Our Gorilla Trek in the Land of 1000 Hills

Yesterday we took a bus from our guest house deep into the hills of Rwanda. The first drive was smooth and full of excitement. Our white van stopped in front of the gorilla trek center. Here we got our guide, the two other people who would be trekking with us, and our assignment of which gorilla group we would be seeing. Once we had all that settled we were put back in our van and were driving once again to the outside of where we would walk to the entrance of the park and then make our way through the jungle to see the gorilla family. The van ride was extremly bumpy and quoting Mr. Cave in the end it did "get a little old." But in my opinion it was just one more part of our incredible experience. After about forty-five minutes of driving we came to a stop and hopped out. Even though the first part of the trek only took us to the fence of the park, the walk was tiring. We passed many fields full of people farming and goats and cows grazing. There were even some little kids out in the fields with their families. We saw potatoes and some of the other crops they were growing too. Soon the hike became steeper and the high altitude started to weigh on some of us. Finally we arrived to the outside of the park where we were able to sit and take a short break for water or to catch our breath. While we sat our guide told us how long it would be through the jungle to go and find the gorillas. He told us it would be six hours in total: four hours to get there and two hours back. We all laughed supposing he was joking but with a straight face he said he wasn't. With that news we all prepared to face to worst. Slowly we all got up with shifting eyes at one another, and I wasn't so sure if I could make it going up a steep up hill for four hours. We walked using the walking sticks we were given (which happened to come in handy). We saw and heard many interesting things such as the gigantic worm making it's way up a rock and the bright birds in the trees. Soon we came to a stop and our guide told us to take off our bags because we were going to see the gorillas in a few minutes. I'm pretty sure we were all surprised because it had only been about twenty minutes. He laughed and it turned out he had been joking all along about the six hours! Once we removed our bags and left our walking sticks we were no longer on the muddy ground that served as a walkway but instead a machete paved path full of stinging nettles and other green plants. Finally we saw the gorillas but they also saw us and one charged toward our guide hoping to scare us off. Slowly we backed up then attempted again, this time it was successful! We sat for an hour taking pictures and studying the gorilla's ways. They were so close you could see every feature. The hour passed by quickly and yet it seemed almost like the perfect amount of time. We walked back down the trail we had made, while trying to avoid the stinging nettles, which we eventually found were unavoidable. Even though we had the slight stings of the nettles and feeling a bit sticky from sweat, every part of the trek led to an unforgetable experience.
-Sophie Ronning
Group One (Sophie Ronning, Anne Arnason, Melissa Luther, Giulia Imholte, and Elise Overman)