jerryc

Hello Everybody ,
My first post appears not to have appeared !! so apart from the fact that I feel like I'm gatecrashing a party - I'd like to direct you to some pix and video of the Gorillas in Rwanda I took in February.
www.jerrycallow.com
Please feel free to contact me if you would like any info regarding the trip.
We organised everything from the UK - online , independently and at fairly short notice - no agents - no problem.
Our thoughts at the moment are with the Rangers in DRC and the terrible murder of Rubiga a couple of days ago - the courage of these guys put us all to shame.
http://wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/gorilla/

Best regards
Jerry Callow

MisterAviator

Jerry,


Outstanding photos and video! Thanks for sharing. Please tell us more about your experience. How difficult was the trekking, where did you fly in and out of, and do you have any advice for those like myself thinking of taking the same type of trip?

-MisterAviator

grommet19

Jerry, that is horrible news about the gorillas in DRC.

Just curious - which groups did you see in Rwanda?

Chris_GA_Atl

Jerry, congratulations on a really nice set of pictures. Looks like you got a lot of nice up-close opportunities and made the most of it.

I'd also be curious to know which groups you visited -- none of your gorillas look familiar to me, so perhaps you visited different groups than we did the previous month in January 2007.

It would probably also add to the database of information available to readers of this forum if you'd tell us what camera and lens setup you used, and any special techniques you used -- gorilla photography is frequently discussed here, and every new viewpoint adds to the knowledge base.

Again, congratulations on some really excellent pictures.

Chris

P.S. I also see you got some pictures of Francois, who seems to show up in nearly every set of pictures taken in Volcanoes National Park!

jerryc

Thanks for replying so quickly !!
The photos on the website run in order -first Amahoro "B"( Umbano) then Group 13 and finally the Amahoro Group with Francois (of whom I cannot speak highly enough - he is quite simply an outstanding guide)
The videos are of the Amahoro Family.
MisterVideo - I will post some info later.
Jerry

Chris_GA_Atl

Now that I am looking more closely, in the Amahoro set, I recognize "Karisimbi" (rwanda3 105w and surrounding shots) and "Ubumwe" (133w and surrounding). The baby shots you have near the end of that group MAY be Karisimbi's baby, but I cannot tell for sure.

I love comparing other people's gorilla pictures with ours to see if I can recognize the same individuals -- my Amahoro Group pictures are at www.pbase.com/cwillis/amahoro. We did not visit Umubano or 13.

Chris

Leely

Jerry, I really enjoyed your photos. My favorite (if I must choose) is the lone man walking down the road with the mountains in the background. Thank you for posting these.

And, yes, terrible, terrible news about the rangers and the gorillas in DRC.

jerryc

Thanks so much for your comments.
I'm going to address all your questions in the next couple of days.
Chris , your pictures are really good.
I didn't even think that anyone would be interested in our trip so I have to sit down and think about what I'm going to say.
For one of the first times in my life I ALMOST feel a sense of responsibility !!
Yours
Jerry
P.S. Chris - Canon 30D - most of the close ups with Canon 70-200 f4 IS at 800 ISO but I will post more info tomorrow.
Goodnight !!

atravelynn

Your recent return from Rwanda and the gorillas has to make the DRC news even more upsetting.

Great gorilla photos of every age and activity. I went on a gorilla trek while looking at them.

That's wonderful you made 3 trips.

The crowned crane photos make me wonder if you stayed at Gorilla Nest.

