MOUNTAIN GORILLA

There are just over 1000 mountain gorillas left in the wild, and seeing them in their natural habitat was a childhood dream for both of us. You can imagine the excitement when we arrive at our starting point, at the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. We were tracking the Mucunguzi group and when we started, we didn’t really know what to expect. After a short hike through some tea plantation, we arrived at the forest, from the track was anything but easy. It was raining heavily the day before, so the ground was very slippery. And as this wouldn’t be enough the terrain started to become steeper and steeper, we slowly started to understand why they are called “mountain” gorillas. I stopped counting how many times I fell, already covered in mud quite a lot, when we started to see the first sign – some fresh droppings and feeding signs. The excitement was growing and it didn’t take long until we were surrounded by flies. Even though it was our first track, we knew that we are close. Our Guide told us to keep our walking sticks and backpacks behind for the last minutes and finally we made it. When we got the first glimpse of the gorilla family all the efforts and struggles were forgotten instantly. I don’t think one can describe the feeling when looking into the eyes of these great apes, but I hope our pictures do give you a sense of it.