Rwanda Gorillas

Wow!  Gorillas!  Every amazing thing you've ever heard about seeing the gorillas is absolutely true.  The hardest part by far was doing the legwork to get our permits.  It involved wading through the paperwork in the extremely unorganized Rwanda Development Board.  Once that was accomplished and we made it north from Kigali to Musanze we had to organize transport to the Parc National des Volcans.  It cost $80 a day but would be more if we went to the Susa Group.  That was just the group we wanted to see.  There were a few reasons; it was the largest group at 34 individuals including three silver backs, and it was the hardest group to get to.  We told the rangers on the morning of the 22nd that we wanted to hike to the Susa Group because we wanted a long hike.  They asked if we were sure a couple times and then put us in a group of seven total including an out-of-shape couple with the gentleman wearing a collared shirt and sweater and the woman with her leather purse.  No rain gear or food or water.  The other three were a slightly more prepared family--father and two late-teens/early-twenties children.  Chucks and jeans and no food and not enough water.  Then the fun began.
We took an hour drive up an awful road (I guess that 4X4 was necessary) and then started our hike.  It was steep, but not Glacier-steep and we were held up in the first five minutes as we climbed through community land past small homes, farm plots, cattle, sheep, children.  At the painfully slow pace the group had to keep to stay together it took quite awhile until we reached the stone wall and forest marking the entrance into the park.  Then the real hiking began.  It was a brief section through some thick bamboo, which led to faint trails through the thick brush.  After about two hours of that--which could have been covered much more quickly--we reached the trackers.  There we left our packs and walked the two minutes, if that to where the gorillas were.
The next hour is impossible to explain and actually give you any idea how incredible it was.  There was a mother and baby in a tree.  They came down and walked right toward me.  The guides had to tell us a number of times to move this way or that to avoid getting in the way of the gorillas.  Shortly after the mother and baby passed we settled in a group to watch their group.  A black back, a not fully matured male, walked past where the head silver back was hidden from view.  He must have done something because the silver back charged out from under his cover and my heart dropped to my toes.  I had never seen such a large animal move so quickly, so swiftly, with such absolute power.  He could have ripped the arms off three or four of us before the armed guards could have done anything.  But he just wanted the black back to know his place in the group.  
After this brief interaction the silver back retreated back to his hidden throne and we settled back down and watched the dynamics of the group.  It was incredible to watch the juveniles play with each other, chasing one another around a tree or wrestling in the flattened brush.  It was amazing seeing the mothers care for their little ones, to feed them, to groom them, to let them go on their own.  It was beautiful watching the babies walk on their own, to flip and roll, to walk over to their relatives and wrestle and play.  It was unbelievable when the third silver back of the group came over and laid on his back and all the others around him did the same before he sat ten to 15 feet from where we were watching.
In the end right before our hour was up, the top silver back came out and interacted with the third silver back and they walked right by me as I shot a video.  I even had to move and they disappeared into the brush, followed by at least ten others.  It was so incredible it brought tears to our eyes.

I would love to show the video but it takes too long to upload so here are some photos.  The third silver back, a mother feeding her baby, and Carrie and me enjoying our stay.