There's a quote in "Outside" magazine that spoke to me. The article was about two brothers who, in the recession, bought a sailboat and decided to circumnavigate the world in a Santana 22. "It turns out that unhappiness is just about getting caught up in your expectations." Did they write this for me? I need to listen raptly. I fall victim to this without fail. I always have expectations, and high ones. I think it is because I create a place or experience or person in my mind. I'm a designer, what can I say?! But despite reality not being my fabrications, I am quite happy. I have amazing friends, a fabulous boyfriend, have had some awesome life experiences, and I have an absolutely wonderful family whom I love and love me. I am beyond lucky, and I know that. But where most things don't meet expectations (not in a bad way, just in that I visualized one thing and it's obviously not that same thing), the gorilla trekking we went on in Volcans National Park exceeded my expectations.
The process of securing the permits to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda, the same mountains that became famous through the research done by Diane Fossey, was a stressful one. Our Africa portion of our adventure was facilitated through a travel agent in Uganda (credit again goes to Ms Sandra Butler for all references) and despite hundreds of emails tweaking the itinerary to be juuuust right, though all with the trekking on a specific day, by the time we went to lay down the plastic to make it all happen I received an email response from our agent, "The day you request to trek is no longer available, as is the remainder of the month of August." What??? I was in a hotel room in Asheville, North Carolina with my sister and cousin and couldn't have felt more removed from the fate this African woman was giving me. In our pajamas and not even a word of "good morning" exchanged, Lauren and Sarah heard my cry and asked what was the matter. Of course crying may seem overreactive, but gorilla trekking was basically THE reason for going to Africa. Granted it was only a day of our two week trip, but it was the highlight. If we wanted just a safari we likely would have chosen another more renowned country. But if you want gorilla trekking you go to Rwanda. And now we've planned a VERY expensive trip (for us, at least) and the highlight is claimed to be unavailable? Where was the warning from our agent "permits are a hot commodity in August so we should lock that in promptly"?
Fortunately I had Lauren and Sarah, two bright, creative, level-headed minds, to brainstorm possibilities. There were two days available at the end of August, could I reverse my trip and start in Uganda and end in Kigali, despite flights already being purchased in and out of the opposite? Are there permits available at the end of July and we could change our arrival flight to go early? Is there a secondary black market? Is Africa as corrupt as some stories reveal and are bribes possible? I crafted my email to Anne, our agent suggesting the possibilities and telling her my vexation. HOW can she help?! I couldn't reach Jonathan because he was off the grid fishing, not to mention I felt as though I had dropped the ball on this. Although the trip was both of our desires and expenses, I had been the one spearheading the coordination of Africa and J, the Maldives. This was the first trip we had planned together. Would he think I was irresponsible for not committing us sooner?
A week later while at my friend Robin's house, Jonathan returned to cell service so I excused myself to talk with him. We chatted and giggled like high school sweethearts. But then I had to talk business for a bit. Choking back tears I gave him the update of our permits. By then Anne seemed to think that she or another agent would get them for while we were in the country. (Don't ask me how things would change like that.) Jonathan was amazing and immediately allayed any concerns, "it will all work out" not to mention treated the whole matter as something WE failed to act on sooner. I went back to my girlfriends feeling a load off my chest from potentially disappointing my boyfriend and feeling disheartened by no permits and newly feeling supported and encouraged. In the end Anne was able to secure two permits for us the day after we arrived (a bit earlier than desired given we will have traveled 30hours the day prior and you need to wake for the trekking at 5am) but it was working out, none-the-less!
All this to say, the gorilla trekking held MUCH anticipation, and, as earlier revealed, expectations can be my downfall. When we arrived to the base of the trek we were put in a group to see the "Lucky" or "Hirwa" group, as it's called in Kinyarwanda. This family has 17 members in it, including baby twins a year old and a silver back. We didn't have far to hike for this family, though they had been seen by the scouters at the top of the mountain where Rwanda, Uganda, and the Congo converge just the day prior. The "Hirwa" family is one of ten families being tracked and introduced to humans in tour of an hour a day. There are eight other families that are reserved for research purposes so no tourists can visit.
As we walked over the stone walls through a village with adorable children and through farms with women hoeing while carrying infants on their backs, we came to an opening among a bamboo forest where our two guides, Patrick and Roger, were met by the trackers who had gone ahead of us to identify the exact location of the family. "We are here. They are close," they told us. Anticipation and excitement spread among us. "Keep your voices low or don't talk in front of the gorillas." J poked me. No wonder he was so looking forward to this! Slowly we followed our guides and the security (who were there to shoot in the air to scare off elephants or buffalo if we encountered any in the dense jungle). Jonathan and I were at the back of our single-file group (we were seven total) and ahead of us we spotted the back of the big silver back gorilla! But then, behind us we heard more movement in the trees. We were surrounded by gorillas! At times we were within two feet of one of them and Jonathan was passed in the path by the silver back. As his huge bulking frame passed by him and another lady, standing between Jonathan and me, he slowed his stride, looked at the lady, lifted his back leg and kicked her. She staggered back, being pushed off balance, and I caught her. She was surprised and a bit shaken but not hurt. He touched her! I felt partially bad for her and partially jealous. She was touched by a silver back!
We watched the gorillas as they moved from area to area, the silver back at one point pulling an entire 20ft tree down to eat from it's branches. The babies played, rolled, and munched allege while. It was certainly and experience and thrill of a lifetime. Diane Fossey would have been pleased to witness such a thriving group who were happy and safe, decades after her battles with poachers. What was my expectation? I can't say exactly, but what we experienced was far better than my imaginations.