Well, after much deliberation, Mimi found a traveling companion and decided to visit the famous Rwandan gorillas this week. We spent the night near the national park, and while Cal met with doctors at the local hospital, Mimi and her friend Robin trekked into the Virunga National Park with a tracker and two burly Rwandan porters to help steady them on the trail. After about an hour of hiking on muddy, slippery trails entirely uphill (climbing one of the several volcanoes in the area), they met up with a family group of gorillas. One of the young males had been heard thumping his chest for at least 15 minutes before the group arrived, and he was still going. They found that he was busy eating in a thicket of bamboo, which the guide explained has a modest alcohol content if eaten in large quantities! One tracker bravely entered the thicket to try to flush him out, and the sounds of a scuffle began - the gorilla did not take kindly to having his brew and breakfast disturbed! When he did emerge, he went straight for the small group of interested tourists, running right up to Mimi and pushing her aside with a rough, hairy paw. He brushed her face in the process, leaving a small abrasion, and Mimi would have fallen had it not been for the steadying hand of the kindly Rwandan porter, who had never left her side. Mimi was assured that the skin of her cheek "was not broken". The belligerent gorilla was definitely a bit unsteady as he wobbled off.
Once the excitement had died down, Mimi and her friends watched for another 45 minutes, and thoroughly enjoyed the small slice of family life - playful 4 month old babies, tolerant nursing mothers, a watchful and totally intimidating alpha male silverback, and assorted others. On the way back down the slippery trail, John, the porter helping Mimi, held her hand in his huge one the entire way, almost hand-carrying her down the trail. At one point, during a pause, he seemed to be reluctant to start up again, and Mimi finally realized it was because she was standing on his foot, which he was willing to tolerate until she caught on! On arriving at the car, she insisted on paying him twice the going price, because he had not only carried her backpack, but her also. He was most delighted, and even more so when Mimi opened her pack and pulled out a full lunch she had packed for all the porters! It was a wonderful day, although probably never to be repeated.
Well, after much deliberation, Mimi found a traveling companion and decided to visit the famous Rwandan gorillas this week. We spent the night near the national park, and while Cal met with doctors at the local hospital, Mimi and her friend Robin trekked into the Virunga National Park with a tracker and two burly Rwandan porters to help steady them on the trail. After about an hour of hiking on muddy, slippery trails entirely uphill (climbing one of the several volcanoes in the area), they met up with a family group of gorillas. One of the young males had been heard thumping his chest for at least 15 minutes before the group arrived, and he was still going. They found that he was busy eating in a thicket of bamboo, which the guide explained has a modest alcohol content if eaten in large quantities! One tracker bravely entered the thicket to try to flush him out, and the sounds of a scuffle began - the gorilla did not take kindly to having his brew and breakfast disturbed! When he did emerge, he went straight for the small group of interested tourists, running right up to Mimi and pushing her aside with a rough, hairy paw. He brushed her face in the process, leaving a small abrasion, and Mimi would have fallen had it not been for the steadying hand of the kindly Rwandan porter, who had never left her side. Mimi was assured that the skin of her cheek "was not broken". The belligerent gorilla was definitely a bit unsteady as he wobbled off. 
