Gorillas Oh My!
As I even start to think about what to write about my day with the gorillas I am faced with an impossible challenge. How can I convey the most magical, epic, adventurous, and dangerous experience of my life in words.
Let me start by saying it was nothing short of a dream come true. Never has an animal`s eyes given me such a sense of power and understanding. I have seen gorillas in the zoo and they are magnificent creatures. But they are creatures who have never been in the wild, never will be in the wild, and have lived in a cage for their whole lives. There is an immense sense of safety when being at a zoo. We have them in habitats that man has made so we can observe. However, when you enter Bwindi Impenetrable Forrest in Uganda you go from civilization to the raw wilderness in a matter of minutes. The second you cross the line from farm lands into the thick brush nature completely takes over. You immediately realize you will be entering their home and the jungle that they control and there will be no barriers to stop them when the silverback decides to charge you. Nothing here has been built for your entertainment. Would you chose to enter the gorilla`s home and hope they welcome you into. I did and here is my story with the Kahungye Gorilla Group.
Waking up early in the morning we piled into vans to make the drive to the forest. Our van was made up with the people in our dorm room. Their names are Georgia, Ashely, Adam, Giles, Kaylee, and myself. During the length of the hour and a half drive we sang songs the whole way. Our taxi driver probably thought we were crazy as we blasted Eminem leaving the parking lot. One and a half hours later of bumpy roads and winding hills we found ourselves at the headquarters.
Here a guide met all the groups and gave us our briefing. There are roughly 880 gorillas left in the world and we would be seeing them. Our family is the largest and made up of 18 gorillas three of which are silverbacks. Seventy two permits are given a day for people to go and interact with the gorillas. Through the past few years they have been habituated and are now used to humans. Ours was habituated in 2011. Although gorillas have been habituated they are still wild animals. We were informed that we must not wear red and if a gorilla charges you to stand your ground.
Our guide named Damien told us we would drive to the start point of our gorillas and because they slept close we would have a short 45 minute hike. Yes! This is awesome. We get out of the car and begin our hike. Wow am I out of shape. After 50 minutes we reach the top of the hill and out of breath. This is our starting point. While catching our breath we hear a yell and turn to see Adam bleeding from a red ant bite. Who knew those little things could do so much damage. Damien gets a radio call from one of our trackers. It turns out the gorillas are on the move and coming towards us. What good news again!
We trek into the jungle now on a path winding through the forest. The jungle is beautiful with green everywhere you can see. Up and down we wind through the bushes and now and then see an area that has been flattened. This is the mark of the gorilla nests. They literally knock everything in their path. We begin to get excited! I am slightly nervous on the other hand. As we approach the nest from the night before Damien gets another radio call. Turns out the gorillas are moving fast and seem to be avoiding us. To avoid a steep hike we are going to hike around the one mountain to the other side instead of up and part way down. Another hour of hiking and we are around on the other side.
We are now informed that we must go off the path and into the bush. The lead guy with the ak 47 takes his machete and begins to cut us a path. Slowly we go deeper and deeper. The path he gets starts to get sketchy. At places it seems like we are scaling straight up the mountain. We all glance at each other nervously. Each time we make it up a cliff we are posed with a new obstacle. Next we reach a very steep drop for as far as u can see.
Now we have to go across the cliff that extends above and below us. The guide tell us exactly how to onto the roots and grass to keep ourselves upright. After a while of this we sit to take a break while Damien gets another phone call. The gorillas are on the move once again. They are now on the other side of the valley and we have to get down all these steep cliffs we just scaled across. One of the guides tells us to wait while he tries to find a path. About 5-10 minutes passes and we here some chatter over the radio. All of the Ugandans begin to laugh. I ask what is so funny. It turns out the guys radioed saying that he had called down a steep cliff and to not come this way. We all look at each other as we clearly missed the joke. Adams actually almost died at least 10 times according to his own account!
Around 5 hours we made it down the mountain and to the valley that opened into a clearing. Wonderful! Some easy hiking. Quickly the excitement vanished as we entered the thick brush and one by one we all disappeared into the jungle again.
At this point we started to think the gorillas may not happen. Our joking spirit from on top of the mountain was quickly dissipating. Just when we were about to hit our breaking point our guide stops us, hushes us, takes our walking sticks and points forward. There up around the corner was a young gorilla! We had made it.
Slowly we crept closer to the baby and up a small hill. The baby ran and we followed and soon found the family's dominant male named Rwomanzee which means Hero. Before I knew it I was less than 20 feet from a full grown male silverback mountain gorilla. Before I could even get my camera ready he looked at another girl and I and let out a loud yell and began to run straight at us. Frozen in my tracks I could only think about the fact I can't pee my pants because they aren't even mine! The one guard jumped in front of us beating on the ground and the gorilla back off.
Less than a minute later Giles begins to moan. It seems that the gorilla had agitated a wasps nest above us. This thing was huge and the wasps began to swarm out. The guides told us to run down hill quickly. While Giles was nursing his wounds we began to flee. As I looked back all I could see is our group swatting at the air or making noises confirming new stinks. We weren't the only ones moving the gorillas got out as well.
Back down in the valley we were far from the bees and once again reunited with the gorillas. All in front of us we could see bushes moving or being sucked down to the earth by hungry gorillas. Joy overwhelmed me as I began to watch the different gorillas. We had made it and we were in their home. We moved around them and got closer at some points. I had no idea the tour would allow us to get this close or this interactive. Each gorilla had such a specific personality. As they looked at you it was obvious to notice the connection with them. Never have I felt so naked. It felt as if they could see straight through me.
The hour went faster than I could've imagined. As we neared the end we were close to the third in command silverback name Rwuigi which means door. I took so many selfies on Giles phone. At one point I was so excited I just kept videoing saying how a gorilla was right behind me. The last 5 minutes approached and as we looked around we came to realize we were surrounded by gorillas in every which direction. Just as we noticed and we're taking pictures of silverback number two and three the dominant appeared from behind. Brittany went running pushing everyone out of the way. Kaylee and I sustained some minor injuries not from the gorilla but from her!
As we left the gorillas and made the hike back we were all so thrilled. The hike back was strenuous but we were all so excited to be a part of something so exotic. To wrap up the day Damien presented us each one by one with awards for seeing the gorillas. When we asked if our day was typical he simply said "No if I did that all the time I would break my back!"
The ride back was filled with rebelling of the stories from the day and non stop laughter. Getting back to the camp was even more of a joy when everyone was thrilled to see us. They had been back for hours and had started to wonder about us! For at least three more hours into the night we laughed and laughed at our strenuous but rewarding trip.