13moons

Wow, wow, wow! I am so thankful to see your video and photos. I am going in exactly 2 months and will trek in rwanda for 3 visits. I can't wait to hear any and all details you can share: cameras, lens, groups,how did you get assigned to a guide and groupd, weather, conditons, etc. etc. any thing you can think of... I am travelling alone and a wee bit appprehensive!! thanks so much!
rhoda

jerryc

First things first - thinking about it now when I said that we organised this ourselves without any problems this wasn’t strictly true and the whole thing could have been a disaster before we even started. I had been in contact with the ORPTN office in Kigali by phone and email ( mid Dec for the mid Feb trip) and finally received email confirmation that we definitely had permits for the days we wanted. Next stage was to book the flights which I did online that day with Kenya Airways for London – Nairobi – Kigali (back a week later) – non refundable and non transferable of course. Following day I get an apologetic email from ORPTN saying that they had made a mistake and the permits were available for the dates I wanted in March and not February. Our dates in February were fully booked. Welcome back to Africa.
My Knight in Shining Armour turned out to be Greg at Amahoro Tours. I found it hard to believe (well I had to !!) that all 50 odd permits could possibly be booked up for all three days and, knowing Africa a bit, I felt that there must be a way around this somehow. Sure enough I rang Greg, explained the situation, told him I was on my knees and would buy him a lifetimes’ supply of Primus if he could help us out. After a fairly sleepless night I rang Greg the next day and somehow he had managed to secure us permits for the days we wanted. Even on the phone I could tell he was a great guy and his personal assurance that everything was fine was good enough for me. I was happy to send him a deposit but in the end we just did it all on trust. I have to say that having him “on the ground” when we were there was not only reassuring but a pleasure too. He’s one of the few operators based in Ruhengeri, knows all the guys up at the Park and at ORPTN and, as his website shows, he is genuinely involved in community projects. We met up a couple of times, met his family and enjoyed his company. He also organised a driver for us for the three days – Habimana Jean Bosco – Bosco to his mates.
I cannot think of anyone I would rather have had than Mr Bosco driving us around in his clapped out old pick up. What a laugh. When I saw him giggling and trying to start the car with a coat hangar I knew we were going to get on even if the car wasn’t. I don’t know how we – or he - did it but Bosco was always there on time and with a huge grin on his face. 5.00 am for three consecutive mornings without fail, mind you, when we stayed at the Kinigi GH for the last night he did have a lie in until 5.30.
If you are doing all this stuff independently your “driver” is actually quite an important cog in the machine as he can put a word in for you at the Park when you register if you want a particular guide or want to visit a particular group. The Guides and Tour Leaders / Drivers have a little conflab before you are assigned a group and although there will never be a guarantee I think it does help. His English may not be brilliant and his car certainly wasn’t ( although saying that we had less trouble negotiating some of the terrible tracks than some of the more fancy looking vehicles) but Bosco was something special and I’m proud to call him a friend. I’ll never forget the hug on the bus when we said goodbye in Ruhengeri. There are some pictures of him and his family at the end on the website. There are also some pictures of Greg and his daughter (nicknamed Radio as she talks so much) after the first trek.
The other character I should mention in despatches is another Bosco – one of the managers at the Muhabura Hotel in Ruhengeri. We’d had some email contact when booking the hotel and he was another really lovely guy who took us back to his house to meet his family and his delightful 2 month old twins – Dalcove and Alcove !!!!
Even with only a week in Rwanda these three people absolutely made the trip as special as it was for us. Our memories of being with such kind, good and generous people are as strong as those of being with the Gorillas – if not more.
More later
Jerry

doni

jerry, it´s great for me, to hear about your experience with greg. also for me he managed to catch permitts at a moment I didn´t have hope any more.It´s fine for me to see, that it is really working because I had doubts from time to time- so for instance, when he didn´t even ask me for money for the permitts ("oh, you can bring it, when you come to Rwanda&quot. As well as you did, I´m doing all on trust, and I feel much better now, after your posting, when I start to my second gorilla trekking in 4 weeks- thank you.

Leely

Thanks for the additional information. Sounds like you all got lucky! This is something I've wanted to do very much for a while, but my current work situation means I probably won't be able to plan many months in advance, so good to know about Amahoro Tours. And loved your descriptions of Bosco! He sounds quite excellent.

gene1414

My wife and I flew from Nairobi to Kigali, Rwanda in January 2006. It was easy. The plane is modern, on time, and like any scheduled airline. The flight left from Nairobi

The plane fare was about $200 per person one way and total was around $800.00 usd

We used the Brandt travel Book because we could NOT get any response from any travel agency anywhere nor the ORPTN office. They never answer the phone and only one person speaks English.

