Weekend in the Mountains

Last weekend, for our 10th wedding anniversary, Brian and I spent the weekend in the mountains in northern and western Rwanda. Brian flew in from Nairobi on Friday afternoon and we drove up to Ruhengeri (now called Musanze) Friday evening.

Here we are Lake Kivu on Saturday.

The trip took about 2 1/2 hours, even though it was only about 50 miles away. This is due to the constant switch-backs in the road and the number of potholes that you have to come to a complete stop to drive over (even in a 4-wheel drive safari truck). On the way, we stopped at the river just outside of Kigali that is the source for the Nile. We also drove up to the twin lakes, Burera and Ruhondo. The older one at some point needed to release its flow, so a large waterfall now exists that allows the water to flow into the other. Rwanda uses the waterfall for hydroelectric power. Brian ran off back to Nairobi before I could upload his pictures so I will have to post the ones of the lake later.

We stayed at a wonderful lodge called Gorilla Mountain View Lodge. It is about 10 minutes off of the main road , which requires driving on a very bad dirt and rock road up to the property. The view here is breathtaking and is worth the trauma. The mountains in this area are not actually a mountain chain, but a group of 6 inactive and 3 active volcanic cones situated along a fault line. You would expect to see something like this out in the pacific islands or south east Asia but not in the middle of a landlocked country in east Africa. We had a perfectly centered view of one of the mountains outside of our cabin (picture soon).

We rose early on Saturday morning (5:30) and had to be at the park office before 7am for our gorilla trek. Once there, we stood around for a long time and then we watched this very strange process of all of the guides who brought people here circling around to determine which of the 50 people who had permits for the day would be in which gorilla tracking group. We ended up in a group that went to the the Sabinyo group, which is one of the middle groups. So, our hike was supposed to be about an hour to get to the gorillas. Brian and I had originally wanted to go out a little further but when we found out that our guide, Francois, was the senior guide here and had been doing this for nearly 30 years, we felt better.

Here is a picture of the mountain (Mt. Sabinyo) that we went up. In the foreground is a patch of irish potatoes - they grow them everywhere in this part of Rwanda. The large number of french fries on offer in Kigali suddenly made more sense after I learned this.

We hiked for about 30 minutes until we got into the lush, deep bamboo forest. From there we went up for more than an hour until we met up with our trackers. The trackers go out ahead of the guides and the tracking group to spot and follow the gorilla groups. Then they radio back to the guide so that we can find them efficiently. Its clearly a well-run system.

Then, suddenly, the gorillas had surrounded us! We spent an hour with the group, which includes a silverback, a blackback, several juvenile males, some mothers, and some young ones. They played with each other, ate bamboo chutes, climbed trees, and mothers cared for their babies. It was surreal to be within feet of these massive but gentle creatures. It was very difficult to take pictures for two reasons: (1) the gorillas were constantly moving and would charge quickly (all in fun), and (2) the foliage and the filtered light made accurate focusing a challenge. I think I took 200 pictures and ended up with about 30 pictures in focus. Here are a few:

Guhondo, the silverback and dominant male of the Sabinyo group. He is the heaviest gorilla (of any race) ever measured at 485 pounds.

After our hour was up, we hiked back down the mountain and then went to the park office for our ceremony to be made "ambassadors" for the gorillas. It was a little hokey but I was very impressed with how serious the government is in its stewardship of these endangered creatures. All of us are now supposed to be ambassadors and advocate for the mountain gorillas to ensure that their habitat and their lives are protected.

Gisenyi

On Saturday afternoon, we drove west (on a much better road) to Gisenyi, which is a resort town on the northern tip of Lake Kivu. The lake, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo lengthwise, is one of several "inland seas" that submerge the African rift valley. It is at least a couple million years old, though was probably a lot shallower then than it is today. Scientists believe that the volcanic mountains' lava flow created a damn between Kivu and Lake Edward about 20,000 years ago, which caused Kivu's surface to rise to its current altitude [That little geology lesson is in your honor, Naomi].

The town is a major border crossing between Rwanda and DRC, so it has fallen on some rough times over the last many years. Driving through, you can see clearly that it is past its hayday but the government is putting in a lot of money to repair streets, demolish old buildings, and incentivize re-development. I can see why they would want to bring it back. The lake and surrounding mountains are beautiful. We took some pictures at the beach front of the Serena Kivu hotel at sunset.

The spit of land sticking out on the right is Goma, DRC.

Another shot of Goma in the distance.

