From Tanzania, Toto traveled to Rwanda. Rwanda is a small country to the west of Tanzania sandwiched among Uganda, Burundi, and the large Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda is known as the land of "milles collines," which is French for "one thousand hills." Rwandans speak French because Rwanda was a colony of Belgium after World War I, until the country was given its independence in 1962.
This small country is indeed full of lush green hills, making it a beautiful place to visit. Rwanda is also the most densely populated country in Africa. This means more people live within one square kilometer (or mile) on average than in any other African country. As a result, almost all the hills in Rwanda are farmed in small plots of farmland. The
farmers carve the edge of the hills into level terraces, so they have a bit of flat land where the water and soil won't run off down the hill when it rains. These terraces made the hills look to me like they were made out of Lego blocks. The terraces and steep hills also mean the farmers cannot use tractors to farm the fields, and they must do almost all the farming by hand using hoes and shovels. It looked like hard, backbreaking work, but the friendly Rwandans do it to feed themselves and their families.
The farms have rich soil because Rwanda was made by volcanoes, many of which still loom over them, as I saw in Volcanoes National Park, in the northwest corner of the country. In the cloud-covered dense jungles of these volcanoes live the very rare mountain gorillas. I went hiking to see a group of these fascinating animals, only seven hundred of which remain in the world!
Seeing these mountain gorillas up close in their environment was by far the most amazing wildlife experience I had in Africa. I saw "Group 13", which was one of several groups that are used to seeing humans every day, so they didn't run away as we approached them. This group was led by a dominant male gorilla called a "silverback." He is called this because once a male is mature, the black fur on his back turns silver. Can you see the silver fur on his lower back in this picture? (Double click on the picture to see a larger version.) Males mature at around twelve years old. Before that they are simply called "black backs."
A silverback is on average 200 kg or 440 pounds--that's twice as much as a 200-lb. man! Even Shaquille O'Neal, one of the biggest men I can think of, weighs only 325 lbs. Despite being so huge, gorillas are very peaceful and passive (unlike Shaquille O'Neal on a basketball court!). In fact, I would describe gorillas as gentle, based on my interactions with them.
Group 13 had an adorable two-and-a-half-month-old baby and two twenty-month-old half-brothers. These toddlers were monkeying around (or should I say "gorilla-ing around") near their dad, who is the dominant silverback from the picture above. He was so gentle and kind to them, even giving one child a kind pat on the back when he fell. The two toddlers were funny. One tried to climb a small tree and bang on his chest to show off to us, but then he lost his balance and fell off. It was hard not to laugh out loud, since we didn't want to hurt the poor guy's feelings.
You may wonder why I thought we'd hurt their feelings. Well, these gorillas seemed to me to be very similar to humans. (Gorillas are so similar to humans, in fact, that they can catch a cold from us, so only people who aren't sick can visit the gorillas.) We were really just like guests in their home. They let us stand two meters away from them as they ate bamboo in the nest of leaves where they would take a siesta after lunch. At such a close distance, they looked into my eyes and I could see that they were thinking about me, perhaps wondering who I was. People say the eyes are the window to the soul. Looking into these wild gorilla's eyes, I felt they had a soul, were definitely intelligent, and had feelings.
In fact, the national park guards who protected the mountain gorillas said the group was a bit flustered that morning. This was because four years ago, the silverback pictured above kicked out an eight-year-old blackback who was acting as the dominant male of the group after the previous silverback died. An immature black back is no challenge for a fully grown silverback, so the black back had to roam the forest with the other adolescent males, as they do before they mature fully.
Today, this male is now twelve years old and a fully grown silverback, and the guards said that he had come that morning to challenge the silverback as the dominant male for the group. He didn't win the challenge, but we could tell the group was a bit stressed from the experience. They had moved from their resting spot the night before and were only two hundred meters from the rock fence separating the national park from some nearby farmland. We were so close that I could hear the kids and adults talking in the fields next to the cows mooing. Can you see the two kids on their farm in this photo I took just outside the park fence?
Given how densely populated Rwanda is,
I found it interesting, but not surprising, that one of the earth's rarest creatures lives so close to mankind. Because of their striking similarities to humans, it's sad that we are the only real threat to the rare mountain gorillas. The reason the national park had guards by Group 13 was to keep men from stealing the little baby to cage him up in somebody's private zoo--I think this is a very strange and evil thing to do with such a rare species.
Fortunately these mountain gorillas are kind and entertaining hosts to visitors from abroad (like me) and the local Rwandans, like some of the schoolchildren nearby with whom I played soccer. The students told me they had visited the gorillas for a school field trip. That's a pretty cool field trip, if you ask me! The visitors help the local people protect the gorillas from poachers and preserve the national park as the gorilla's last remaining habitat. I am very glad I was able to see the gorillas. Rwandans know they are lucky to have such amazing creatures in their country and proudly consider the mountain gorillas to be citizens of Rwanda.
Travel Questions on Rwanda:
- List two countries that border Rwanda.
- What is the nickname in French or English for Rwanda?
- Define "densely populated."
- How do the farmers farm the fields in Rwanda?
- How old are male mountain gorillas when their back fur turns silver?
- If a 200-kilogram silverback weighs 440 pounds, how many pounds are there in a kilogram?
- About how many mountain gorillas remain in the world?
Global Nomad Questions on Rwanda:
- Draw a picture of you visiting the mountain gorillas in Rwanda at Volcanoes National Park.
- Mountain gorillas only exist in three neighboring countries in Africa, always living on the dense slopes of volcanoes. Do a cybersearch to find out the names of the other two countries. Bonus points if you can also list the name of the national parks in those two countries where the mountain gorillas live.
- There are two species of gorillas in the wild. The "lowland gorilla" is what you would most likely see in a zoo. These are much more common than the rare "mountain gorilla" Toto visited in Rwanda. Both have similar diets. Do a cybersearch and create a menu for a restaurant catering to gorillas.
- "Group of gorillas", "Family of humans"...match the following animals with the proper name for a group of those animals:
A) Group 1) Elephants
B) Den 2) Hippos
C) Troupe 3) Geese
D) School 4) Monkeys
E) Pod 5) Owls
F) Murder 6) Lions
G) Gaggle 7) Crows
H) Pride 8) Hyenas
I) Government 9) Gorillas
J) Herd 10) Seagulls
K) Flock 11) Fish - For older students:
In 1994 Rwanda sadly had a civil war that led to a horrible genocide. Research what a genocide is and either have a discussion with a grown up about a couple of examples of genocides in history or write an essay explaining what you learned about genocides.
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