

The trackers used their blades to cut trails for us and clear a line of site to the gorillas. We moved from spot to spot, taking pictures, looking at one another in amazement, and just soaking in the experience.  Our hour with the gorillas seemed to fly bye, and ended with the rain starting up again. My final shots were of what was presumably a mother gorilla, who had tucked her child underneath her, serving as a shield from the quickly forming downpour. For a brief moment she looked up and made eye contact with me, as she did I did my best to both shield my camera from the elements and capture the moment. Amazing.

The trek back down the mountain was much less cautious. I don’t know whether we were to excited from our encounter with the gorillas, or had merely surrendered to nature, but we plowed through those muddy paths. At points we would sink to our calves in the fresh mud. Again mist covered the mountain as we went over, under and around the overgrown vegetation. Some may think this is a bit much, I thought it was perfect. We eventually returned to the base, and did our best to clean up before getting into the vehicle. While I’m sure a part of me was disappointed to be leaving our magical adventure, I didn’t notice, I was still to overwhelmed by the experience.It truly was a gift from God. I can’t think of a better trip, and it couldn’t have been a better group of people. It was a privilege to be able to go along.

So, if you made it to this point, I hope you will take a moment longer to look through some of the pictures that will hopefully do a better job of conveying what I so inadequately attempted to describe. If you’re interested in seeing more pictures you can do so by clicking here.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” -James 1:17

Another Busy Weekend

For multiple reasons I have been unable to post anything for the past four days or so. Thus this will be my best attempt to bring you all up to date on my happenings, while also including some more photos from my time hear. I realize it’s a big post so feel free to jump around to the sections your actually interested in! That said…here we go!

Highlands Project

The Highlands team is now coming out in roughly a week and a half! I met with as many people as possible and have, in my opinion, been privileged to discover an array of opportunities for this group to engage the community through both development work, and work that partners with the community to meet immediate needs.

As the team comes out they will meet with leaders from the sectors health clinic, multiple primary schools, and a group representing roughly 30 churches in the area. This team will focus on different facets of improving problems such as lack of water, lack of class rooms for children, better health care/availability, and how to further support and develop the local church.

Another part of the team coming out will be focusing on business strategies to help create jobs, income streams, and build a stronger economy in Eastern Rwanda. Based on many of the meetings I’ve had it looks like there are three primary areas in which this projects could head; namely focusing around agriculture, livestock, and tourism (which is currently not developed at all in the eastern district.

Until the team arrives I will be back in Kigali preparing final details, coordinating logistics and working on strategic approaches to these projects. I’m very optimistic for how God is allowing these things to line up.

Vampire Roommate…Seriously

So the day after I posted my previous blog detailing my neighbors rendezvous with a snake, I had my own little visitor. While reading in bed at about 9 o’clock with only my headlamp on I heard a fluttering of wings and then my mosquito net got violently shaken. After the initial surprise I saw a shape moving through the air. After following it with my light I soon realized I had a bat in my room. A vampire bat to be more specific. For about 5 minutes I sat under my netting thinking about my options. Do I go to sleep, wondering how interested that bat is in getting through this netting, or to I take the offensive and get him before he get’s to me?

I went after him. Equipped with an empty water bottle, a pan lid, a headlamp, and hours worth of watching Man vs. Wild (and Survivorman) on the Discovery Channel…I pursued the stealth night crawler. Don’t believe me? See for yourself!

Another Trip to the Hospital

Yes, once again I had to go into the hospital. This time was a bit more urgent than the previous, though I should clarify that at this point I am feeling okay. Here’s the story.

