13th – Gorillas

Breakfast and packing lunch was planned for 0415 and despite the early start we all departed in three separate minibuses as planned at 0530. The drive of two hours to the reserve was quiet; people realized it was easy to fall asleep at this time of day despite the condition of the roads.

The view during a short break in the drive going to see the gorillas.

We arrived on time and around 0800 we were briefed on today’s activities. The 22 of us were split into three groups going to separate gorilla families. Our group returned to our minibus and drove another 30-40 minutes followed by another 10-ish minutes by pickup that brought us up a steep part of the road. From there we started the actual walk trying to locate our gorillas.

They have started making sure they know where the families are before taking the tourists out (as opposed to when I did it back in 2010 where it seemed as if we left and were updated on the location on the way) which potentially would make the walks easier. We followed established paths for maybe an hour before we switched to off track. Luckily we were (partially) in the open regularly so despite the temperature and humidity we got a comfortable breeze now and then which helped cool us down. After app. 2 hours of walking we were presented to our first gorilla, this one sitting in a tree eating.

Gorilla in tree.

A few minutes’ walk later we were in the middle of the rest of the 18-individual family. The vegetation was denser than last but the location of the gorillas and the fact that we kept moving around a lot meant more (potential) good shots and more flexibility with viewing points. Also, the silverback seemed to be posing for us in clear sight which just made things better.

The family had all age groups from very young to the old silverback.

The alpha male relaxing keeping an eye on some young ones playing around in the bush.

The alpha male.

Towards the end of our hour with the family another member of the group was standing with a tracker maybe 5-7 meters from the alpha silverback, me a few meters behind, when the silverback went from relaxing to standing up, slamming his fists into the ground with a massive whomp which could be easily felt through the ground before calmly walking off into the bush. Obviously just to let us know that we were only there because he allowed it. As it was so sudden and over so quickly I didn’t get a chance to photograph an otherwise fantastically photogenic situation.

The alpha keeping an eye with the youngest being carried by.

The view from the return walk.

On the way back we stopped by and were picked up at a souvenir and café place. While sitting and relaxing a dancing group showed us a few dances and sang a few songs. The main entertainment, though, turned out to be a 2-3-year-old girl with such frown on her face she was from then on referred to as the Devil Reincarnated.

The dance troupe.

The very memorable girl. This was her looking increasingly friendly.

The drive back to camp was 3-ish hours and on arrival at 1830 we realized we were the last group to return. Apparently we had had the longest walk but to be honest though I didn’t mind at all. It wasn’t bad and the forest was beautiful to walk in.

Dinner at 1930 and a quick visit to the bar later it was time to prepare for visiting Rwanda tomorrow.