GORILLAS IN THE MIST & SOME HIPPOS - MARCH 2015

 Gorillas in The Mist ... and Some Hippos – March 2015

Across the lake is Tanganyika, the old German colony now known as Tanzania or "TZ", "Tee-Zed". It’s also called Tan-san-i-a, the modern German spelling of TZ. I call it that for no good reason. Tansania. well, its across my lake. 

This morning there was a teenage hippo wallowing in the lake below the breakfast porch where we ate omelets and the freshest fruit cocktail ever with crunchy tree-tomato seeds still in it.

I write this blog entry today in the Akagera National Park in Rwanda, on the deck of my safari tented cabin at the Ruizizi Lodge at the bottom of Lake Ihema.

Our side of the lake is Rwanda, the T-Zed border on the other side. Yesterday morning I was on Lake Kivu with another border, the DRC or Democratic Republic of Congo border a few kilometers or “klicks” down the beach from the Serena hotel we were in. (i swam in the lake. no crocs.)

Yesterday morning one could see commercial jets landing in Goma, this morning on this lake there are no jets. there are birds...pipers, finchers, kingfishers, egrets, herons, darters,  and a majestic fish eagle that flew gracefully towards us before dive-bombing into the lake and grabbing an unsuspecting breakfast.

so today is Monday, i'm in the bush, at a tented lodge camp on the lake. On the way in on 47 kms of bad dirt road, we saw villages, crops, lots of kids, and then in the park we saw giraffe, baboons, impala, and cape buffalo. On the sunset cruise tonight we will see more hippos and some crocs and lots of birds. If we’re lucky we’ll see ellies on the way out tomorrow back to Kigali.

Friday I was on a volcano near the border to Uganda standing a few meters away from a family of gorillas sunbathing in the grass, eating nettles, the young ones beating their chests or “drumming”, the babies toddling around, with the large male silverback laying on his back grabbing his toes as if stretching his hamstrings in some yoga pose.

But how did i get here? How did this all possibly happen to a city guy from “LA”?

I suppose its genesis was running into an old friend, Abe Martinez, in early 2010 on the set of 'Dexter'. Abe was a 1st camera assistant that day and I was a day-player moving the exposition along for the lead, Micheal C. Hall. 

Abe remembered me from a home-group we were in in 1999 in Beverly Hills. It was Brant Cryder’s cell group from Malibu Vineyard. Abe and Amy were new members. Brant worked at Prada (Now he's president of Yves Saint Laurent North America).

Abe told me he was moving to Kenya with his family to do ministry and media. Some six months later I attended Ecclesia on a Sunday at Hollywood Blvd & Wilcox, and sure enough, the Ecclesians were praying Godspeed for Abe & Amy’s trip to Kenya. 

I emailed Abe’s blog in November. By January I was in Kenya myself, acting in a independent film Abe as DP’ing (cinematographer). It was there I decided to leave my cozy loft in DTLA in the OBD (DownTown LA in the Old Bank District) and move to Kenya.

When my lease was up in the iconic Continental Building (featured in '500 Days Of Summer') that September, my 30 years of friendship with Dan Donley paid off as he drove me to LAX at 05h00 with my 14 bags of luggage. I had a one-way ticket to Nairobi.

In some symbiotic fate, I was going ‘Into Africa’ while one of my favorite films of influence is ‘Out Of Africa’.  I was all in, landing 10/01/11 or October 1, 2011. Pixel speak for new beginnings. (10.01.11 or 01.10.11)

In 2013 on a Holy Land Tour with doug & sue brown from Karen Vineyard church, I met 2 couples from Western Cape, Zuid Afrika (South Africa). One couple was Flippie and Paula, both Afrikaners from distant Dutch heritage, Paula (“Po-la”) actually recent enough to have an EU passport from Nederlands descent. 

We became friends as part of the “back of the bus” gang on our 10 days in Isreal, using exclusively the rear bus stairs as our “bat cave” entrance, gallivanting from Jericho to Galilee, the Dead Sea to the Temple Mount.

When doors starting closing for me in East Africa in every facet of my life by the end of 2013, I knew it was time for Plan B…time to migrate, but where? Home? Thailand? Dubai? 