I finally had reached the ORPTN government agency that books the gorilla treks in June, 2005 and booked two people for $375 each. I gave them a mastercard and they charged us $50 per person to reserve and said no problem - not wanting me to pay the rest. I never received a confirmation number or any written or e-mail reply.

By September 2005 I was concerned and finally connected with a local travel agency in Kigali. While I cannot remember the name of the agency - it may have been ITT or Kigali Travel. It is owned by an American-Israeli and his wife and he was wonderful. Look in the Brandt book for their ad.

The ORPTN office had no record of the permit the week before we arrived so I sent a copy of the masterchard charge and the travel agency argued for us. We were finally given tickets because of our proof. But there is obviously corruption there in that office.

We were met at the airport by the travel agency, taken to their offices, spent two hours discussing the next two days, then driven that afternoon to Gorilla Nest Lodge. Gorilla Nest is modern but could use a good scrubbing. The concrete shows stains in the rooms from many years. The food is ok but I developed a bit of food poisioning on the second meal - breakfast - the next morning. It did not get severe enough to stop me.

At 6am the next morning we awoke and went to eat. The van picked us up at 7am and drove us the 5 miles to the ORPTN lodge where the treks occur.

We milled around fro 45 minutes until there were 40 people there. Then the guides come out with flags on posts and you go to whatever group you want to visit.

There were 5 families to visit on 5 different mountains. About 8 people per group. Some groups were a bit larger and some a bit smaller. Ours was the Amahoro group and we had 8 people. The group has 14 gorillas and one silverback (included).

The guide piles into our private car along with a couple of other people that have no planned transportation (we had paid for the car and driver who was the same person who had met us at the airport, transported us to the travel agent, driven us two hours north to the Gorilla Nest, and stayed overnight to drive us the next day). I wondered what would have happened if we were not there with our car and driver.

After an hour we aprroached a mountain -dense with vegetation. The road was a 4 wheel trek across farms and grassland and into and then out of light forest. We got out, assembled our treking clothes, and hiked as a group for about 1/2 mile along the edge of a farmers field. The mountain loomed in front of us.

As we finished crossing the field, we approached a stone wall. There was an opening in it. We all went through and we were at the beginning of three very clear trails - each going up to the top of that mountain.

From nowhere appeared three men with machettes and rifles. They were part of a security patrol that had been on the mountain hours earlier and were busy locating that gorilla family for us to visit. They pointed to the trail on the right and we went that way. Later we found there were at least 8 government guards on the mountain with us trying to stop poaching and making sure we found the gorillas.

The path was firm and not very steep. The jungle was stunning. The vistas kept getting better and better. The cloud cover lifted and bright sun shone. The ORTPN guid was wonderful and stopped frequently to describe the fauna and flora.

As we ascended from 6,000 feet at the base to the top -18,000 feet - we kept getting better and better views of other volcanos and lush valleys dotted with farms and forests. Very green and pretty. Also quite quaint....

After an hour of upward hiking, a patrol person appeared out of the forest and spoke with our guide. He motioned upward to the left. We all waited - frozen in our tracks. I estimate we were at 8,000 feet.

Our guide said the gorillas were up there and there were 14 in the Amahoro family. We were told to put down any daypacks and prepare to go up there - single file. Seemed challenging - but ok.

So my 64 year old "fit" wife took up first in line and I hung back in the rear with only a guard behind me.

