Trekking to Visit Different Human Cousins: Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda
Our final big adventure was trekking the Mountain Gorillas.
One of three national parks protecting the last 500 to 600 Mtn. Gorillas in the
world, Bwindi rainforest
is only 1 km. from the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also the
location of a sanctuary park (The third is in Rwanda). The gorillas don't
recognize borders in the
rainforest
so they wander across their homeland indiscriminately. In the month before we
arrived, DRC guerillas indiscriminately killed the first "habituated"
Mountain Gorilla family. The Bwindi Park guides were so upset that several
endangered their own lives to retrieve their "friends" bodies from the DRC.
You can visit Lewa,
The Mara,
a
charter plane,
chimps,
gorillas, pygmies,
and
giraffes and elephants.
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| Four armed guards accompanied us on our gorilla trek near DRC. |
Our friends
were in a different group from us since 8 is the maximum group size for trekking. |
Into the
impenetrable rainforest we go, up over a mountain... |
Then down the mountain... |
Into the
valley where our advanced scouts radioed that they had located gorillas. |
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| We
we had to be very quiet since we stood within 10 feet of these
gorillas for an hour. So we'll let you quietly enjoy some of the many expressions of the 7 gorillas we watched . |
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| This
silverback alpha was probably happy to see us leave. One of our group got too close so he crashed by us & placed himself between us and his troop. |
Though we had
been oriented ahead of time about acting submissively if a gorilla approaches, it was a relief to not be on guard once we left their home. |
Over the
mountain and down again we went. We were back at our lodge in less than 6 hrs. total. |
After a hot
shower, dry clothes, & beer in hand, we were happy to sit by the fire until dinner. |
Our friends admired pictures from their successful trek. This was a rewarding experience for us all. |