Marilyn Bellert, Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

Emma Meets a Gorilla

That’s my granddaughter Emma. The silverback behind her had just run over my husband Gary and skidded to a stop near Emma, who had the presence of mind to take a selfie. We were visiting a family of mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park, Rwanda, a truly wonderful experience.

To celebrate Emma’s college graduation and my 75^th birthday, six of us traveled to Africa. We first spent a wonder-filled week on safari in Tanzania and then volunteered at a Tanzanian school.  Next, we flew to surprisingly modern Kigali, Rwanda, and took off with our intrepid local guide and driver across the country to see the gorillas in the Volcanoes Mountains of western Rwanda.

After settling in at a lodge for gorilla trekkers, we listened as our guide prepared us for this adventure. I very reluctantly decided to stay at the lodge on Day 1 to acclimate to the altitude. Gary and the rest of the family were ready to roll and off they went the next morning. The trekkers returned, exhilarated about the gorillas, exhausted, and muddy from their boots to their kerchiefs. (Above, watching the sunset in the Volcanoes Mountains) 

Just before dawn on Day 2, we left the lodge for the 90-minute drive to Virunga National Park. The day’s permit-holders were gathered at the National Park Service headquarters, watching dancing and drumming by local Rwandan entertainers. Most of us had purchased permits a year or more in advance.

Park Service rangers strictly control access to the 10 groups of mountain gorillas that are “habituated” to humans for brief visits, usually 30 minutes per day. About 20 independent families of gorillas roam all over the mountainous park, which stretches across the borders of Rwanda, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Virunga is one of two habitats of mountain gorillas.

The rangers met with local guides such as ours and divided the day’s permit-holders into small groups who had selected similar types of hikes – novice, intermediate, or advanced.  In deference to my impending retirement from 20 years of sitting, our family chose the novice level, which meant relatively easy hiking to find our gorilla family.  Actually, they had chosen “intermediate” the day before and struggled through almost five hours of arduous hiking and climbing.  They were ready for an easier hike to see another gorilla family on Day 2.

The park ranger assigned to our party of eight, now including a couple from New Jersey, drove us for about 15 minutes to a small village where we picked up a machete-wielding scout, armed guards, and several porters who were local college students majoring in environmental biology, tourism, or English. A young man named Leonard was assigned to walk with me. In quiet, halting English, he made clear that if I fell or got into trouble, he would lose his job, have to drop out of college, and probably starve to death along with his family, whom he supported. He broke off a fit of nervous giggling when the lead ranger began explaining what would happen next.

Scouts, who are responsible for tracking and protecting each gorilla family every day, had already called with our our family’s location.  We would be hiking about two miles over rough but mostly flat ground through farm fields and then bamboo forest. Armed guards would go ahead of us to check for signs of elephants and Cape Buffalo, the animals most dangerous to hikers. They were armed to protect us from large animals and the gorillas from poachers.

In addition to this introduction, the ranger instructed us on the importance of maintaining a safe distance from the gorillas (about 20 feet), not making eye contact with the silverback, and watching where we stepped. We would spend about 60 minutes watching the gorilla family, and he would tell us more about the family and its members during the visit. He explained that gorillas are gentle and would not harm us. In the rare event that the silverback demonstrated his eminence by pounding his chest and charging, we should immediately roll into a submissive position on the ground. This turned out to be useful advice.

Ranger guides, guards, and scouts who accompanied us, pictured above, were devoted to this family of gorillas. They located them when the gorillas arose  at dawn and monitored them all day as the gorillas drifted around, eating, napping, mating, playing, and eating more, until the gorillas built nests for the night and fell asleep. Note that their pants are tucked into their socks and boots. We failed to notice until later.

Led by the scout, who slashed a path through the dense growth when needed, we hiked through the bamboo forest, across streams, and around piles of elephant dung (cold dung, thank goodness). Suddenly, the ranger stopped us to listen to leaves rustling, hoots, and branches breaking, sounds of the gorilla family. He moved us into a place where we were surrounded by the family – the silverback (right) lounging and eating leaves, a mother and baby, and several younger females, who were also eating and playing with the baby, who rollicked around his aunts, rolled over logs, and played with his toes. More females and juveniles were swinging through nearby trees, calling to each other and sometimes crashing through the branches. 

 A gorilla family usually numbers around 15-20 individuals. This silverback was young, probably 15 to 16, about 5’5″ tall, weighing more than 400 pounds. The ranger explained that this male had been able to convince his females to leave other families and start a new family with him. Female gorillas choose the male whom they believe will enable them to produce the strongest offspring, and then form  stable, lifetime bonds. Like most silverbacks, this dad was affectionate and playful with his babies. The young mom at left held a four-month old baby who was clearly a great favorite of the pater familias. 

