Hiking the Virungas

Virungas in the light of the rising sun

The birds are chirping and Marlene’s watch alarm was telling us to get up but our bodies and minds were telling us otherwise.  This seems inhumane to be up before the sun on a “vacation”.  It’s quite cool and foggy this morning as we make our way to the dinner for breakfast.  We thought we had left with plenty of time but it was clear the second we got off the main road that our driver didn’t really know where to go.  Fork in the road (driver mutters to himself) another fork in the road (more muttering) yet another fork in the road…hmmm maybe we should ask someone for directions our driver says.  Well maybe if there was somebody to ask in this foggy, desolate, base-camp of a town.  After much cursing, and lots of guess we did finally arrive at our destination and our driver seemed as surprised as us that we ended up in the right place.  We arrived just in time to get our briefing.  There were 3 couples 1 guide and 2 guards in all (the guards were in case we happened upon some elephants, or at least that’s what they said, who knows, we were heading in the direction of the congo).

The Bamboo Forests

The first two hours of the hike were fairly easy and quite fast paced as we made our way to the edge of the bamboo forests.  We stopped for a water break and were told this is where the challenge begins.  It was interesting to see the change in biodiversity, first through a massive bamboo forest, then through a mossy tree forest.  Once into the moss, things really started to get steep and I began to breath very heavily, my body had been here a few times before; it’s the feeling that your heart if trying to jump out of your throat, it quickly goes away once you stop walking.  However, the pace being set was not one which was conducive to much stopping.  By the time we neared the first summit I was sweating profusely, my legs were getting heavy and I began to feel light headed.  Again, I knew this feeling from hiking the Inca trail; it’s not a good sign as it’s the first step (pun intended) to altitude sickness.  I was very much relieved to arrive at the first peak and admire the incredible view, the trouble was I could also see the next two peaks we had to climb and they didn’t look too friendly.  Our guide chose now to tell us this is the point that most hikers turn back.  But troopers that we are, after a quick break and a snack we were set to climb the second peak…but first we had to climb down the first peak.  The climb down was only partially relieving because we knew we would only have to climb back up on the way back. 

Atop the First Peak

The second peak is where the ladder ascent began.  Marlene seemed to be doing quite well on these, maybe she had more practice on the jungle gyms in her earlier years, or maybe she had something to prove, all I know is the increase in elevation was starting to make me very noxious.  Once up top of the second peak I really started contemplating staying back while the others carried on.  Although this was my idea, and I love hiking in the mountains, for some reason the altitude was really hitting me hard and I contemplated for a second on being like most hikers before me who had attempted this trek.  But of course I’m too stubborn and determined to reach the 3^rd peak that I continued on.  We could see that the third peak was just a cliff of a peak and we must’ve asked our guide 3 times if that was really where we were going.  The movie cliff-hangers ran through my mind as I got a closer look at the dilapidated state of the ladders we were about to entrust.

Staring at the third peak



between peak 2 and 3





Ladder up Peak 3



At one point on the climb there was a series of ladders which were straight up the crevice of a cliff, some 40M straight up.  We couldn’t believe we were doing this, we were literally a hundred feet up the side of a cliff with drops of several hundred meters on both sides.  Although looking around made me even dizzier, I just couldn’t help it, I seemed to be drawn to picturing myself in that moment, on the side of a cliff with nowhere to go but up. The odd thing is that I never once thought to myself “I’m going to fall” as most people do from these heights.  I wasn’t sure if I was experiencing vertigo or if this was the onset of altitude sickness, either way I was not feeling well at all.  For some reason I still felt safe enough to carry on.  Once at the top Marlene admitted she could not focus on anything but the next rung, I thought she was missing out on the best experience…but then again I was probably a little delusional at that point.  The views from atop the third peak were nothing short of spectacular.  On one side we could see the peaks we had just hiked, on the other we could see into the flats of Rwanda and on the other, the lush tropical jungles of the Congo.  These views reminded me very much of Peru with the jagged but very lush peaks.  The clouds were beginning to settle in and it was time to start heading back.  I was not looking forward to climbing back down those old rickety ladders with broken rungs and bent nails.  I was hopeful after lunch and lots of water I’d start to feel better, unfortunately it had to opposite effect and by the time I had climbed back up peak #2 I felt I was very close to barfing, so I stayed well back from everyone else.  Up to this point I hadn’t made it known that I was feeling this way as not to worry Marlene.  However what did worry Marlene was at one point on the final descent my legs just went completely numb and buckled, sending me face first into the turf.  This really was straight out of the cartoons as I scrambled to grab onto a clump of grass to prevent me from falling even further.  Thankfully that clump was very well rooted otherwise I would’ve been in for a very long fall.  After that little episode, I got the attention of the guide and guards who took my bag and followed close behind me.

Feeling pretty good atop the 3rd peak

styling on top a mountain

All in all the trip took us 10 hours to complete and we couldn’t have been more then happy to see our driver waiting for us.  It took all of our strength, endurance and will to do this trek and I would caution anyone that this is not your average mountain hike.  Although I probably felt the worst out of anyone due to the altitude wreaking havoc on my system, our fellow trekkers all agreed they had never done anything this hard in their lives…and these were avid travellers/hikers as well.  I could not have been more happy and relieved to know that the next two nights would be spent in lavish luxury, ok maybe not lavish luxury, but at a lake side resort!

Second peak and the other two Volcanoes