Impenetrable Gorillas

I had been awake since 3:30am watching the clock. Eventually my alarm went off at 5:45am and I leapt out of bed in the pitch dark with a big grin on my face. Today was gorilla day!

By the time I was up, dressed and down at the lodge, Moses had already printed our permits off and was waiting for us to collect them. I gave him a big hug to thank him for everything he had done and, let´s face it, because I was so excited I would have hugged a log at that point!

By 7:30am we were driving into the headquarters of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and practically ran up the steps to the main desk thrusting our permits at them whilst trying not to jump up and down too much

Benson, the head ranger who we had met a few days before and given a lift home, greeted me and remembered about my knees. He put us down on his list for the gorilla group that had been sighted closest to any drop-off point the previous day.

We had to keep our excitement in check for a while longer as we were treated to a local dance

Not many of the tourists paid much attention, we were all here to see gorillas not dancing. I felt a bit sorry for the dancers who were working really hard to please us.

Finally we were all called to our meeting points for a briefing. We were to trek to see the gorilla family known as Bitukura, led by the silverback Mugisha

They are the largest habituated family group with 13 individuals and – remarkably – two silverbacks. They are apparently well known for tolerating multiple males. To have this group so close was a huge stroke of luck for us.

After making sure we all had food, water, walking sticks and waterproofs we piled into two vehicles and drove about half an hour to the drop-off point. Benson was leading our group with two other rangers. A number of trackers were already deep in the forest searching for the group, starting at the point where they were last seen the day before

It was a steep climb downhill to where the rangers thought the gorillas were going to be

They were using forest-calls to make contact with the trackers but there was no answer. We pressed on

Benson had said it could take us only half an hour to reach the gorillas but after 45 minutes we had still not even found the trackers.

For the first hour the walk was along relatively well-made tracks although it was very steep downhill so my knees were complaining bitterly

Every few minutes the rangers stopped and called to the trackers to no avail. But finally, after what seemed like an age, we heard a call back in response. It sounded a long way off….

The trails will only take you so far towards gorillas, who are generally hiding deep in the thick of the rainforest, so at some point we had to leave the paths behind and dive into the thick bush

We marched on, still steeply downhill, but were now hacking our way through dense forest, sometimes teetering on thin ledges and at all times trying to avoid stepping on armies of ants crossing our path. If anyone did accidentally step into the ant-flow they were rewarded with swarms of the tiny but vicious creatures running up ankles, legs, waists and even as far as shoulders, biting as they went.

The impenetrable rain forest is not for the faint-hearted!

After almost two hours, three or four trackers suddenly appeared in front of us. We hoped that this was a good sign. They were talking to our rangers in their local language but gesturing with their hands as if to say up there then down then up again. My heart sank, it appeared we were still a long way from the gorillas.

As I was wiping my forehead and wondering whether we would actually find them today, I jumped out of my skin as a new individual came wandering out of the bush just in front of me…

My jaw dropped to the floor and the whole group stood in perfect silence watching as first one then another then another crossed right in front of us

When they had gone out of view Benson whispered to us to leave all our bags, water and walking sticks in a pile, put our face masks on and follow the trackers.

And that was when one of the best hours of my life started

You can read any number of stories about gorilla-watching and hear the same thing from everyone – it truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience

Probably life-changing

Definitely life-affirming

Look into a gorilla’s eyes and you cannot fail to appreciate the intelligence

The kindness

The gentle-giant

The whole family spend each morning eating, their main food being leaves – they are entirely vegetarian

The younger ones were playing – chasing each other and rolling down hills together. I am certain that they were doing whatever the gorilla-equivalent of giggling is

Gorillas don´t swing from tree to tree like chimpanzees do, they are too large and heavy.  But they do climb trees to reach the best leaves and to build their nests – each day in a different place

But from what I saw, most of the time they climb a tree in order to hang off a branch with particularly tasty leaves until it snaps

The gorilla and the branch will then roll down the mountain whilst others chase along to join in the feast.

The life of a gorilla seems like a lot of fun to me and the way they climbed up and down the mountains through the forest without any difficulty was remarkable

At one point we found the silverback asleep under a bush

Three of the group stood together watching him and taking photos, James included. When he opened his eyes he saw himself surrounded and didn´t like it. The family are habituated and therefore very comfortable with the proximity of humans but it seemed that the surprise was what upset him. He jumped up and charged towards the people. Everyone stumbled backwards in a panic, one of the men running straight into me and knocking me flying backwards.

But it was no more than an exciting moment for everyone, having chased us all away and caused havoc, the silverback settled back down and relaxed again – but this time with his eyes firmly on the visitors!

This was the oldest female who apparently doesn´t like visitors and keeps herself to herself

She sat in her bush chomping on her breakfast keeping a wary eye on us all.

We were allowed an hour with our family but it seemed like only five minutes had passed when Benson told us it was time to let them go

We stood and watched them wander away and within seconds the last of them had disappeared into the trees – the stillness they left behind was as though they had never been there

Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I felt ecstatic. A life-long dream made reality. We had actually done it.

James had been slightly less excited about seeing gorillas than me and with the memory of the extreme exertions getting too and from the chimpanzees along with the difficulties in getting the gorilla permit and the delays, he had at one point suggested that we perhaps give it a miss. As the last of the gorillas went on its way he leaned in to me and whispered ´thank you for encouraging me to come, that was incredible´. And for James, that is quite something!

We had followed the gorillas so far through the forest that the walk back out was even longer and steeper than the walk in – and it was uphill all the way. But we didn´t care, we were walking on air and barely noticed how hard it was

We all stopped in a clearing for lunch after about an hour of climbing and as I looked around I had to pinch myself – we were standing in the heart of the African rainforest, surrounded in all directions by pristine nature and we had just met gorillas

Sometimes I wonder whose life it is that I am living – surely this can´t really be mine?

But a certificate handed to me by the lovely Benson at the end of the day would seem to suggest that it is…..