On Monday I was planning on having one more meeting with a president of a dairy co-operative in Nygatare, following that I was going to be coming back to Kigali. So, I had all of my bags packed and was about to meet with this man when I began to get a very sharp pain in the lower left section of my abdomen. I thought it would pass but quickly realized it was becoming more severe. Luckily, being that we were already in Nygatare (district next to the sector that I was staying in) there was a hospital near bye. Though when I say hospital it is probably bringing to your mind something that is leaps and bounds more advanced than what this was. In any case we went there immediately and they brought me into a side room off of the main entrance. There was a lone bed in the room, with a plastic covered mattress. I’m not sure that it was even a intended to be used by patients. I laid on the bed and tried to explain my pain and medical history to the nurse/doctor that had come in (not sure what they were). They pain quickly intensified and I was doing my best to communicate the urgency of pain medication. Charles, the FH staff person who was with me had stepped out to call FH staff in Kigali and get instructions while a team of nurses (doctors?) stood outside my room talking. They clearly had no idea what was going on. After about 20 minutes of not getting any pain medicine and the pain increasing by the minute I began to worry as my arms and hands began to stiffen as the muscles spasms increased. Something that has never happened to me before. I tried to get the doctors attention to come in the room, and once he did he said he’d be back with pain medicine. What seemed like another 5 minutes went by and no one had come back. At that point I threw up. I remember a nurse coming in at that point and bringing in a bucket. I remember Charles coming in and putting his hands on my side and praying for me. Finally someone came in and administered some pain medication. By that point the spasms in my arms and hands had subsided but the pain in my abdomen had been steadily increasing. After that I only remember bits and pieces. They loaded me into the backseat of a car (no ambulances available as there are only 2 for 18 different clinics and that one hospital). I was stretched with my legs across the lap of a nurse who proceeded to hold an I.V. bag and give me pain medicine every thirty minutes or so as we made the three hour drive to Kigali.

Once in Kigali they gave me a stronger pain medicine (while the first had made me pretty loopy it didn’t do a great job of removing the pain). They also gave me some anti-spasmatic medicine that eventually calmed the intense pain in my lower abdomen. By the evening the pain medicine had been reduced to the extent that I had a semi-coherent mindset. I began to remember what had taken place. Remembered seeing several FH staff members who had met me upon my arrival in Kigali. And remembered what treatments they had given me. By that evening (still Monday) the doctor came in with a team of interns following him. My blood work came back clean and his diagnosis was that my Crohns Disease had flared up.

For those who don’t know I have Crohns Disease, similar to IBD. It is an inflammatory stomach disease that can affect different parts of the digestive system. About 4 years ago I had surgery where a small portion of my stomach was removed and the Crohns has been in remission since that point. All that isn’t to say that it couldn’t manifest itself again, there is no known cure, but I have had flair ups enough times to know when it is Crohn’s and to know how to check if it is Crohn’s. I was and still am 99% sure it was not Crohns.  But that is what he thought and so after some medicine and more fluids I was discharged on Tuesday.

Not having full confidence in the hospitals diagnosis I went to a Belgium doctor at the Embassy. With his broken English and the French that Aryn, the FH staff member that took me, we were able to communicate the situation. He seemed to agree with me that it wasn’t Crohns and was under the impression that there was a blockage of some kind. Again, without going into all of the details he seemed confidence that things would be okay, but asked me to get a blood test in a week and then return to review it with him. My interactions with him left me feeling much better about his understanding of the situation, and so that is where I am now. I am feeling better (though a bit week and tired) and I will get another blood test in a few days then meet with him again.

I really don’t know what to say about the whole ordeal. God continues to instill this process of trials, provision, and then rest. I feel as though I am too close to the story to tell you the full plot, to amerced in the middle of the play to see in what direction the outcome is headed. I have no idea what he is doing. It absolutely sucks being sick, but it was much worse being sick in a situation where I didn’t know if the people there knew how to handle the situation. I can honestly say the most peace I had throughout the ordeal was not at the hands of any doctors, but when Charles came in and laid his hands on my side and prayed for me.

In hindsight the whole thing is a bit surreal. For a period, an moment in time, it was so intense. Then today feel okay. I’m fine. I thank God for his provisions in this and pray that he would bring healing, with that prayer lying in submission to his ultimate will for all of this.

The good news is I am now in Kigali until the Highlands team arrives, and will be living the comfortable life. Running water, toilet seats, electricity…ah life is good. Though I should clarify, that statement isn’t entirely true. I will be out of town one more time before the team arrives.

I’m Going to See the Gorillas!

