Rhian tagged me to recycle a post from my archives. The rules for the meme are simple: go through your archives and pick out a post that you want to share again. Don't just link to it, reproduce it in its entirety.

Here you go: Gorilla Hunting in Rwanda from 21 Jan 2005

One of my most treasured memories is seeing mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Mr. Munro and I were part of an overland group undertaking a trip from Zimbabwe back to England. The trip took just over seven months. At one stage it looked as though we'd miss out on seeing the gorillas because of civil war in Zaire. After much discussion it was decided to vary our itinerary and go into Rwanda from Uganda and see the gorillas in Rwanda.

We made our way to Parc National Des Volcans and camped outside the park. The weather was wet and misty over the park when we set out in our small group. The whereabouts of two groups of gorillas were known at the time and Paul, and I ended up in the group searching for the ones furtherest away from the road where we left our truck. We walked and we walked and we walked. The guides used huge machetes to clear some of the undergrowth as we tramped through the wet foliage. We walked for two and a half hours and the wet gave way to humid heat as the day advanced. We climbed up hills and the view below was incredible - lots of trees of varying colors of green and a slight mist. There was huffing and puffing and groans from all. Where were these gorillas? Were we going to be one of the unlucky groups who arrived back at the camp without seeing a thing? Then, the lead guide whispered for us to stop and to halt our chatter. He glided forward in a silent manner that I remember admiring since the rest of us sounded like a herd of elephants.

Then, there they were. A family group of about seven, but they were in the undergrowth and it was difficult to see them. We were all disappointed since we wouldn't be able to take our photos. Definitely no coercion allowed! We were there strictly to observe.

Five minutes later they moved out from under cover to forage. It was magical. I remember all the sore muscles and aches and pains fading. Paul took this photo of me and one of the other girls and the expression on our faces brings everything rushing back. We were priviledged. It was SO exciting.

There was a baby in the group. He was as curious about us as we were about him. He climbed halfway up this tiny tree and stared at us. It wasn't far from where I was sitting, then he reached out to touch me, but before his little hand hit me, his mother grabbed him and placed him at her side, out of harm's way.

I've learned a little about adding photos and resizing stuff since this post so I've added a photo of the mother and baby. (to find the baby look below the mother's nose). I must see about scanning some of my other photos to disc...

The gorillas moved on and we followed. The silverback male was huge - very impressive with the silver streak along his back. He looked at us, then suddenly charged because he'd decided we were too close. We all immediately sat so we looked less of a threat. The silver back stopped so close to me and one of our friends that he almost sat on us. My heart pounded - heck it almost stopped - but the silverback decided he'd done his job and he wandered off.

Our hour with the gorilla family finished and we had to leave. We left with much chatter and excitement only to run into a border patrol from Zaire. Immediately we were shushed. Our guides replied to the calls cautiously then we were asked if we had any sweets. Evidently the border guards had a sweet tooth.

We arrived back at camp, tired and very muddy and had to queue for showers. My butt was stinging awfully and when I was in the shower I realized during the silverback charge, I'd sat in a nest of ants. These are horrid big black bull-type ants. They bite and when you pull they off they break in half leaving their jaws in your skin. Nasty, I can tell you! Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the stinging nettles. Several of us had close encounters with them too!

Would I visit the gorillas again? In a heartbeat. It was the most magical experience and we have the photos to prove it. One of the photos is up on my site if you'd like to see.

Shelley

PS - I'm meant to tag three other people. I'll tag one extra:

Lauren Dane who writes some great posts. I'm sure she has a good one worthy of recycling.

Connie - has some really interesting posts. I can't wait to see which one she chooses.

Witchy Kitten - a new friend so the post will be a new one for me.

Kris - another new friend