Flippie and Paula offered to host my reconnaissance trip (a “rekky”) to Cape Town. On that trip, in the "WC", doors started opening (like finding Papyrus Lodge) and the biggest door opened last November when I was granted my 3 year Exceptional Skills Permit to work “in TV & film only”. Fine by me. I am now a Temporary Resident. my dream of working in the TV & Film industry here was approved and i got a good acting agent. 

Then sometime early this year Paula proclaimed she and Flippie were fulfilling her life long dream of seeing the gorillas in the mist of the Rwandan volcanoes. of dian fossey fame. I inquired if it might be alright if I maybe joined them, as she had friends in Rwanda who were arranging all the details and I knew I never would be so ambitious or clever enough to arrange the gorillas on my own. She said yes.

So here I am at the Ruizizi Tented Lodge Camp surrounded by wildlife, bird life, and large sized reptiles & mammals. But now for the gorilla report…

Meeting Flippie and Paula coming from Juba, South Sudan, was a bit stressful. They were to pick me on Thursday morning from my Step Town Motel (highly rated on Trip Advisor) in the hills of Kigali. But for me to get there required a Tuesday flight from cape town to Joburg (2 hour flight) and then an early Rwandair flight to go non-stop to Kigali (4 hour flight) on wednesday, all so i could be there by 10am Thursday. 

As it turned out, an audition popped for 'Of Kings & Prophets', a new ABC series on David & Goliath, and I was forced to scour my wardrobe for anything that might look like the old testament King Achish. bizarre but that's show biz.

My Audi TT had broke its drive belt the day before and now I had to arrange transpo to the CBD (Cape Town Bowl District) for the casting audition, then get straight to the airport to get to Joburg where trip advisor advised the African Moon Corporate Lodge. 

Surprisingly all couldn’t have gone better. thanks to Inflight Shuttle Service, i made the audition early (after one take she was happy) and i made my flight to Joburg. the next morning I finally left the Moon Lodge at 06h20 when my shuttle driver (tardy) finally pitched up in the parking lot despite some early morning showers. 

We raced to Tambo Int’l and i got my bags plastic-wrapped (to prevent thievery), spent an hour at American Express getting enough $USD to cover the week-long expedition throughout Rwanda, and made it to my gate on time and over-budget. 

Seeing wild gorillas is certainly an extravagance, with the park fees alone at $750 for one hour with the primates...all causing considerable guilt and pressure for this to be “the best trip/hour ever”. i was relieved to make my non-stop to Kigali, i was going to meet my team with their checked bag with me after all.

next morning I ended up taxi-ing over to the Europcar car hire place in kigali to meet flippie and paula with their bag from cape town filled with biltong (beef jerky) for us and friend Hein. Soon enough we followed Hein out of town to head up to Ruhengeri to the Volcanoes Nat'l Park where the gorillas lived. 

surprisingly, it was my third time in Kigali in almost as many years, which for a city guy from DTLA was a bit of a shock as, inexplicably, I was seeing a lot of Africa frequently. The last time in Kigali I was in a chase van filming the 3 cyclists from London I had followed through Ethiopia, Uganda, and lastly in Rwanda to the finish line in Kigali at the stadium.

Hein delivered us to the road north we needed and that night we were in the Kinigi Lodge near Gorilla Headquarters, having pasta carbonara and a huge, cold Primus beer. 

After a sleepless night of Christmas-like excitement and dead-man-walking dread if the apes attacked us, we had Breakfast at 06h15 and by 07h00 we were at HQ getting sorted into groups of relative fitness for the days hike up the mountain.

based on our collective fitness level, we elected for the relatively easy hike and it was perfect. Roughly one hour up and one hour back, with one hour with the beastly wonders. We had quite a show by a welcoming dance troup at HQ and the enthusiastic drumming corps, which were photographed wildly but hardly applauded by the mzungu group of aging explorers waiting for their hike.

The performer in me cheered and whistled for my performing comrades, despite the apparent apathy of the bored looking Asians and westerners.  I felt bad for all their beaming, smiling, show-biz faces. Where was the love? Then finally we drove off to our trail and hired a porter at the parking lot at the bottom of our route to help the local economy and also help us up the mountain.

