We begin our story with travels to Uganda. The adventure takes us to the mountain ranges in the southwest corner of Uganda and deep into the rain forest. There, in Bwindi National Park, we went searching for Silverback Gorillas.
The day started with an early breakfast and a 90 minute drive through the mountain range. The gravel roads were bumpy but the scenery was breathtaking. Dawn was breaking over the peaks of the mountains, bathing all the villages with their banana trees in the light of a new day.
We arrived at the camp and received our briefing for the day’s events. We were informed that several trackers went out earlier that morning to locate the family of gorillas that we would be following. They would radio back to us with the gorillas’ exact location. Then we were off. We began our hike at the top of a mountain following a well worn path. After 100 yards, we turned and moved into the bush. (At this Dan’s only comment was, “Cool, real hiking.”) The guides used their machetes and cleared a path as we went along. The mountainside was steep and the terrain was challenging but we made it to the bottom of the mountain with only 2 of us sliding part of the way. Now we were climbing up the other side. After an hour of hiking, we reached the trackers.
We grabbed our cameras, then slowly and quietly climbed the last of the distance to the plateau where the gorillas were sleeping and eating. It is hard to put into words the experience of being within 3 meters of a family of 10 gorillas. (4 silverbacks, 2 blackbacks–young males, 2 juvenile females, and 2 very young)
We kept low, taking many fantastic pictures of the gorillas as they moved about. It was amazing to see how strong and nimble these gorillas are. This leads to a great story that demonstrates the speed and agility of the gorilla:
We were all huddled on the ground, watching the gorillas around us. One particular gorilla started moving closer, acting very curious. He pulled down a tree’s branch and pretended to eat leaves as he stared us down. Then, quick as a wink, he jumped up and ran towards us. Next thing we knew the gorilla gave Dan’s leg a good WHACK as he ran past. We all stared in shocked disbelief for a few seconds then broke into laughter. The gorilla thought it was great fun. He moved to a nearby tree to turn and watch us.
Shortly thereafter we packed up our things and hiked back to camp. It was a great day and a remarkable experience. The best part being that Dan was slapped by a gorilla and lived to tell about it!!
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