Gorillas!

Today was amazing. Besides the fact that we woke up at 3:30 am to be on the road for our three hour drive to the gorillas. The ride ended up being only two hours because our new driver Robert decided to speed. It was pretty cool though because on the drive up , for the parts of it that I wasn't asleep, I saw all these women walking down the road carrying things on their head. This isn't a weird sight to see and I love seeing it but it was such a shock because it was 4:00 in the morning. But we got to the visitor place and all the visitors were greeted by people doing the traditional Rwandan dance. I had seen this dance the first time I came and was so happy to see it again. They are so passionate about dancing and have the biggest smiles on their faces. It's really cool. Then we split our large group into two small groups because only groups of 8 can go up. So I was on team fletcher which was so fun and a great group of kids ! And so we hopped in our separate vans and went for another drive, this one being 45 minutes. We drove to the base of the area of the mountain that the gorilla family we were assigned to was located. Basically each group is assigned to a different gorilla family that they go up and see. Now this wasn't just a nice little walk up a hill. This was a two hour hike up an intense mountain. The views were beautiful though. There was farming everywhere around us and all the local families waved to us as we walked up. It was funny because all of us Americans were huffing and puffing and sweating until our shirts changed color, and then these little Rwandan children were running up the mountain to catch up and see us. It was brutal but my group was awesome and we made it to the entrance to the park. But that two hour hike was not the end of it. We made our way into the forest of jungle, pushing away branches and stepping over plants. They told us to beware of the stinging needles but of course I run into a branch of them and my thigh starts stinging immediately. Don't worry, they assured me I would live after I asked if I was going to die. But then all of a sudden we hear this loud screech. It was a gorilla. Not gonna lie I freaked out a little and got a bit scared. And it didn't make it any better when the guide told us that they may try and attack if they feel threatened, but not to worry and to just sit down and be calm. In my head I'm like yea ok let me just sit down on these stinging needles you just warned me about and act calm as I'm about to get attacked by a huge monkey. Luckily this didn't happen though! All of a sudden the hacking through the brush stops and we see a family of 14 gorillas all sitting in the brush. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. The coolest part was that we were incredibly close to them. I had expected us to be looking at them from a far and that I would have to use some intense zoom to get a picture of them. But nope. I didn't have to zoom at all, unless I wanted a close up pictire of their faces. It was awesome. We were so close that if we just took five little steps we would be right next to them. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life and it is an experience I will never forget. I wish I had gotten a picture of me by a gorilla but I was too amazed and in awe and just stood there watching them the whole time. We watched them for an hour. But it only felt like 20 minutes. There were two silver back gorillas too. Those are the dominant male gorillas. And they were HUGE. One started pounding the ground and it was insane. There were also four babies. Three were older babies but then there was one that was 7 months old and he was getting named on Saturday. So that was very cool to see a new born. It was so funny because they were just like humans. The way they looked at us and used their hands. They had much more relaxed lives then humans though. They were so calm and just sat there eating plants as we watched them. There was even a clown in the family who kept doing somersaults and even sat on the head of one of the silver backs. And they all kept farting hahah. I wish that I could attach a link to this post that you all could click and it would bring you to the middle of the jungle and you could see what I saw. I kept thinking how much everyone would have loved it. Especially my parents and Phil. After the shortest hour of my life, we walked back down the mountain. This walk down consisted of me falling 8 times and sliding through mud. But all of it was totally worth it. We got to the bottom and all of us were completely exhausted and hungry and felt like we had just ran a marathon. But we all had such a rewarding feeling. It was such an incredible experience that I really do feel so honored to have had. It's not every day that you get to see a gorilla, let alone be less then 100 kilometers away from them in their habitat. It was awesome. It's also cool because the profit from the ticket goes to a great cause. 75% of it goes to the conservation and protection of the gorillas from poachers and then the rest of the profit goes to the community and families that live at the base of the mountain. So I think that's very cool that not only was it a great and fun experience, but peoples lives are being bettered because of it also. Today was amazing and i would never trade this experience for the world. Tomorrow we go back to cyabatanzi, our community on the hill, and we are going to start painting the kindergarten classroom. I'm assigned to design the inside of the classroom so pressure is on me! But tomorrow is just priming. Phew. Alright well I am exhausted from being up since 3:30. Now go and google image baby gorillas because you will immediately fall in love!