Jeff and I have been in Rwanda and Uganda for the past 7 days. We trekked gorillas for two days and it was amazing. We fly to S. Africa tomorrow and then to Maun, Botswana for our final safari.

We had an early start in Kigali on the first day at 5 am to drive to the Virunga Massif in Rwanda for our first trek. This is very near where Dian Fossey did her gorilla habituation and where she actually pushed people down the mountainside to give gorillas some breathing room and protection. I believe they would be totally wiped today if it were not for her efforts. Rwanda is very populous and the farm land goes right up to the park boundary. There are 5 very pretty volcanoes in the massif and they sit on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. We only had to walk about 20 minutes from the edge of the park to reach our first group of gorillas. However, they seemed like they were far from civilation. It is stunning when you first come across them. We got so close. We were looking a young male from about 7 feet away and he just went about his business as if he did not care about us. You could look right into his eyes. There were 12 in the group. There were several babies, several mothers, and the silverback. We spent an hour moving to different viewing spots and watching as they lounged. The baby played on a bent over bamboo shoot as if it were a jungle gym. He would climb on, hang from his feet, do a somersault, fall to the ground, and beat his chest. We also walked within 7 feet of the silverback and just stared at him. He was very aloof, but looked right at us as if to say, "Why do you guys bother us, what's the big deal here."

We had a few days to kill in between our next trek and we spent one day hiking to Dian Fossey's former research camp. It was a 2 hour hike through mud up to her camp which sits high between two of the volcanoes. It was fairly moving because the camp has been abandoned since the war in '94. You could see the foundation of her house and the frame of the dining room. Her grave is there and it sits next to the graves of about 20 gorillas. She wanted to be burried next to the first gorilla she habituated, Digit. I get the feeling not too many people visit. They plan to re-build the research center in the next few years. The mist was really blowing in as we descended and then it began to pour. We spent the next day drying out.

We went just over to the other side of the Virunga Massif the next day to trek from the Uganda side. There is just one family there and they turned out to be quite the family. This time we trekked for about 2 hours through a bamboo forest before we came across them, spread out, laying around in the bamboo. We felt like were earned this one more and that we were really viewing them in their home, far from the people. I think these gorillas put on a show for the trekkers. There was a baby and he started to fight with his older brother. Then the mom, who was huge, got involved and play fought with the little guy for a while. She is training him to be the big silverback someday. It was absolutely hilarious. The little guy tried so hard, but he just got crushed. She had gigantic arms and would push him about. He would beat his chest and they both showed their teeth. After a while he got tired and she moved on to his big brother. He tried a bunch of spin moves which got him no where. Then she fight another mom her own size. They stood up to face off, showed their teeth, beat their chests, fought, then just sat down and folded their arms. All the while the little guy was constant motion, spinning around a vine, fighting others, and beating his hands on the ground. Two other young guys chased each other around some bamboo in circles before catching one another and going at it. The older moms sat dispersed in the bamboo resting. The silverback was gigantic, much bigger than the other silverback we had seen. He had his back to us and he must have been 5 to 6 feet across the back. He scratched his back and I could not believe the size of his hands, huge. He tolerated the show being performed and looked away the whole time. We sat within a few feet of the whole thing. Jeff got some great video which we'll put on the site in a few weeks.

We spent yesterday in Kigali and our guide showed us around town. It is small in square kilometers, but there are 800,000 people here. We also went to the not quite finished genocide memorial. It was very moving. They have people's skulls on display as well as the clothes they were burried in. They also have some large graves overlooking the city to give the victims some dignity and to make people remember and learn. There are 250,000 people at this memorial. A woman gave us a great tour and gave us the history. She lost 4 of her brothers and sisters.

We are off to the airport now. We hope everyone is doing well in the States. I miss it there!