Land of a thousand adventures

As my last week has arrived I want to take a minute to thank all of you who have supported me on so many levels with regards to this trip. Without all of your help with fundraising, planning, and of course endless advice I never could have experienced this, the first of many adventures. Your constant emails of support and comments about my blog have kept me upbeat and motivated to write even on those nights when all I want to do is fall asleep. So thank you to all of you. Thank you to everyone who is reading this blog, sharing it, or who have even given Mountain Gorillas a second thought because of my trip. I also have had requests for more shirts which will be available upon my return, just email me your request- remember all procedes go directly to MGVP!


That being said, Dr. Jan (and all of MGVP) has been a great hostess this entire trip and she made this weekend no exception. Jan took a few others and I to Rumangabo for the day. If you have not heard of Rumangabo, DRC, I highly recommend that you look it up. We were visiting the main Virunga National Park Headquarters. I also strongly encourage all my supporters to watch two DVDs…one is called "Gorilla King," which was put out by PBS and includes researchers that I have met here. "Gorilla King" will give you some insight into how amazing these gorillas really are and how similar their social structures and moods are to ours. After that you must see a National Geographic special called “Gorilla Murders.” In this documentary you can see everywhere we visited on this trip as well as people I have met/worked with. These short videos will give you all special insight into how and why MGVP is here and how important they are. I will be forcing everyone to watch these when I am home anyways, so you might as well get a head start!

As we crossed the border into Goma and waited the normal almost 30 minutes for our paperwork to be approved, there was some excellent people watching. Many bright colors adorn the women and there is no shortage of shiny shirts and pointy shoes on the men.  Finally, we hopped into the truck and headed up to Rumangabo.  The roads were pretty rough for the hour and a half ride up to park headquarters. 

The headquarters themselves were very impressive, but add to that the amazing rangers who literally risk their lives everyday to protect the gorillas and everything else within the park and it was unreal.  Jan then showed us the graveyard.  This is where the gorillas who were brutally murdered by people whom they trusted are buried.  Watching "Gorilla Murders" really brought this home. These gentle giants were simply used as politcal pawns.

Next, we made our way down a picturesque trail surrounded by Blue Monkeys, Baboons, and Colobus monkeys.  We were closing in on our goal....two very special Mountain Gorilla orphans.  I cannot do their stories justice, so please read them here: http://gorilladoctors.org/support/orphan-story-ndakasi.html and here: http://gorilladoctors.org/support/orphan-story-ndeze.html   These little girls are survivors for sure!

We spent a long time in a platform looking down on these adorable little ladies, who soaked up the attention.  I was able to get some video of them clapping, laughing, spinning around, and chasing their caretakers.  It is impossible to describe just how amazing it is to spend time around these animals.

As we headed out of DRC, we made our obligatory stop at Shopper where we are able to buy some American food....compared to home, its tiny without much variety, but compared to rice and beans in normal stores..it is heaven! We found tortillini and tomato paste and REAL mushrooms! I even found some keebler elves cookies.... Mmmmm feast later...

At the border we heard a loud comotion and turned to see a "fancy" SUV squeal to a stop behind us. Several men in "Canadian Tuxedos" ( for those who are not familiar with the term- its an all denim outfit) with dark sunglasses surrounded the car.  A well dressed man got out and the border officials working on our paperwork dropped everything to salute him.  There were some "paparazzi" which included a few disposable and a few point and shoot cameras shoving us out of the way.  I pretty much held my ground afraid to be too far from my passport in DRC.  Turns out it was the governor of that particular area.  He was very nice and told the officials to continue working on our stuff.  I have to say I do not think those guys had ever worked so efficiently!

Back at the ranch, we had a ladies evening out at Sabyino Lodge where we enjoyed the view and wine. 

We also had a chance to visit the Skeletonn Project run by Shannon at Karisoke (she is based in DC out of GW)  This is the largest collection of Mountain Gorilla bones in the world. At some point these bones will be turned over to the Rwandan government to be placed in their natural history museum.

Needless to say, I am having a multitude of random experiences here in my last week!  We decided to spend Sunday relaxing and having lunch with Julie and one of her dogs.  I went to visit Zulu our friend's South African Boerboel, since they are out of town and he is lonley. 

Today Jan set me loose in the MGVP lab which has been organized in some fashion, but still needed some help.  The challange for me was to try and organize a labful of supplies without the convenient little tupperware type containers I am used to having at my fingertips.  I am so used to being able to run out and get a specific size, but here, we are lucky to find any.  I found a few dirty dusty containers that I cleaned up, then Jan and I were actually able to track down a few large plastic containers in Musanzi.  I spent all day today in technician heaven.   The first picture is what happens when doctors work without techs.  All my tech friends take note of how much our docs need us.

I then reorganized the necropsy kit so that nobody was in danger of stabbing themselves on loose sharp items in there as well as removing the 40 hemostats and replacing them with more useful instruments.  Hopefully the lists created will help the kit stay in similar condition.

I then created a human PPE kit (personal protection equipment) so that the staff can be protected before opening the necropsy kit.

  Dont laugh at the duct tape...the drug box i organized is done with tongue depressors and duct tape ; )

I believe that is it for now! That was my weekful of random adventures and excursions!  Now I am back to packing and weighing bags.  Seems like I just went through this to come here! I cannot believe its almost over already...time has really flown by!  Ok reality...against my will I am making a beeline right for you!