The slope was about 15 degrees steep and filled with sword ferns and bushes growing out of the hill. There were trees but not in great abundance. The sun was shining brightly and it was getting hot. The ground beneath me was slippery from all the vegetation underfoot as well as the rain forest we were in. As we pulled ourselves up = hand over hand - grabbing onto the vegetation to use as handles, I was feeling the strain. Step by step and handhold over handhold we steady and slowly climbed and there were steeper and a little less steep slopes. My wife and I had brought gardening gloves which proved to be perfect. You see, there are stickers and sharp fern edges and the raw hands do not do well. Others had a lot more trouble. Also unprotected legs for those wearing shorts was a disaster. But we all kept climbing for about 30 minutes.

I thought my lungs would give out at 63 years old. I was about to call it quits due to out-of-breath exhaustion when the line stopped and a hand was raised by the front leader. We all climbed up to the same level and the guide said move single file slowly to the right on the hillside. Very slowly we made our way over to the right.

After about 100 feet we found ourselves standing about 3 or 4 feet above a group of sleeping gorillas. They were complete content and not scared by us.

The silverback was a bit lower on the hill. He was sleeping on his back with a massive stomach. There were at least four females asleep in a reclining and/or sitting position. There were at least 6 babies scurrying all over the area. they were not sleeping. One ran up and over my wife's foot a couple of times. It was dramatic.

It seems the group always sleeps from 10 to 11am and we had arrived more than half way through. After about 10 to 15 minutes of watching this sleeping group just a few feet away (and lots and lots of photographs) - a female awoke and stared directly into my eyes for a very long time. Then the silverback woke and the group started to stir. They started to move on the mountain and our guide showed us how to follow and photograph. We watched them play, swing from trees, feed on vegetation, and tussle each other for about 45 minutes.

Almost as fast as it had started - it finished. Our guide motioned us to not follow any longer and we started back down the mountain to our gear. For some reason this was far easier.

We all assembled below in a clearing by the trail and each person was on a high. We compared our powerful visual experiences. Two Danes, one German, two Japanese, one other American, and us from Washington state.

The rest of the desccent was trance-like because we saw - but really we did not see much - on our downward trek. We kind of sauntered down on the path in a sort of semi-satiated state. We piled back in the autos and went back to ORPTN headquarters by 1pm, dropped them all off, and were back at the Gorilla Nest Lodge about 2pm. The drive back is a repeat of an hour on a rutted long dirt road for an hour to the main highway and back to Kigali. That total trip is 2+ hours. The main highway is beautiful and blacktoped. It would equal any road in the USA.

People in Rwanda were walking along the roads everywhere. We passed a lot of corn planted on both sides of the road.

They told us Rwanda is the most heavily populated country in Africa. All during our visit people told us about the Tutu and Watusi bloodbath in the early 1990's. The stories were gruesome. The memories were powerful. The world turned a blind eye and nobody internationally intervened in the massacre.

Kigali was a disappointment. We did visit the Hotel Rwanda and found it was not anything like the movie version. Smaller and muc more in disrepair. Our booked hotel was supposed to be one of the best but it was disappointing too.

we slept overnight and the evening meal was also poor at one of their better restaurants. The country is not really set up for tourist willing to pay for a visit. I do know that there are now newer hotels - but we had not know that until we returned home. I really had searched and searched.

The next morning was wasted because there was not much to see and then the plane flew us back to Nairobi in the early afternoon.

Plan to lose a day each side for the traveling. You cannot come in the same day you see the gorillas and you cannot fly out the same day your gorilla visit is done. There is simply no air flights that connect.

As for the actual experience.

The gorilal visit is powerful. We have travelled to about 40 countries and this is one of the highest things we will ever do in our lifetime. It is worth any price because I think it will not be available in future years. All it takes is one incident and the event will be stopped. An illness or an uprovoked attack. Who knows what?

The group that day was 40 people divided into 5 groups of 8 people. Now in 2007 it is up to 50 groups and the price is up from $375 w person to $500, The price will rise and rise and eventually they will charge $1,000 a person a visit for one day. So any price now is a bargain.

The whole visit thing really only started in the late 1990's so it is fairly new as an eco-adventure trip.