Up the hill we went via a long rocky road, then through crops, and finally through a dense bamboo forest with a muddy floor, nearly losing my low cut Merrils to the suction of the mud. With the help of some hiking sticks and feeling like the motley crew on Lord Of The Rings, we weaved up the mountain to find machine-gun laden trackers who had found the gorillas that morning. They had found our family of gorillas. Now stop watch was soon to begin.

We left our packs and sticks and headed up the path. around a bush and they were right there. we first found a mother and toddler gorilla who were both gnashing on some serious nettles. Sitting in the sun, not minding our mingling a few meters away. It was cute, but it wasn’t king kong, and that, I later learned, was what I was interested in. not the clowning young’uns or the moms or sisters. I wanted mega-ape. i wanted to smell his bad bamboo breath.

yep, I wanted the big, bad boy silverbacks. Nothing else mattered. And it proved true that the ladies in the group loved the babies and all the family dynamics. The men just wanted a dangerous silverback to pass by and possibly rip your arm out of its socket.

We wanted some excitement. some wonderful, terrible beast like an emporer in the Coliseum giving us a thumbs up or thumbs down deciding our fate. A silverback nearing 200 Kg (400 pounds) who could easily rip us apart or grant us our stay.

This family had 3 silverback males. We saw 2, but we missed the grand leader of them all. It's okay. The sons of the group were plenty big enough, strong enough, and fast enough to rip us to shreds. Now our blood was pumping. We were happy. there was some danger in the air. 

Flippie wanted to be touched by one. It does happen. I only wanted  some good footage for my GoPro3+ (lens setting on Narrow. Wide was too optimistic for my expectations. the actual video clip still in post).

Sure enough a specimen of a silverback finally joined the smaller clan from the bush. He was spectacular. Not King Kong, but beautiful. They are magnificent, but to me kind of sad looking. Like the silverbacks are bored, capable of doing so much more with their life then eating shrubs and rolling on the ground. They are under-utilized. Unlikely to find their self-actualisation. no fulfilment. unrealised potential. like swatting by-planes from top of the empire state building.

But my friends assured me they were happy, fully actualized, and more than content. I wasn’t convinced. But was it my own ‘driven to achievement madness’ I was projecting on the seemingly apathetic apes? "Come on guys, do something with your lives! Amount to more! Push harder! Be all that you can be! Build something! Stop lollygagging! reach for the stars!"" (No wonder I’m a mess.)

Part of my frustration was that the big silverback was essentially a hairy cow, a herbivore of a different shape, docile, harmless, simply lounging about. i wanted fangs, chest beating, a good old fashioned hollywood roar. we were denied.

Then out of the bush a smaller balding female charged our group and slapped me on the shin passing by. turned out I was the one who had been touched. Not flippie. I felt bad. But then I was teased how harmless she was and I was never in harm’s way. She was old and balding. An infant would have survived it. no special ranger survivor merit badge for that one.

soon enough our hour was up and we trekked back down the mountain and got our official certificate suitable for framing. (certificates are very big throughout all of Africa.) not sure i'll frame mine. 

our team of three had a long debate over Primus brews back at the lodge whether we would "sell" the trip to our friends as something they HAVE to do. Paula offered that the adventure was perhaps more suited for women, who could appreciate the babies and the family dynamics more than the men. i agreed. 

for me it was cool, but not necessarily AH-MAZING. very cool and something i'll never forget, but i have been fortunate to see and film a fair amount of wild game (like ellies and rhinos) and certainly some of those encounters were just as thrilling. but hey, if you've never been to africa, never been on safari, never seen wild game, then seeing the gorillas would be ah-mazing. and it was. but the park fees are steep and i probably would have enjoyed an elephant safari where you ride ON the ellies all day. just saying.

the other factor is that the trackers with the AK-47's while protecting them and making them easy to locate for us touristas, also took something away from it. we certainly weren't in a zoo, but these wild beasts are surrounded by humans all day. no wonder they ate and passed gas (a lot of gas and for long durations) in front of us without any sense of imminent threat or danger. 

