A second trek anyone? NOt many were up for it after the pretty gruelling time at Bwindi. Although I felt fine the next day, I did fleetingly think that maybe I would back out! The thought came and went, and off we went crossing the border into Rwanda. Interesting experience. First I had to go say 'hi' to a security guy, then walk alone across the border, passport in hand to the barrier 'on the other side'

Check in with another set of guards, then directed across the road to immigration. There seemed a myriad of different people coming and going across. Brighton said that Ugandans did not need a passport for here or Congo - he wished it were all just back to being one nation. Trucks were given a cursory glance. The one in front had it's "inspection" which consisted of a fish being pulled from the pack of ice in the back. The inspector waved it along, and which point a guy who had been hanging about, jumped up, grabbed 5 or 6 fish into his shopping bag and hopped off with the driver waving him bye before "locking" his cargo back. Age old customs 'losses" I'm sure!

A non-descript hotel for the night and once again, I was back with an eager crowd getting ready to be put into our groups - having the upper-hand, so to speak, everyone wanted to hear of my experiences the day before. Was the trek hard? Was it amazing? How long was it? Was the trek hard?!! Again, Brighton had me grouped with the 'easy' trek' however, the gorillas had other ideas! Whilst we were comfortably driving to our starting point, our Gorilla group had met up with another group, had a fight and quickly moved deeper - and higher!

What should have been a half hour gentle walk turned into a 3 hr each way trip! The terrain was different than Bwindi - lots of bamboo Forrest and not quite as steep. The experience was also different. This was a large group and they kept constantly moving around us - at any given moment there seemed to be a Gorilla coming out of the bush close by. Some babies were in the group along with 2 silverbacks - the dominant male always in control and the younger learner, hanging around the fringes. We also got to see some black-backs - adolescent males still being tolerated with the group - not yet a threat to the Silverback.

Although we knew the rules of staying 7m (21ft) away, the Gorillas showed a blatant disregard for this! It was hard to avoid them at times and I almost felt like I would be knocked aside at one point as the `Silverback brushed past my leg.....

all too too soon our time was up and the arduous trek back down began, slipping and sliding all the way. I could never had madden it without my 2 best buddies - the wooden walking stick and my porter - Edouard.