Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Kids, Caves, Dancers and.....GORILLAS!

It's been a few weeks since I have updated, sorry! Here are some shots of some sweet kids at Gisimba Orphanage, my school, our girls weekend in Musanze and THE GORILLAS!!!!

Milk carton car with bottle cap wheels...so clever.
Hopscotch in the dirt at Gisimba Orphanage and Nursery School.
My new best friend learning to drive my car. Love this kid!

My kids made me this one day when I wasn't at school. I'm going to miss my First Impressions little ones so much!
New student, Mark! He did great reading to the kids and walking in a line.


Rwandan dancers at Virunga Lodge
Anna, Hadley, Emily, Frances and I went through the Musanze caves. Totally dark and lots of bat poo!
One of my favs-Lake Ruhondo


And.....THE GORILLAS!



Emily and I went together to see the gorillas on Sunday October 16. We got to the park office at 7:00 am and were appointed to a group with a guide named Felecia. Then we had to drive 30 more minutes to the base of Mt. Bisoke. We parked in a village area and hired porters to carry our backpacks for 5,000 francs (about ten dollars). Our guide handed out our walking sticks and we started climbing up the mountain. We followed a path to get us to the park entrance then our guide told us that the trackers said that the gorillas we were trekking were coming down to meet us! About ten minutes before we got to the gorillas, we left our backpacks, water and everything with the porters and started the hike to see the gorillas. We spotted the Silverback first climbing on the park wall. We followed him over the wall and found the rest of the group. Our guide taught us how to welcome them in gorilla talk so of course Emily and I are now experts at communicating with gorillas! The guide and trackers tell you that you have to be 7 meters away from the gorillas but at one point I was about 3 feet away. The gorillas had just eaten their breakfast and were taking a mid morning rest. We got to spend exactly one hour with them before we headed back down the mountain.
Seeing the gorillas in their natural habitat was so breathtaking. It's certainly an experience I will never forget!

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