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!

I am travelling with an old college friend, Jeff Dallas, and we are having a great time. We have spent 7 days camping in northern Tanzania and 3 days at a wilderness lodge in southern Tanzania. We have seen so many wild animals. Here are the highlights followed by a brief description of the itinerary.

Highlights: Watching an elephant from 50 yards away in our camp run away in terror from a small jackel, tracking two cheetahs and coming upon them within 1 minute of a kill and watching them, still panting, as they attended to the kill, seeing two hienas play tug o war over a gazelle head and one ran away laughing with the head in his mouth, seeing Olduvai Gorge and where Australopithicus was found, finally showing in some beautiful waterfalls after 6 days of no shower, Kili Time every night in camp ( similar to Miller Time ), the camp food ( delicious ), seeing a lion pride of 20 from 10 - 20 yards away and watching the cubs play attack one another for about 30 minutes, coming within 5 yards of lions and looking them in the eye, watching 9 lions eat a giraffe kill ( similar to the average American Thanksgiving Dinner ), hanging out with some Masai teenagers at our camp ( we were very popular ), camping in the middle of the parks, alone, and hearing lions, hiena, hippo, and elephant at night, and staying at Mwagusi River Lodge and waking up to elephants going by our tent within about 40 yards.

We have seen so much in the last two weeks I do not have time to write it all because the internet is expensive here. The wildlife viewing, camping, food, and scenary have all been amazing.

Itineray:

7 days of camping in the National Parks of the north. Day 1 was Lake Manyara, great plain near a drying lake where all the animals hang out. We camped right beside the plain with views to all the animals as they walked by. Day 2: Traveled to the Serengeti through Masai country. The Serengeti is a huge plain or sea of grass with some tree country in the north. We saw a leopard, cheetah, and a huge lion with a fantastic mane. Camped two days and heard lions and hippos each night. Day 4: Ngorogoro Crater, we saw the elusive black rhino and camped at the crater rim. Day 5: walked into Empakai Crater and watched thousands of Flamingos take flight, tough walk back up and then we walked 10 kms to a campsite in the middle of Acacia trees next to a Masai village, with a Masai guide and donkeys. Next day walked 10 more kms to Lake Natron, also Masai country, with their holy mountain which is a beautiful volcano near by and ended the day by getting clean in some beautiful waterfalls.

Last 3 Days were spent at Mwagusi River Lodge in Ruaha Park in southern Tanzania. Tons of animals and wild. We saw a lot of lion up close. Our outdoor lodge was on the sand river and elephants walked right in front of us as they ate. It was luxury as well and we are sorry to leave.

Off to Rwanda in a day for gorilla trekking.

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