Mat's gorilla experience

Oh hello again. You didn’t think I would be back did you? You may be surprised or even shocked…How about some GORILLA photos to calm your nerves! Quick rush to the bottom for photos and a movie! Then come back straight away.

Friday was quite a day! We made a trip up to Ruhengeri. 2 hour dive, beautiful country blah blah.  Arrived at our hotel. Emmy of course saved us about 10000 Rwandan Franc’s. Not quite sure what he said to the hotel manager, but I am pretty sure he is Rwanda’s version of the Godfather.

Anyway, we had a simple dinner of shallow vs deep (still debating the difference) fried tilapia and fries. A meal, from which, it is impossible to get a GI illness. Right? Wrong. Our general surgeon colleague may have the most sensitive GI tract on the planet. Which is odd right? He gets GI illnesses q 3 days for no apparent reason with the same food as everyone else. I think the best part is that this time he took immodium and antibiotics! Now, not everyone on this blog may know this but (get it), you are not supposed to take immodium with infectious diarrhea. The idea is you prevent the bacteria from being forcefully expelled and thereby worsening the internal damage. I am sure our colleague knows this.  It is my belief that he feels that simple expulsion from the colon is insufficient punishment. He seeks the death penalty. This immodium is used to keep the bacteria inside and Cipro/Flagyl is to extract his revenge.

Enough about that.

The hike to see the Susa Gorillas was the most pleasant experience of my life. A leisurely stroll up nice gentle inclines. I still cannot explain when the 24 year old marathoners had to leave halfway through. Our guide felt it was because they were American and therefore made of weaker stuff. As a mostly Canadian I mostly agree. My German friends in their 50’s wearing designer jeans also had no problems.  The Gorillas were amazing. Ask me about it later I am not going to go on about it here. I will say that, although I am going to have to re-finance my surfboard, I am really happy I was able to see the Gorillas. Time magazine put out a list of 10 places/things you should see in the next 20 years (because they likely wont be there after that) and Gorillas in Rwanda is one of them. So go see the Gorillas! Support the economy and conservation! Volcanoes park was the first national park in Africa.

Silverback

Mama gorilla

Juvenile male

In thin air...