In December of 2021, it was finally time to bite the bullet and go on our next big Africa trip after cancelling and rebooking multiple times due to Covid. The plan: to hike Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Since one of the main reasons that people fail to summit is altitude sickness, these sea-level city dwellers decided to arrive in the region a few days early to acclimate. Our first plan was to visit Ethiopia (Addis Ababa elevation: 7,726 feet), but a few weeks before our arrival there was a full on civil war brewing there, so we scrapped that plan. In fact, with airlines canceling flights left and right and Covid surging rather outrageously, we scrapped quite a few plans between the first idea of the trip (Summer 2020) and its execution (December 2021). Some might say that we forced this trip to happen despite many signs from the universe that perhaps it should not. So for the people who always have good reasons not to travel and keep postponing your trips - your decision is valid!
After some expert Googling ("Safe countries in Africa" and "High altitude countries in East Africa," then cross referencing), we landed on Rwanda, average elevation 6,000 feet. And when you search for things to do in Rwanda, you will see that approximately 99 out of 100 tourist attractions there involve some form of primate tracking - Chimps or Gorillas. Boyfriend and I decided that since it wasn't likely that we would come back anytime soon, we had better do both.
We would have 5 days in Rwanda total, and booked a tour that would take us literally around the entire country during that time... which is why it was a shock at the airport to hear that the national quarantine period had been extended from 24 hours to 3 days. Luckily, when we got to our hotel in Kigali, the tour guide informed us that they had successfully applied for a quarantine waiver for us. As you can imagine, like many places around the world, Rwanda is torn between protecting its citizens' health and its economy. We had 2 negative Covid tests by that point (leaving Boston, arrival in Kigali) so we were able to slip out for our tour after 24 hours and another negative test.
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| Size of Rwanda compared to US. Africa is obviously humongous but this lil country is still quite small. |
First we went for the chimps. We drove about 6 hours from Kigali to get to Nyungwe Forest National Park, which is quite close to the Burundi border (closed due to Covid) and DRC border (technically open but off limits due to danger). After a night at the hotel, we set out around 5am because, as the guides noted sagely, "The chimps wake up every morning." I thought this piece of information was pretty widely known and didn't warrant special mention from a guide, but then Mike pointed out that he had actually said "The chimps wake up early morning" in a thick Swahili accent, and that was certainly an understatement.
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| Sunrise on the way to Nyungwe |
We geared up for what would be a 6.5 hour jungle hike which was rendered more treacherous by ample rainfall - the trail was extremely steep and slippery, and most places we planned to go had no trail at all and had to be macheted by the professional chimp trackers. We joined a small family who would be in our tracking group, and couldn't help but remark that this family included an elderly woman who was wearing tennis shoes. Within the first few minutes of the hike she had shared that she was an avid tennis player at 86 years old and that though she might be a little slow and had forgotten her hiking shoes, she was game for this hike. I was like: you go, granny, that's awesome! But a few minutes later she was completely out of sight and within an hour one of the tour guides had to turn back and escort her to the parking lot and her family had to abandon the tour. There was talk of her being carried out on a litter. Anyway I say this because I want to convey that people are delusional and have very deranged notions of what they are and are not capable of. This is important to remember when I describe my Kilimanjaro hike.
ANYway, like with many tourist attractions worldwide (cough Northern Lights cough) there is no guarantee that you will see what you pay to see. Chimps make fresh new nests every night in order to minimize the likelihood of being infected with parasites, and as soon as I heard that explanation I got very concerned that I sleep in the same bed every night. Anyway, in about hour 4 we were thrilled to see a single chimp, very far away but very vocal, in the lush Nyungwe canopy. The trackers set off and about 30 minutes later radioed our guide - they had found a family!
I have to say that for creatures that spend so much time in trees, they come off as pretty maladroit. "Juveniles" (as the guides called them) and adults alike seemed to have some trouble deciding if a given branch would hold their weight or not, with hilarious consequences.
Reminiscent of our safari a few years ago, the hierarchy of primate importance became apparent early on. Before we even left the car we saw some beautiful mountain monkeys. When we got to the trail, we saw a family of affectionate and, at times, fornicating baboons. The guides barely gave them a second look. Chimps were much more rare and difficult to spot, so we quickly dismissed the others.
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| Gorgeous mountain monkey |
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| Baboon and baby |
That was NOT me talking.
We returned to the hotel exhausted, and had some juicy rest before setting off for another part of the country to see (hopefully!) the gorillas.
Driving in Rwanda is a fascinating experience. No matter how remote or rural the road, a) there are people walking on it, and b) it is spotless. Rwanda is really, impressively, clean. There were people hired by the government to pull up the small plants between sidewalk bricks, and literally sweeping the side of the road with tree branches. All of this was happening in cities but also in the middle of nowhere.
There were also people showing incredible ingenuity when it came to transporting their goods. Single bicycles were used to move not only multiple people, but also 25 foot plant stalks, dozens of bricks (yes, BRICKS), massive crops, and more. This is made all the more impressive because Rwanda is known as "the land of a thousand hills," and people were often pushing the bikes instead of riding them because the hills were so steep.
We made it to the gorilla forest, and were quickly furnished with new guides and walking sticks. Look how amazing:
This time we didn't have to wait or hike for 7 hours - after only an hour or so our trackers had found a gorilla family. It included a small baby that I can only assume triggered a primal/primate response in me, because I have never wanted to hold anything so badly. Like imagine a perfectly rotund, furry yet hefty little ball of mischief with long arms. It probably weighed 200 pounds but still.
Gorilla footage, featuring baby doing a flip*!
*"Doing" is perhaps a strong word.
All in all, we were exhausted but thrilled after our trip to Rwanda, and judging by my labored breathing throughout the enterprise our acclimation goals appear to have been addressed. We can strongly recommend AA Safari Tours there (we did the 4 day Gorilla and Golden Monkey tour plus Chimps); Innocent in particular was a great driver and guide.
After that, it was time to approach Kilimanjaro...