I am leaving in a couple hours to go with 6 other ex-pats to northern Rwanda. We will be staying the night and then waking up early in the morning to trek into the volcano mountains to find one of several groups of Gorillas that live in in the area. I had heard about this experience prior to coming on the trip, but the price I had been given was out of my budget. But, once I got here I found a much, much cheaper price and a group that had already planned on going out! It was one of those prayers that was almost a “okay God I know this is way out in left field, but if only…it would be amazing!” And low and behold the opportunity presented itself. I am so excited for this experience and can’t believe it actually came together that I’m able to do this. As you can imagine I’m a bit tired still from the hospital and am praying that I stay healthy throughout this process. I would definitely appreciate prayers along those lines. If all goes well, expect to see some pictures from the trip when I return Thursday night (morning in the states).

Closing and Pictures

Unfortunately I don’t have the time to elaborate on anything else right now. I leave for the gorillas in about an hour and have a lot to take care of still. I’ll leave you with some more pictures from the past week. Hope you all are well. God bless!

kids running along side the moto

loved this kids hair!

another favorite picture

she was playing with a bouncy ball made of wound rubber

walking through the fields

“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mark 10:14-15)

Starting a New Fad

A few days after arriving in Gacundezi I began stuffing a towel under the door to my room (also the door to the outside). There is a 2 inch gap beneath the door, and I decided I would go a head and plug that up. Well, Paul found this rather amusing and was laughing that I plugged my door, I was okay with that. Fast forward 2 1/2 weeks or so. Last night there was a lot of noise and commotion coming from the people living in the room next to mine. I awake this morning and come to find out that a “big” snake came in under their door last night. The commotion was them killing and then burning the snake. I also found out the snake was venomous. Needless to say that my neighbors have embraced my towel stuffing strategy.

Run

A couple of the people I met in Kigali are going to run in a 1/2 marathon coming up in two weeks in Kigali. I told them I did the P.F. Chang’s marathon in Phoenix back in 2007 and they asked if I wanted to run with them. I haven’t run since the marathon, so it’s been over 2 years, but I told them I’d run a bit in Gacundezi and if I felt alright I’d join them. So, yesterday I went out for the first time. After about a mile I cut through a street lined with houses and then exited by the main road. As I made my way through kids poking their heads outside saw me and decided to run along side. It was amazing. Within five minutes I had an entire pack of kids running with me. There were some as young as 8, the oldest were probably 14. They were staying right with me, in sandals. And it wasn’t like I was just slowly jogging. I at the end we had run 3 miles in about 24 minutes, a decent pace. But the best part was after we got to the half way point and turned back. At that time there were about 6 kids that had made it that far. But after we turned around and headed back all of the kids that had fallen off pace were waiting. As we approached they began to jog in place with huge smiles across there faces, then as soon as we were along side them they would join back into the pack. It was hilarious. So much for not being noticed as I ran, we took up the entire street. The adults didn’t know how to react. Most just laughed and waved. It was the unexpected best part of the day.

The Project

Plans with the Highlands Project continue to move along well. I met with the head of Finance and Administration at the district office to further review possibilities, and also met with more dairy experts at the milk collection facilities. I was given some information for dairy farmers and am polishing up on my milk distribution knowledge. I also recorded a video at the school that I will send to Tyler, and as far as I know will be playing at Highlands one of the upcoming Sundays.

I also went out and toured the Health Clinic. The buildings were much nicer than I expected. They were built last year by the NGO Oxfam. While the buildings where in good shape and had some basic equipment there were still some very obvious needs. Two that stand out is the clinic has no power and only water collected from the roof during heavy rains. So, they actually have some equipment that can’t even be used yet, do to the lack of power. And, though it is nice for the area, it is also very modest compared to what we have. See below a picture of the birthing room for an example.

Where the mother(s) give birth at the clinic

Old Testament

I have been reading through the old testament while also working my way through the new. I am now almost done with Leviticus. It has been really interesting. Some of what I read in the OT seems to enhance the NT so much, bringing forth a further depth. Then again, there are points in the OT that God’s character just seems different than that which we see in the NT. Since I believe God does not change and is outside of time, and since I believe and trust God’s goodness, that leaves me in a position of needing to reconcile truth with my lack of understanding. I’m trying to do that now (though it is difficult with a distinct lack of resources). But all in all it has been very good for me being able to wrestle with scripture like this.

This is the road that I ran along and began to accumulate children!