they were domesticated up in the mist of the bamboo forest. walkie talkies chattering in the background. in truth, they were practically tame. easier for us to get close. but some element about the whole thing didn't ring true. the "thrill" in "thrill seeker" was missing. the wild gorillas were missing the "wild" part.

true, the trackers were saving them from poachers who used to sell their massive heads, and cut off their hands that sold as ashtrays. as well as save them from potential traps and snares for other animals. conservation was working. but their invasion of privacy bothered my western sensibilities. a good growl would've felt good. a solid, scary "back off" would have been welcome but was lacking. 

and contrary to urban myth, you could make eye-contact with them, talk in a normally loud voice, wear red, wear sunglasses, you could even make faces at them. they were as chill as can be. 

(the Jungle Ride at Disneyland has ruined a lot of game watching experiences for me here in real Africa. you simply don't need a cap gun to get you out of jams. there are no jams. or rarely. and they are armed trackers to save you. and all the gorillas have names, like your household dog or cat. you know, Shamu the killer whale doesn't sound so "killer". hey Africa, stop naming your wild animals. You're Africa, not the Africa Game Park in Orange County, or the zoo, or Siegfried & Roy. i don't want to climb primeval volcanoes to meet Bubbles the Chimp. and your ritual of naming every baby gorilla? stop it. it's undignified.)

This morning there are tiny baby tree monkeys above me, a hippo in the lake, and a fish eagle atop the massive tree in front of my tent, all no names. Such is good Africa. Full of life and God’s boundless creation from poisonous insects to charging ellies, from tiny hummingbirds to large crocodiles. and it never gets old. wildlife is awesome. and better left wild. unnamed. 

watching a hippo play in the lake 15 meters from your breakfast table is always fun. the funny part is the hippo is perhaps more dangerous than the crocs, but they look so funny it's hard to them seriously. some say they're the most dangerous of all and kill more people than any other animal, next to the cape buffalo perhaps.

overall, rwanda is an incredibly beautiful country, "the land of a thousand hills" and truly it is stunning. they farm right up the high hills and you can see the crops near the mountain tops like the Philippines. the roads are well paved and smooth, the cities have cross-walks and sidewalks and the infrastructure is noticeably better than uganda, kenya, or TZ. 

even after their genocide where the Hutu's "cleansed" close to a million Tutsi's (read: slaughtered, exterminated), the two tribes have made peace and thrived. their president today is even a Tutsi. i'm a big fan of Kigali. great airport (always a sign to me of how corrupt a country is a small, ageing, neglected airport), great roads, bridges, and even the folks in the bush are nicely dressed. 

their is a sense of pride in themselves and their country. they even have a national day every month to clean up the land around where you live. rwanda is rocking. thumbs up as a destination for sure.

the only hitch for me in most of Africa is being the privileged mzungu (read: rich white guy?) who is riding in the air-conditioned Toyota SUV with leather interior while the populace walks by and looks in with a mixture of bewilderment and envy. 

they are the "have-nots" and i am the "have", but why? because i was born white? or born in the USA? or born in the first world and they were born in the  third-world? i feel guilty of my privilege...my unearned privilege. and i feel for their struggle for the simple necessities of life: up early everyday to fetch water, firewood and food. 

we joked that in kenya all mzungus (white foreigners) had ATM tattooed on our foreheads as people always were asking for money ("my aunt died", "my kid's school fees are due", "i'm getting married") but i get it, i understand why. we are well off. and even though it is what it is and there's nothing i can change about it, i do get uncomfortable being that privileged one who stands out in a crowd...in the bush or a city street...or riding in our rent-a-car as most locals don't own a car and never will. 

it's sounds demeaning to say i'm blessed and they're not, that's not it. but there is something there. i'm just not too sure how to describe it. having more does not equal happiness although my lifestyle certainly is easier. and it's not right or wrong, fair or unfair, it just is. call what you will.

so yes, i am grateful, thank you very much. and when i travel at times i feel ashamed of all i have, and why i should be so blessed. it teaches you not to take things for granted. and at the very least, to graciously acknowledge others. we are all equal. and some are more equal than others. 

along the same lines, for me, i prefer living in ZA where i can blend in as another mzungu in a province with lots of tribal types (blacks, coloureds, asians, & whites) and not stand out due to privilege or skin colour. maybe that's what real fame feels like, always standing out. i always dreamt of that, but now i'd say you can have it. 

cape town is a lot like LA in that sense...no one stands out. 

unless you're famous. and that suits me just fine.

and now for some pics...

airports are always fun to shoot. planes have personality. Mango airways. CPT INT'L?

