Caroline is a tireless traveller, drawn to discovery and to encounters with people and animals alike.
In Rwanda, meeting the gorillas is always an unforgettable moment — a journey during which the line between human and animal can be hard to draw…
“Rwanda, a small country at the heart of the Volcanoes region, known through the research of Dian Fossey and her tragic end.
We travelled the length and breadth of the country, starting from the capital Kigali and heading towards Lake Kivu, passing through Butare and Nyungwe National Park in the south.
We missed the chimpanzees, who refused to show themselves, but we did come across colobus monkeys with their white epaulettes and white faces, after walking through the tea fields. A high point that left us eager for the gorilla encounter to come — our cousins.
Then we followed the genocide commemorations in Kibuye, Nyanza and Kigali.
Processions along the roads, churches where people gathered in mourning with songs that would break your heart, and a genocide memorial in Kigali that conveys the full horror of 16 April 1994. How did this country come to this? I still wonder, and I’ll never have the answer, but the testimonies are deeply moving…
Much like our cousins the gorillas — peaceful, pacifist animals — killed for trophies!!!
Then came our arrival in the Virunga volcanoes region, where we would discover the gorillas in their shrinking habitat.
The climb is tiring, but the pleasure of standing before them is magnificent and moving.
Tears come to your eyes, being able to watch them from a metre away, as if you could touch them with your gaze. A family of 10 members: the silverback, heavy with his 200 kg, sitting and savouring his favourite leaves; moving majestically or lying down to digest and sleep, watching you, head resting in his hands. Pensive before these humans…
And the 6-month-old infants tumbling about, somersaulting and clowning around, discovering their feet just like children!!!
And a female with her twins, kept apart from the clan for some peace and quiet…
Pure happiness.
Rwanda was a first for me. I came back transformed by this sight, and I won’t forget these gorillas, my cousins.
I understand better now why Fabrice Martinez fights for them through his association in France, “Gorilla“, a figure as well known to rangers and guides as the proverbial white wolf! His book “Au secours des gorilles”, published by Presses du Midi, is also well worth reading.
This land of a thousand hills holds fine gifts, both animal and human.
All the children who pour out from everywhere, giving you their smiles… What joy for life!
Now it’s your turn to discover Rwanda!”
Trip taken in April 2011, with Étendues Sauvages.
Images, Caroline E.
