On Friday, October 25, we started our journey to track gorillas. I liked the description for this part of the tour:
Tracking Gorillas is very strenuous and tiresome but meeting and staying with these giant apes is worth the effort.
And worth it, it was! We had a great time spending an hour with the Umubano group of 12 gorillas. These gorillas and this area (also shared with the DRC and Uganda) was made famous by the movie, "Gorillas in the Mist," which was about Dian Fossey - an American woman who pioneered extensive research and observation of the mountain gorillas. Sadly, Dian Fossey was murdered in 1985 and the case remains unsolved.
Tracking Gorillas is very strenuous and tiresome but meeting and staying with these giant apes is worth the effort.
And worth it, it was! We had a great time spending an hour with the Umubano group of 12 gorillas. These gorillas and this area (also shared with the DRC and Uganda) was made famous by the movie, "Gorillas in the Mist," which was about Dian Fossey - an American woman who pioneered extensive research and observation of the mountain gorillas. Sadly, Dian Fossey was murdered in 1985 and the case remains unsolved.
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| On our way to get our gorilla briefing |
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| Virunga mountains |
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| Beautiful scenery |
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| I really liked these carved gorillas |
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| It is about an hour hike to reach the gentle giants |
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| One more shot of locals in the field |
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| Mt. Karisimbi |
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| Here we go... |
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| We passed by a lot of farms |
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| A lot of them were growing potatoes |
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| Fields of pyrethrum |
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| Used as a natural pesticide |
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| Local kids walking around |
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| Watching us |
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| Our guide was saying, "if the gorilla happens to touch you, don't touch them back"...OK, got it... |
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| It wasn't too bad of a hike |
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| Paul didn't have his hiking shoes |
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| Bamboo trees are not natural to the environment - they were brought in for the park made especially for the 300+ gorillas that live in the area |
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| The gorillas get drunk from the fermented sugar inside the bamboo |
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| We're close...Paul hears them! |
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| Mr. Charles - the alpha male silverback |
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| One of the four females in the group |
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| Charles and his lady friend |
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| He's got an itch |
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| It was amazing being so close to them |
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| He was just yawning but this shows how clean his mouth is |
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| Mr. Charles can look quite scary out of context |
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| He was eating a bamboo salad |
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| One of the six teenage gorillas |
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| I'm still amazed at how close we got |
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| So pensive |
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| Close up |
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| Another one of the younger apes |
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| Baby ape - one of my favorite shots |
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| Bunyenyeri - the second silverback in the group (Mr. Charles' son) - I was a little afraid to be so close |
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| I think he's wondering what the heck we're doing there invading his space |
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| It was hard to get a photo of Paul with one of these beasts |
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| The gorilla isn't looking at the camera but at least Paul is |
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| They kept running away each time we tried to get a photo with Paul |
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| Another shot of me and my new friends |
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| Monkeying around |
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| Hanging upside down |
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| They were really cute |
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| Look how small this one is |
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| Gorilla tracking complete and neither of us stepped in their poop - success! |
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| Heading to Lake Kivu for some relaxation |
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| On the way, we saw more pyrethrum being dried to be used for pesticides |
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| We also passed by a refugee camp - mostly for DRC citizens; the conflict in the DRC is very sad and confusing |