Tambo Int'l, Joburg.

early bird. Tambo Int'l, Joburg. 

difficult on your iphone to get a soft depth of field. cup is in focus. BG is out of focus. impressive.

boarding Rwandair to Kigali.

obligatory wing shot. 08.00. joburg.

Step Town Motel, kigali. well liked on trip advisor. clean and charming.

Step Town terrace. Kigali is incredibly hilly. and beautiful.

my beer came and the heavens opened with thunderous applause and rain. lovely. 

Kinigi lodge, Ruhengeri, near APE HQ. basic basic. priced accordingly. 

COTW checking off another bucket list item in a foreign land.

you gotta love anything with "volcano" attached to it. 

goat in the mist.

rwanda speaks a lot of French. here was our guest house village.

my performing homeys. video of the day still being cut.

our guide in the mist, Ignatius. 8 years on the job. 5 days a week. 

Flippie & Paula, with gators and walking sticks. we were warned of heavy nettles on the hike, hence the gators.

up a long rocky road.

and suddenly they were right there.

Almost close enough to touch. not advised...yet.
maybe in 10 years with extreme eco-tourism you can
spend the night with them for $7500. trackers standing by.

this toddler had serious flatulence...like a lot of vegetarians who eat raw.

then the big silverback moseyed in. exciting.
the males go silver after 12 years old. they live to 45.

female sunbathing.

sans souci. without a care. but dreaming of more?

it's a family affair. 

big boy deep in thought. what do they think about? world peace or ticks?

trekking across middle earth. volcanoes in the BG.

where's Frodo?

that's a decent beer. nice and cold.

this mountain, Singyiongie, is the rwandan name for "teeth".
our gorilla group was named the same.

ddm with Lawrence of Austria, traveling solo for a month in uganda and rwanda.
a DA from Innsbruck.

our Toyota SUV. the 4x4 drive came in handy!

took us forever to find this lodge on top of a large mountain.

but great views.

photo op at Virunga lodge. volcano park in the BG.

Flippie finds a hammock chair. ahhh.

something primeval about these volcanoes. and knowing the gorillas are up there. 

more rwandan beauty.

wicker at kinigi lodge.

or "best prices! we won't be beat!"

curios anybody?

in rwanda they farm and harvest crops right up the mountain. very industrious. 

big todo here to name the baby gorillas.

typical rwandan signage/graphic arts. 

USAID...U.S. tax dollars at work saving the gorillas. 

lots of sponsors.

friends reunion on lake kivu, western rwanda.

that's Goma in the DRC in the BG. 

Serena Kisenyi with lake kivu behind.

Serena Hotel, another angle. the water and air were the same temperature.

spotted gecko on a palm tree. mixed medium.

Akagera, a full 6 hours from Kisenyi through kigali.

Ruzizi tented lodge. with wooden walkways.

my tent. more like a tented cabin.

all the flaps up. hippos in the thicket the hour i arrived. 

solar power water heater, aka geyser.

lake ihema. breakfast bliss.

this place was serene and special.

JP spoke french, english, and several local languages. 

oh yeah, there's a hippo over there. more coffee please...

ruzizi is über organic. swiss family robinson meets reality.

shaded deck

my head torch finally came in handy.

ahhhhh.

majestic fish eagle. 

happy hour camp fire.

my blog station.

monkey business. 

holiday makers at breakfast. the game drive was tough..too much thicket to see through.

nice place. 2 nights here.

Broiche coffee shop back in kigali, with wi-fi, or "wee-fee" a francais.

another solid latte.

Camellia Tea House. right next to Europcar. 

Kigali airport. golden hours. well done.

another great week of adventure. time to head home.

rwandan river. 

heading back to Joburg. good night now.