Our second trek day started much the same as the first. We did happen to spot two Jackals, one Bush Buck, and many Water Buffalo prior to leaving the lodge.
After our breakfast we went to the Park again to get assigned a new Gorilla Family. This time we received the Agashya family which was habituated in 1980. It has 19 members and consists of:
2 silverbacks
5 adult females
1 black-back
3 sub-adults
4 juveniles
4 infants
We drove around 45 minutes to the starting point, grabbed our hiking poles, gave our bags to the porters, and set off. Our elevation was around 8,000 ft, which definitely helped.
This hike was much quicker than the previous day, but the terrain was crazy. We hiked over a hill and down into a canyon, only to hike up the other side.
There were steep cliff edges and falling at this point would be very dangerous. We just ignored the ledge and kept making our way though. As we reached the bottom, we could actually see a Gorilla on the opposite side of the mountain.
We slowly climbed the steep slippery hill toward the Gorillas, and we found ourselves four feet away from a resting Silverback Gorilla. I was so close I could see fresh cuts on his hand and head.
Just past him, we could see two young Gorillas play fighting with each other. The little ones would stand up and beat their chest as they played.
As the guide and rangers cut fresh paths for us, we were able to make our way around the Silverback to get the sun behind us for the perfect lighting.
Our last Gorilla trek has come to an end. We made our way back up the slippery hills and headed back to Singita. On the way we were able to stop at a gift shop to buy some souvenirs. We didn’t stay long due to the very pushy and aggressive sales tactics, but we scored a small hand carved gorilla figure and two walking sticks similar to what we used. After some haggling, we made our way back to the vehicle. We arrived back at the lodge around 12:30pm and had lunch at a normal time.
We relaxed in our room and started to gather our things together to leave the next day. We sat outside and enjoyed the perfect weather until it was time for dinner.
In the morning we would say our goodbyes and be taken to Kigali Airport to continue on the second part of our trip, Kenya!
Adam Woods
Take a look below for our next post on our trip to Rwanda and Kenya.