Trackers heard Agashya coughing. He is the silverback in Group 13, one of the most popular tourist groups in Rwanda. It was not a bad cough, but Group 13 was due for a routine health check, so I scheduled a visit Agashya the next day to check the cough for myself.

It was a cool, very clear morning – at 5am the sky was dark and the stars were beautiful! There was a crescent moon, and the Southern Cross was very visible in the early morning sky. I packed my bag and drove to the corner in Ruhengeri where I picked up a truck full of trackers headed to Park Headquarters to start their days. They know me now, and I know many of them by name – that feels good. As we drove the 15 minutes to Park Headquarters I smiled as I listened to their animated talk, and although I could not understand it, I did pick up a few words here and there. Kinyarwanda is such a difficult language – I’d love to master it while I’m here, but alas, I suspect at best I’ll increase my vocabulary, in one tense, and with terrible pronunciation!

At Park Headquarters everyone climbed out of the truck and went their various ways, and the 2 trackers who were going to Group 13 with me. We drove up the rocky road to our parking spot, not more than 15 minutes from the Buffalo wall. Sabinyo was lovely in the crisp, clear morning sky.

Sabinyo in the early morning sun. 

The trackers told me that the group was outside the park yesterday, and so they wouldn’t be far today. They were right. After a short but steep 30 minute walk we were there. While walking through the cultivated fields on the way to the buffalo wall I heard a child with a deep, productive cough. No wonder Agashya was coughing – there is not a buffer zone between gorillas and people here. We also heard a dog barking deep in the forest as we approached the group – I wondered if he was barking at an antelope in a snare…

Group 13 has 22 gorillas, and is led by one strong silverback, Agashya. He has 9 females, 9 infants and 3 juveniles to watch over. This makes for a lovely group to watch, with so many babies playing. Kwisanga and her baby Ingabo walked past the tracker and I as we settled in for our observations, unconcerned with our presence.

Kwisanga and Ingabo. 

The group was scattered in pretty dense vegetation at first, so it took us a while to find all individuals. They were eating thistle, resting, and playing on this sunny morning. At one point I heard a small, dry cough, but could not see the individual who did the coughing. We moved toward the spot we had heard the coughing, but the gorillas had moved on. We looked for Agashya, but seemed to find everyone else first. Finally we found him – resting among his many infants. All at once there was some screaming in another part of the group. Minor, probably over food, but Agashya slowly and calmly got to his feet and moved in the direction of the screaming, giving us a glance as he went by as if to say “Excuse me, I need to take care of this.” The infants who were playing a moment before followed their father. The screaming subsided, and we found Agashya and most of the rest of the group in a small clearing.

Here’s a pile of infants playing and laughing. 

One of the infants in a pensive moment. 

As we moved through the vegetation something bright green caught my eye. I motioned to the tracker and we pulled up a neatly folded plastic tarp that had been buried just off the trail. Poachers. They often bury things in the forest so that they can return to them later. As we looked around we found 2 more tarps and 2 plastic bags that had clothes in them. We took them all, and this will be reported to Benjamine, the RDB warden for security. Patrols will be sent to the area in the coming days. This does not happen often, and was a little disconcerting for me; the thought of poachers in the midst of this calm and happy gorilla family with so many infants that know nothing about snares. The patrolling work of RDB is never done!

Poacher’s tarp that was buried very near Group 13. 

We moved off to find the last few individuals on my list.

Five of the infants were climbing a 10 foot mound of vegetation and rolling down the side. Here’s one of them at the top. 

Juvenile Dusangire enjoying his breakfast while resting in a soft bed of vegetation. 

Here’s Agashya eating contentedly with his family all around him!

Only one dry cough heard in the 1.5 hours I was with the group. No reason to worry about the cough. We reported the evidence of illegal activity as soon as we got back. Patrols will be sure this group is safe in the coming days, and Agashya is always on alert.

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