Day 2 of Gorilla Trekking

We woke up feeling a little sore to say the least but psyched to trek again. We were put in a group of 8 and opted for a level down. The guide said it would be an easier trek but gorillas can move. We started our walk into the jungle when the guide got a call from the trackers that said the gorillas had moved and we needed to go another direction. We entered what you might call a very dense rain forest. The guides needed to machete a path for us to walk thru. We were walking on vines/trees, etc. Because we opted for an easier walk we had older people and some that needed 2 or 3 porters to help them walk!!! So we made frequent stops. The trek ended up being a little shorter than the day before but a very different type of difficult….at least it didn’t rain. Once we reached 7500 feet we came upon the gorillas. They were very active. A baby grabbed Kent’s leg and wanted to play. He did not want to let go so the guides had to make their gorillas noises and shoe the little guy away with a stick. Guess those gorillas love Kent!!!!

We were watching a female eat, that is basically what they do most of their waking hours as they consume over 30 lbs of vegetables/day, when the silverback (leader of the family) came into site. He stood there just watching the female for quite some time and then moved closer and started sniffing around. It didn’t take long for the female to start getting a little frisky. The silver back apparently saw an opportunity and took it. We both filmed this very very short event so I am not bragging but feeling Ok about myself.

As we were exiting the park, we watched a couple locals holding up another man as he was yelling out and not able to stand by himself. The guides were laughing and saying he had apparently consumed too much Banana Beer. So of course we felt the need to try one of these local banana beers on our way back to Kigali. With a 14% alcohol content, it tasted more like a liquor and was very strong. Needless to say, we only had one. We meaning Kent!!!!