The guides, scouts, and guards, who had names for all members of the family and clearly cared for them, now spread out to surround the family. The gorillas moved often, from tree to tree and bush to bush, eating leaves and berries, falling through branches into heaps where they lounged and resumed snacking. We moved along with them and watched as the silverback mated with his youngest female. That didn’t take long, but he was clearly pleased with himself. Several mischievous younger females sought his attention by shoving visitors in our group and then running away and hooting. The shoves were gentle and the guides counseled us to remain calm. We did.

About this time, I was distracted after stepping into an almost invisible ant hill. The ants swarmed up my leg, biting as they went. I frantically pulled up my pantleg and knocked them off. Only then did I think to tuck my pants into my boot socks. Gary’s brother David was not so lucky. Ants swarmed up his body, and a guide joined David’s wife Christina in picking ants off every part of him. All of a sudden, I felt a whoosh go by me and turned to see Gary in a ball on the ground, and the silverback beginning to sit down with his back to us about three feet from my granddaughter Emma.

Gary (right) had been very careful to avoid eye contact with the silverback, as had we all. He was busy photographing the family while we were picking off ants. For some reason, he looked up over his camera and right into the eyes of the leader of the pack. In an instant, the gorilla pounded his chest and huffed. Gary immediately crouched down. The gorilla raced past him and through our group without touching anyone and skidded to a halt behind Emma. Gary thought that this five-second drama was about the most fun of his life. He sprang back to his feet and continued taking photos or the gorillas. “He was just telling me that this was his office and these were his girls,” commented Gary.

The look on Emma’s face at the top of this story combines thrills, fright, and amazement. Mrs. New Jersey was in hysterics and being comforted by the guides. The rest of us, now ant-free and extra careful where we stepped, went back to watching the gorillas. What with all this excitement, our visit stretched beyond an hour with a mostly peaceful and loving family. Then, the ranger and porters gathered us up and started the hike back. One scout led the way and several guards moved through the adjacent areas, watching for problems. The rest of the scouts and guards went on monitoring the gorilla family as they did every day. On the hike back, I tripped and fell once, but no harm was done and Leonard’s future was safe. At left, Emma, my daughter Amy, and the silverback.

What an incredible experience! All of us were fascinated by the gorillas and by the efforts to protect them. We went on to learn more about them and to provide support for their conservation.

Mountain gorillas are an endangered species. Due to conservation efforts, however, the gorilla population grew from 285 in 1981 to 1,063 in 2021. International organizations and eco-tourism have funded strategies to combat poaching, habitat loss, disease, and community action that harm the gorillas. We were impressed with the extent and impact of conservation.

• Poaching – The Park Service hires former poachers to work among the scouts and guards, paying them enough to support their families and more than they could earn through poaching. They know all the tricks of poachers, who make money selling baby gorillas to zoos as well as gorilla heads, hands, and feet to the trade. The scouts and guards also destroy thousands of snares, which are used by poachers to catch other animals but too often catch gorillas.  International conservation groups work hard to establish and enforce anti-poaching laws around the world.
• Loss of habitat – The Park Service and conservation groups educate local farmers about how to avoid competition with the gorillas. For instance, gorillas do not like the leaves of tea plants, so tea is a better crop along the edge of the forest than bananas, which gorillas love. Community development efforts are intended to reduce poverty since the poorest farmers slash and burn the forest to create crop land and may be drawn into supporting poachers.
• Disease – Gorillas are susceptible to respiratory infections and other ailments. Visiting humans are kept at a distance partly to protect the gorillas from virus transmission. All 20 groups in Virunga National Park are regularly visited by veterinarians who monitor and treat gorilla health problems. They are part of research teams that study all 20 gorilla families.
• Community action – Efforts to engage local communities in supporting the gorillas is essential and increasingly successful. The management of the lodge where we stayed was working hard to make eco-tourism and gorillas important to local residents. Using profits from tourism, this lodge built a community center in the nearest village and outfitted it with a library and computers, helped expand staffing and facilities at the local school, organized community day care, funded clean water supplies, and employed many villagers. Consequently, area residents have learned to value and protect both gorillas and tourists.
• War and terrorism – These continue to threaten the mountain gorilla population in central Africa. Rwanda was largely stable at the time of our visit and prospering due to the massive infusion of international capital and expertise after the genocidal war in 1994. Today, the political situation is more fragile. Uganda and Congo continue to suffer violent unrest that threatens the people and the wildlife.

Immediately after our visits to gorilla families, the National Park Service of Rwanda announced that the price of permits would be more than doubled, both  to control the numbers of tourists and to increase revenues. We felt extremely fortunate to have visited this extraordinary place. We were all changed forever by what we saw, and felt, and learned. 

Photographs by Gary Bellert and Emma Noecker

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