Methane gas releases over thousands of years have made most species extinct in the lake. The forward thinking government has decided to make lemonade of those lemons - they are now mining the methane gas for energy. This is a picture of a mining rig very far off shore.

We drove back to our lodge just in time for dinner. Then we relaxed in our room with some champagne and a roaring fire (it was very chilly at night at that elevation). Then it was lights out since we had to get up at 5:30am AGAIN on Sunday.

Mount Bisoke

I thought a good day-long hike was a fabulous idea for Sunday. Yes, I know we were hiking for over 3 hours on Saturday but, hey, Brian had been stuck in a hotel room for nearly a month and I thought the fresh air and exercise would do us both some good. Little did I know that I was signing us up for a 6 hour death march over 4,000 feet straight up - they apparently don't believe in graded trails and switch backs on the mountains here. It had rained the night before so it was very slippery and muddy and we really didn't have a trail to speak of - just follow the erosion. That said, the hike was very much worth the pain we felt on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afterward.

Mount Bisoke is one of the Virunga volcanic mountains. It has a large crater lake at the top of the mountain, which over 12,000 feet above sea level. The mountain, along with its surrounding friends, is over two million years old. We reached the top after more than 3 hours of trudging through mud and over slippery rock. The clouds had rolled in when we arrived making it impossible to see across to the other side. Eventually, it did clear and we got some good shots of the other side (which is in DRC) and Mount Karisimbi in the distance.

Through the clouds, you can see the other side of the lake and DRC.

Looking over the mountain tops at over 12,000 feet.

The crater lake, looking toward DRC with the top of Mount Karisimbi in the distance.

It was really chilly at the top. That's me on the bench with my jacket zipped all the way and my hood on my head.

Also, two of the three girls we were hiking with - Estelle from France and Maria from Italy. They and Martina, also from Italy are working in Burundi and drove up for the weekend.

On the way down...with Mount Bisoke in the distance.

After the hike and some lunch, we headed back to Kigali. The trip was an adventure due to the massive thunderstorms and sheets of driving rain, which caused all of the gigantic potholes to fill with water. We thought we were home free after the rain stopped until we happened upon our new friends from Burundi. We passed their car and they started waving frantically at us. Apparently, the whole exhaust system underneath Maria's vehicle had come loose (probably due to the terrible rock trails we had been on) and we spent about 30 minutes in near blackness on the side of a curved road trying to get it secured. With all of the trucks and buses whizzing by at speed, Maria and Martina got under the car with Brian's head lamp and tied the tailpipe to the undercarriage with the draw string from Maria's pants. Only in Africa! With that, we said goodbye to them again and wished them luck (fortunately, they were only going as far as Kigali for the night).

Unfortunately, Brian had to head back to Nairobi on Monday morning and I had to go to a 2-day meeting. It was wonderful to have him here and to be able to spent our anniversary together. I am glad he got to see where I live and meet some of my new friends. I did have to promise "no more death marches for a while" and we are both looking forward to a nice, relaxing beach holiday after our weekends in the bush and the mountains.

Kenya Part II - The Game

The Maasai Mara is a beautiful area in southwestern Kenya comprised mostly of savannas and open plains bordered by craggy cliffs and bluffs. Several rivers run through the plains. However, at this time of year, many of the river beds are low because the rainy season is just coming. When the plains are flooded, roads are impassable for months.

We saw an amazing sunrise and sunset while there.

We did two game drives while we were in the Mara. The first, an evening drive on Saturday for about 2 1/2 hours and a full morning drive for almost 6 hours on Sunday. While you can expect to see many animals in the Mara, our experience was apparently extraordinary as we saw more game in two short days than most people on safari do in a week. Perhaps good luck? Or perhaps it was our excellent guide, Michael, who was able to track animals from thousands of yards and drive us to within feet of them. In all, we saw, cheetah, leopards, lions, elephants, wildebeests, hartebeests, jackals, hyenas, baboons, topis, warthogs, zebras, cape buffalo, antelope, kudu, gazelles, vultures, wild hare, giraffe, hippos, crocodiles, snake hawks, and ostriches. I think the only thing we didn't see was rhino but they tend to stay away during the migration because so many of the predators are active.

The big cats are among the more difficult to find in the Mara. However, we saw three sets of lions, three sets of cheetah, and a leopard (most people come to the Mara and never see a leopard so I think we were particularly luck there). We saw two lions mating and three cheetah brothers who had just killed a wildebeest for breakfast. We also found two female lions who were resting with their lion cubs in a mass of trees.

Lion cub resting in the cover of a tree. He looks to be about 6 months old.

