Wednesday, June 8^th:  One of the coolest things about this region of Africa is that it is one of the last remaining regions where mountain gorillas still live.  Many people recall the appalling period in 1994 when more than 800,000 were killed in Rwanda.  The mass killings in 1994 were the culmination of years of strife between the Hutus and the Tutsis.  Ultimately, the genocide occurred as the Hutus, primarily through a powerful group called the Akazu, annihilated Tutsis and non-warring Hutus, wiping out nearly one fifth of the country’s population.  Since that terrible time, Rwanda has been revitalized with one of their primary businesses being gorilla trekking.  Of course just north Rwanda is the Congo (formally Zaire) which in the latter part of the 90’s and early part of 2000’s was suffering through the Second Congo Wars.  Although more peaceful today, the Congo still has some continued violence.  Like Rwanda, the Congo now also sponsors gorilla trekking.  So why am I telling you this?  As it turns out, the region where we are staying is in the Impenetrable Forest of Uganda.  The Impenetrable Forest is in the Virunga Volcano mountain range and abuts this gorilla sanctuary region of the Rwanda and the southern region of the Congo.  Uganda too has made a gorilla reserve which is now protected by the government.  The Ugandan government issues 24 permits a day for gorilla trekking.

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