The gorilla naming ceremony took place the day after our trek. This is a pretty big deal, honored by an extravagant all day celebration of musical performances and speeches. With no previous knowledge of this event, we obviously didn't have tickets but were told that we could still attend along with the rest of the community. To our disgust and disappointment we realized that this ceremony was geared solely toward the individuals who gave money to the gorilla fund - more than 90% of these individuals were white. The stage was blocked off so only this group could view the performances. Careful measures had been taken to ensure that the individuals from the community were kept separate from the honorary group. There were abundant armed guards lining the perimeter of the park and even more dispersed throughout the crowd of roughly 100,000 of locals. Guards with night sticks kept the children grouped together closely and away from the perimeters but as 3 white American we were free to walk where we pleased. Upset by the inequality of the situation we decided not to support it and leave the ceremony. By that evening we found ourselves back in Kigali.

Another eventful day of battling locals for semi-fair travel prices we arrived in Mwanza. Here we organized our safari adventure. We met a gal on the gorilla trek who was working in an orphanage in Arusha. Apparently, the orphanage owner also ran a safari company whose profits go to benefit the orphanage. Our friend, Mandy, told the owner that we were close friends of hers (close friends – just met... ehhh details...) Long story, short – we were able to arrange our safari at a nice discount. But friends, please remember that old saying that "you get what you pay for."