Gorillas!!!

We headed to Volcanoes National Park early this morning. It was the nicest, newest park entrance I've ever seen. Again...impressed. Our guide was wonderful and it was a nice chance to unearth some of my education which is so rarely useful :)

Anyway, after about an hour's hike through this beautiful jungle the trackers called in to our guide that they knew where our family was. There was one silverback, some females and 5 babies. It was just amazing. Everything I'd hoped for. Two females walked right through our group, one sitting down about a foot from me. Then the babies played for a bit and they all settled down to nap. Not to sound mellowdramatic, but I could see how Dian Fossey was willing to give her life for them. They are really that incredible. I've got great video and photos which I will upload at some point :) Oh and the view from this mountainside, stunning. I don't even know what else to write. Oh, we lucked out completely regarding weather. It was clear the hike up and only a light drizzle as we sat with the gorillas. Then once we got back under tree cover it began hailing very hard, up until we got to the edge of the park. From there we walked across some farm land, and after about 400 m it stopped, and didn't start up again until we were under cover at the park entry. Really good luck.

So right, Rwanda has been phenomenal and I would recommend a trip to anyone. We leave tomorrow for the Genocide Memorial near Kigali, then back to Uganda. I certainly would love to come back here in the future. Rwanda has been my favorite country so far, with Uganda close behind. My list of places to come back to is growing!!!