Rwanda Day 3 – 5 January 2014

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Mostly clear with large cloud banks largely surrounding the mountains,
60 degrees F @ 0600, warming than previous mornings due to the cloud cover throughout the night.

Today was another lengthy hike, with mud like I have not seen before.  Our goal today was the Umubano Group.  Last year this Group had three silver backs when I visited them; however, this year only two remained as the third had died of old age. I was looking forward to seeing them again, as I had heard of another small baby in the in the group.

Upon contact, we saw a baby ( some 8-9 months old) with only one foot. According to the Ranger, its’ mother and another female were fighting over the baby resulting in the baby’s foot being pulled off during early stages of infancy. Watching the baby get around today, it was obvious that she had adapted well and was totally capable of keeping up with the other gorillas in her group and was unaware that she lacked an appendage.

In doing research on the gorillas, I recall reading that they would not drink from standing water, taking all of their water from plants.  According to the literature, the gorillas would see their reflection in the standing water and it would case a bit of a scare or they would become inquisitive about this other gorilla in front of them (their reflection).  Today, I witnessed this as we watched a young gorilla play with his reflection in a small mud puddle.

Charles, the senior Silver Back of the Group (distinguishable by the red hair on his brow).
Nikon, D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155, ISO 1250, 1/200 sec at f/5.6  Auto ISO, Altitude 9199 Feet.  This image was taken here.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200, ISO 800, 1/125 sec at f/4.5 Auto IS

We took it easy during the after noon and as luck would have it, the skies opened up and we were treated to one heck of an African rain storm. Lasting only for an hour, it was a solemn reminded of just how hard it can rain in this area and how the mountains surrounding us, make their own weather.

Cheers and happy photoing.

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Hirwa Group

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Another shot from our first day with the Gorillas.

Looking Through the Ferns.  This image was taken here.
Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 @200mm, ISO 800 1/1000 sec at f3.2, AUTO ISO On, Matrix Metering

Cheers and happy photo’ing

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Rwanda – Day 1 January 3, 2014

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Our first full day in Rwanda kicked off with a hearty breakfast after a well deserved night’s sleep. We linked up with our guides from Thousand Hills and headed to the Genocide Memorial. I would love to write more about this memorial however, I am still searching for words that would describe what I saw as well as the emotions that ran through me as I walked the memorial. Meanwhile, the summary below is taken directly from Wikipedia. The Rwandan Genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of ethnic Tutsis by ethnic Hutus that took place in 1994 in the East African state of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days (April 6 through mid-July) over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate. Estimates of the death toll have ranged from 500,000–1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country’s total population. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of 1959–62.

Beneath the concrete tops lay the bodies of some 300,000 genocide victims.
Nikon D4, 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58mm, ISO320, 1/640 sec at f/8.0

No explanation needed.
Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 320, 1/320 sec at f/8.0

A rose lays on top of the ‘open grave’ display.
Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 320, 1/250 sec at f/10.0

Following the tour of the memorial, it was time to head to the Mountains of the Volcanoes National Park. With a near constant altitude climb, we arrived at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, our home for the next 4 days. The lodge is located in the Musanze Providence. This area is regarded as the bread basket for Rwanda. With abundant rainfall and rich volcanic soil, this area provides the majority of the agricultural products in Rwanda.

Hillside view of the rich agricultural fields -not one inch goes unused.
Nikon D4, 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58mmm ISO320, 1/500 sec at f/10.0

Cheers and happy photo’ing

Blogging live from the mountain tops of the Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda – brought to you by XComGlobal. For Global WIFI solutions, in remote locations, I turn to XComGlobal to stay connected.