All this week, “In A Flash” will feature images from the group’s trip to Rwanda.
Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Ph. D., dean of Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences, and Pacifique Niyonzima, a Kent State alumnus who is now leading Kent State’s outreach efforts in Rwanda and its partnership with the , met with students at ɲԻ岹’s National Police College. The students will be on the Kent Campus this fall to begin their master’s degree programs as part of the growing global education partnership between the two institutions.
A trek up the mountain
ɲԻ岹’s , which includes a range of dormant volcanoes, is located near ɲԻ岹’s National Police College. The park is home to 12 troops of endangered mountain gorillas. The Rwandan National Police oversee security for the park and offered the Kent State group a tour as their guests.
Excursions to see the gorillas are available to visitors through carefully controlled and guided mountainside tours, available by limited permit from the park.
Visitors and guides can view the gorillas in close proximity, from just a few feet away. The troop of gorillas the Kent State group visited included two silverback males and two new baby gorillas. Bob Christy, senior coordinator, photography, in Kent State’s University Communications and Marketing (UCM) department who captured these images, said, “As you climb the mountain, the gorillas are all around you. When you find them, they will come very close to you, sometimes even touching you. It’s amazing.”
Kent State is looking toward including tours of the park in future education-abroad programs in Kigali.
A panoramic view, looking down the mountain from Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park.