Wow! What an amazing week we've just had in Rwanda! Most people associate Rwanda with gorillas and the genocide of the 1990s but there is certainly more to it than that. It is a country of beautiful hills and colorful people. Many of the hills are terraced for family farm plots and tea/coffee plantations while others have been set aside as protected parks and forest. One can simply relax watching the clouds rise from the lovely rain forests or hike to their hearts content. Rwanda is a very poor country, with high population density, so it's quite impressive that they have such a strong conservation mandate and so much beauty and wildlife to explore. I think they truly recognize the resource their wildlife and habitat is so they aim to protect it. The Rwandan's are a friendly, proud and resilient people. Everywhere we went they would say "you are welcome here" and it was a heartfelt greeting. Children would stand and wave "hello" as our jeep passed by and always had huge smiles on their faces. Everyone is keen to move on from the shadows of the genocide so there is no longer any discussion as to whether an individual was a Hutu or Tutsi - they are all Rwandan's now and want to build their country up. That said only about 30 percent have electric power in their homes and people walk everywhere as there are very few cars or motor cycles outside of the major cities. The contrast between the wealth in the cities and the basic shelter in the country side is extreme. Another point of reference is that the bank machines only allow one to take out about $20 Canadian at a time so that gives you some idea as to local expenses (although tourists are on a totally different pay scale - believe us!). One certainly felt the peoples sense of optimism about building their country. Rwanda is also an amazingly clean country. There is no litter anywhere and the last Saturday of each month is a day dedicated to grooming the entire country. Plastic bags are illegal so paper bags and re-usable baskets are abundant.

We started our trip by visiting Nyungwe National Park. Here we saw Mountain Monkeys, Colobus Monkeys and Chimpanzees. While visiting the monkeys required some effort it was nothing in comparison to tracking down the Chimps. They move quickly through the forest so it is hard work to spot them and even harder to keep up to them! We tramped through dense forest cover and we're rather tired and grubby at the end of it all. The Chimps have an amazingly powerful call so that in itself was worth the effort of trying to locate them. While we enjoyed our time in this park it was quickly overshadowed by our experiences in Volcanoes National Park where we visited the Mountain Gorillas. It was an absolutely awesome experience! We were assigned the Sabinyo Family of gorillas. While they normally reside about 1.5 - 2 hours trek from the park boundary they had been outside the park the precious day eating eucalyptus. Hence they were relatively close to the boundary so our trackers spotted them quickly and our enjoyment began! One really does get a chance to get up close and personal with them! They just walk right by without being bothered by the small group of visitors -- well at least most of the time. Don was grabbed by one - he's not sure if it was a curious baby that pinched him or it's mother encouraging him to hussle out of her way. Regardless it's an experience he won't soon forget. Believe me when a gorilla walks by its an intimidating experience! At one point the dominant Silverback got a bit upset and charged a couple of the trekkers. He wasn't too threatening - just reminding folks he is in charge at all times and he had me convinced. The Park only allows an hours visit but it truly was an hour we will talk about for a long time as there is no other experience quite like it.

After such a wonderful week it is hard to move on but we now look forward to touring the plains of Tanzania. In closing - if Rwanda is on your 'bucket list' (if not it should be!) we'll give you more tips when we return. Give some serious thought about visiting it as we're sure you'll have an amazing time. Goodnight!