Our last morning in Rwanda was spent hiking to Dian Fossey’s camp. The American came to east Africa in the 1960s to study gorillas and her ceaseless work until her murder in 1985 has been pivotal in gorilla conservation.
We had about ten people in our group. The guide said the hike would take an hour and a half to two hours maximum. This was good news for Posh and I as we hoped to get to Kigali in time to see the genocide museum.
It was a muddy hike and just seemed to get muddier as it went on!
This poor woman’s boot got stuck in the mud! Her sock was saturated with mud when she pulled it out.
I couldn’t help but look at my watch repeatedly. We were moving slowly but time was going quickly. It was really frustrating to realize we probably wouldn’t make it to the genocide museum due to the group’s glacial speed.
Dian Fossey’s original buildings no longer stand after decades in the rain forest, but there are signs letting you know which building stood where.
Dian Fossey’s grave is next to that of Digit, her favorite gorilla. Digit was killed by poachers in 1977.
Our guide knew we wanted to get back to the city, so she allowed Posh and I to make the return hike with two armed guards so we could travel faster than the group’s turtle pace. What had taken the group over three hours to hike, the four of us hiked (and ran!) in about forty minutes! It was pouring for a good chunk of the return hike, so we were totally soaked and muddy in no time. The guards kept checking to see if we were ok and were relieved to see we were both laughing like idiots–soggy, muddy idiots.
In the end, even David’s fabulous driving couldn’t get us to Kigali in time to visit the museum. Oh well!