The below is an extract from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund website which gives a great resume of the history of research in Rwanda. The photo is of Gahinga the big silverback, getting ready to snooze, from the Amahoro group we visited on the slopes of Bisoke on Saturday. Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke™ Research Center on Sept. 24, 1967, in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park between Mt. Karisimbi and Mt. Bisoke. She recalled this historic event in her book, ...

Well last nights shower continued through the night and stopped at 0630 just as we were leaving to go to the park to sign in for the Dian Fossey walk. 4 were on the walk, two lasses from Belfast and us. The walk started from the same car park as yesterday below Mt Bisoke because Dian Fossey's research camp was between Mts Karisimbi and Bisoke - hence she called it Karisoke. As usual we hired two porters, Innocent and Antel, who carried our bags and were there t...

When we arrived just before 7am to check in for our last gorilla trek we thought everywhere seemed quieter - no doubt Xmas holidays are coming to an end and people are heading home. Rwanda and Uganda will now be going into a less busy period. Today we were allocated the Amahoro group which means 'peace' in the local language - the group was named after the genocide ended and everyone wished for peace - another group was called the local name for 'unity' - umuban...

The routine was the same as yesterday but less rushed as we left 10 minutes later as the sign in for the golden monkey trek is less pressured than for the gorillas. We had an excellent female guide and two 2 month trainee guides who were still very young and studying tourism in school. The group was large, 16 of us - predominantly American, two Australians, a Spaniard and us. This guide importantly explained the value to the local economy of hiring a porter so ...

John was awake well before the 5.25 alarm and making tea - I think he was excited about his days gorilla trekking. We were collected by Charles at 6.30 and headed to the Park HQ where the gorilla guides were being briefed - we were checked in then the drivers had a briefing - this is where the trekking groups are allocated. We got Pablo - the biggest group 30+ individuals with a big ageing silverback Cantsbee - who was originally studied by Diane Fossey when he...