Visit to Virunga NP - Rumangabo. This is my first trip outside Goma city and I am quite excited that I will be able to visit the headquarters of Virunga and there is also a chance that I might see Emmanuel de Merode who is a key person for me to interview. We all are squashed in the poshest of 4X4s that belong to WWF. Bruno, Christina, Thierry, myself and two more from the office. On the way we are to pick up the lawyer who is a key figure for the meeting with Bruno and Emmanuel. The moment I see him stepping into the car my face lights up like a christmas tree - he is wearing a turquoise satin silk shirt with a pair of prussian blue trousers - fantastic! Christina sees my face and knows it all. As we approach the borders of Virunga I see trees that move a wave inside me - the sacred trees of Virunga. The sky is pretty dusty so we do not get a good view of Nyiragongo and the other volcanos and hills :( We started climbing to approach Rumangabo and then I could see a sea of trees that merge into the distant mist - a breathtaking view. As we arrive Bruno gets into the full swing of his meetings while Christina and I join a group of visitors to see two baby orphaned gorillas. On the way we see blue monkeys and a colobus look looking at us with its majestic black coat and white tuft on its tail. The gorilla babies are adorable and look like babies in a gorilla suit. I love the chest beating dugu dugu dugu dooo!
Virunga National Park
Bruno lets us know that Emmanuel can see us for a few moments and Christina and I wait. As our lawyer approaches I am tempted and take a few sneaky pictures of him. He notices (help!) and ask me - Why are you taking a picture of me? - You should rather take pictures of those monkeys he adds - yikes!! Christina comes to the rescue and it’s re-assuring that it was the monkeys I was pointing my camera at - phew! (I try to hide my giggling).
Colobus Monkey at Rumagabo - sorry I do not have a zoom lens!
I get to see Emmanuel and ask a few crucial questions - I am so pleased!! On our way back Bruno stops at a park ranger station while I take the liberty to hop out with him and guess what I see? Nyiragongo puffing up smoke in rage! I take my camera out and snap snap snap and the sky changes from a blue to a coral as the sun starts to set. We arrive in Goma and seem to drop off the lawyer in the middle of nowhere in the city - I am slightly obsessed with our shiny dressed lawyer.
A park rager at Rumangabo
Rumnagabo Headquarters
Niyiragongo Volcano puffing
With the picture of the trees and the expanse of Virunga in my mind - we go out for dinner at a pace called Anna’s bar near the lake. I have tilapia fish and rice - my God; do I get an enormous fish? They all say it’s petite! I meet Nadine, Harper and Rachel. We get into a huge debate about the NGO sector and its impact on the economy - we stay quite late and decide to hit the Mamba Club for the world cup finals tomorrow.
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