Meet the Gorillas

After a lot of planning and saving, we arrived in Bwindi Impenetrable forest, Uganda; the home of the mountain gorilla. There are about 600 left of these magnificent animals and we are about to meet 6 of them, the Mubare family.
Once in the park, one group no more than 6 people spend one hour with each family per day.
After a short briefing by the UWA (Ugandan Wildlife Authority), we take off on our adventure with one guide, porters, and armed guards into the hills of Bwindi.
Finding the gorillas could take up to 5 hours, we got lucky! Tracking for an hour or so uphill, we finally meet the great mountain gorilla!!!
The first one we come across is a young one in the tree, the rest are just a few meters away.
We tremble through the high bushes and find the rest.


I meet Maraiyka as she's eating leaves sitting on a branch right in front of me.
The view is amazing! We keep following the family and end up back on the path. Three of them just sitting there eating. One of them has a 5 month old on her back. He's curious and checks us out. The only female of the family disappears quickly as she is very protective of her little one.
As I'm filming the entire scene, I hear a rustle in the bushes behind me. As I turn around, there is a juvenile gorilla behind me waiting for me to move out of the way. Since touching the animals isn't allowed, I had to restrain myself from reaching out to touch the youngster.
There is another one up on the hill right next to the path eating away on some yummy leaves, which is all they eat. Out of nowhere, the very lazy and large Ruhondeza appears; the 35 year old Silverback. He takes a few steps and sits down right in front of us as if he wanted to pose for the cameras. He's much bigger than I thought. Eventually he gets up and disappears into the forest.
It feels like only 5 minutes have gone by when the guide tells us to take our last photos, I can't believe one hour as already past.
It's not easy putting this experience into words. As we walk back down the mountain we come across a young boy and his family. The boy is carving little gorillas out of wood and staining the carvings with black ink. He is really talented!
We leave the forest and tears come to my eyes. It was so overwhelming, emotional and amazing.
I hope some day I'm lucky enough to go back, I would recommend it to anyone. One of the most amazing experiences of my life, so far...

-Barb