You will probably not get to know anyone there during your visit. Others in the group are really on their trip, the guides do a trip a day, 7 days a week, and our guide - Chris _ was doing this for the last 8 years. The guides are wonderful and easy to talk to but tomorrow they will forget you as they get a new group.

It probaly took over 20 people in the Rwandan gvernment to make our trip possible. several at headquarters, and our guide and his assistant. And then there are the many trackers that follow the group and virtually live on the mountain as security. So it is a large governemnt activity.

But do not miss it. We opted to miss the Vulcanes Lodge experience because of the high cost and the fact that they are much further away from the trek and we would lose valuable days in Africa.

The Brandt book from England can be bought on the web. It saved us and made the whole affair doable.

atravelynn

Jerryc,

Thanks for the specifics and I must say they were quite entertaining.

nabglow

I see conflicting information about the altitude. I thought it was, at the highest about 14000, ft yet someone wrote 18000. Has anyone had altitude sickness? We are leaving in 2 weeks and I did get some pills but I hate to take them as they make you drowsy. Thanks for the response.

gshah18

18,000 feet is inaccurate. The highest that you might get is about 12,000 feet. This is only if the gorillas are at the very top of the volcanoes. It's more likely that you'll be in the range of 8,500 to 10,500 feet.

safarimama

Here's my take on the altitude. I was also apprehensive about this, but found no problems at all with breathing. I was there last December.
The gorillas tend to be higher in the trees during the dry season when the fruit is ripe. When it's wet they eat bamboo and "salad" which grows on the ground. We saw them in the trees too, but they weren't very high up and also sitting on top of low growing bushes.

The chimps however were high up in the trees eating iron-wood seeds. I saw them at Chambura aka Kyambura Gorge and also in the Kaniyo Pabidi in the Budongo Forest, both in Uganda.

About altitude: Tracking gorillas in the Virungas ranges from 2200m to 2800 meters and tracking in Bwindi is usually from 2000 to 2500 meters; Dian Fossey’s grave is about 3000 meters.

Virunga lodge is at 2000m, Mt, Gahinga Lodge is at 2300m and Bwindi Lodge is at 1800m.
Keep in mind that:
100 feet = 30.48 meters and 100 meters = 328.08399 feet
1,800 meters = 5,905.51181 feet
2,000 meters = 6,561.67979 feet
2,300 meters = 7,545.93176 feet
2,500 meters = 8,202.09974 feet
2,743.2 meters = 9,000 feet
2,800 meters = 9,186.35171 feet
3,000 meters = 9,842.51969 feet

mooky

Wow love the photos. My wife and I are going to Rwanda gorrilas in 4 eeks. Re photography. Love the photos and after some advice. I am keen amateur with canon 400D and couple of lenses--28-200 and 70--300. I bought a lowepro all weather backpack to carry them and my sony video camera---will that be OK. What happens if it rains while with the gorillas--how do you protect the cameras in rain. I haven't had much experience shooting in RAW but have been recommended to. I have a 4 gb extreme 3 card. is that enough. Was going to take my mac notebook with me to download at night. I can see lot of photos were shot at iso 800 ---is that because a bit dark. Very excited about the upcoming trip. After that we are going to Nagamba island in Uganda to chimp sanctuart.
looking forward to any feedback and advice
Thanks
Mooky

jerryc

Mooky,
Probably the most important practical point here is that when you arrive near the gorillas you have to leave any bags behind with the porters and rangers before you actually go to see them. Therefore you have to be able to have all your gear on you - in pockets and so on.You would not be allowed to have your backpack with you when you are with them.So plan ahead and make sure your lenses and video actually fit where you hope they're going to fit !!
As for the rain - hope it doesn't.
A 4 gb card should be plenty even with RAW provided you can download in the evening.
You'll probably end up having to shoot at quite high ISO's but it really depends on where the gorillas are.
Have a great time and try to get hold of Francois as your guide if you get a chance.
Jerry