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Samantha's Travels
Hi Everyone
Am sending this entry from Rwanda as am now on the overland truck tour around Africa.
Today I went to Volcano National Park in Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas. This is where Diane Fossey did her work for the Gorillas in the Mist book.
It was absolutely incredible going to see them. We only had to trek for about 40 minutes before we came across our allocated group. You are only allowed to go in groups of eight and spend one hour with them.
My group was called the Hurza group and is made up of a silverback and eight of his wives and children. There were two females with young babies and one was only two weeks old, so was just a little bundle of fluffy black hair. The other two month old was like a toddler and trying to walk but kept falling over, before his Mum picked him up again.
They were so interesting to watch as their characterstics are so human such as the way the mothers held their babies and stroked them or gave them a warning glance not to walk too far away.
I could not believe how close we got to them. I was literally sitting right next to the mother and two month old and she kept holding him towards me as if showing him off for a photo.
Also, it was really funny as the silverback and a wife went into some bushes and you could see the bushes shaking and every now and again hear the silverback thumping his chest. The guides said he did this when he was happy. I joked that maybe they were having sex and it turned out they were. I have some great pics of him relaxing on his back later eating a bamboo that looks like he is smoking a cigar!
I have not yet put the photos on, but will hopefully do them soon. So you will all have to make do with the photo on here.
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