A female lion we happened across just sleeping in the brush. We were within about 4 feet of her but she was so sleepy she could hardly hold her eyes open.

Mating lions. As you'll see by the next picture, she wasn't nearly as interested in him as he was in her (apparently they mate every 15 minutes for days at a time) and she gave him a big "get off of me" roar.

The cheetah were also extraordinary. We saw one resting under a tree, the above mentioned brothers, and also a female poised for the hunt on top of a termite mound.

Resting...

Until she heard a something in the brush....

Another cheetah looking across the savanna for the next kill.

I decided on eggs, sausage, and yogurt for breakfast instead but they seemed to be enjoying the wildebeest.

Notice their distended bellies and satisfied bloody faces.

Here's the amazing leopard. She was sleeping until she heard a wild hare rustling the leaves in the brush...

She patiently waited for it...

Then she was off

So, on to the migration, which is the best reason to visit the Maasai Mara at this time of year. Every summer approximately 1.5 to 2.o million animals migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania, just south of where we were, up to the grazing lands in the Maasai Mara. In the fall they migrate back. It is a dangerous journey, with many drowning in the river crossings during the rains or getting eaten by crocodiles. The wildebeest, zebras, and topis are all part of the migration. If I remember correctly, the wildebeests and zebras are usually found together. They are complementary protectors of each other because the zebra's eyes look sideways and the wildebeest's eyes look forward. Together they can see predators in all directions. We saw thousands of animals gathering on the plains as we drove toward the river on Sunday morning.

As we got closer to the river, we saw the lines to the main crossing start to form.

At the river, the crossing had just started. One wildebeest, who is the leader, goes across first. He then stands on the other side and the line starts to move.

Of course, its not as easy as it looks to get from one side to the other. In addition to the rocks and current, there were four crocodile lying in wait. The zebra and wildebeests, lemming that they are, had no idea that the crocs were within inches of them - they merely thought they were rocks. We saw two wildebeests get caught by the legs but they both managed to jump and get away. A poor zebra was not as lucky, though. A croc got it by the head and threw it underwater. Within seconds, the four crocs had completely submerged it and started to eat it. I took some video of the kill that I will post later if you're interested.

One of the many dangers of the river crossing

We also saw many other animals while we were in the Maasai Mara, including a lot of babies. A small number of the hundreds of pictures we shot follow.

Baby elephant trying to look brave and scary

Momma

Male ostrich

A jackal picking over an animal carcass

Baboon

Giraffe

Cape Buffalo. In small numbers, these are very dangerous and regularly rush safari vehicles. This one was about 10 feet from our truck, which made me a little nervous! Luckily, he was part of a large herd.

Momma hippo with her baby. We found them in a large hippo pool early on Sunday morning.

Kenya Part I

I had a long weekend for Labor Day so I flew out to Nairobi to see Brian. He is working on a project with the Kenya government for a month and its just a short 1-hour flight here. We spent most of the weekend in Maasai Mara National Reserve, which is touted as the best game park in Kenya. I'll post again with pictures and description of what we saw, but the trip out there and camp are well worth their own post. Sheila, I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a good weekend getaway before you leave Mozambique.

Our flight out - on a large 50 seater prop plane, made stops at dirt airstrips through the Maasai Mara. So, it was 30 minutes out and then a very bouncy 5 minutes up, then 5 minutes down for 4 stops. Of course, Brian sat relaxed, reading his book the whole time. Below are pictures of our transport, the "airport terminal", and surrounding landscape. Definitely no TSA bothers here.

The flight back was on a 12-seater crop duster, which was actually nicer because we flew very low the whole way back. This allowed us to see the beautiful savannas and mountains below and off the right toward the Serengeti and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

We stayed at the Mara Intrepids Camp. Its is a very nice tented camp with sites overlooking the river - a hotel room, complete with hardwood floors, inside a very large tent. Some pictures are below.

At this time of year, the river bed is fairly dry, but at night you can still hear animals moving down the river. Saturday night, we were sitting outside on our "porch" drinking wine and heard something splash in the water. Using our headlamps, we looked out and saw a very large hippo on the rocks right in front of our tent! It was amazing.

The Camp also had a nice pool, a really good restaurant (boy was I in need of some good food), and a nice bar overlooking the river (of course that's what we sought out first!). Everything is very well organized, the staff and guides are very helpful and knowledgeable - we didn't have to think of a thing. We even had a personal wake-up from our butler for our morning game drive, who came with thermoses of coffee and tea and some breakfast cookies.