Mountain Gorillas Of Rwanda
If there is one thing that should be on your bucket list it is seeing the Gorillas in Rwanda or Uganda. When you are sitting in the middle of a group of 25 Gorillas its the biggest buzz in the world. zoo’s will never be the same again.
Getting There
Starting here at Volcanoes National Park, Kinigi HQ, Rwanda. After check in and a short talk, We were then divided up into groups of 8, put into 4WD’s and taken to the group of Gorillas that was assigned to us, our group were lucky in that our drive was only around 40min before we reached the start of our hike. some groups had an 1-1/2 hour drive. Walking through farm land until we arrived at Volcanoes National Park boundary fence, a very long hand built stone wall to stop the Elephants from crossing over on to the farm land.
Climbing over the fence you enter a dark and wet Bamboo forest, hiking up hill on a muddy, stinging nettle filled animal trail, we climbed steady for the next hour before we reached the armed guides that follow and protect the Gorillas every day. Stopping for a drink and a bit too eat we headed back into the Bamboo again, after about 10 min, rounding a corner there were 2 Gorillas sitting on the trail, walking pass them we come across the main group of adults with babies, feeding and playing, with one very big male Silverback in the middle.
Once we started interacting with them they became very relaxed around us, coming in close and just sitting next to you, at one point a young female took a hold of my ankle and move may leg to one side so she could walk passed, a baby was playing up in the bamboo making it bend over above our heads for a closer look.
Taking photos in the Bamboo, The light was not the best due in part to the overcast day and the thickest of the bamboo, but every now and then the sun came through for us letting you get in come nice shots. When we first got there (you only have 1 hour with the Gorillas) taking photos was on every one’s mind which was great, but looking back now I wished I have spend more time just watching them “next time” After our 1 hour and 10min yes we got an extra 10min, it was nice down hill hike back out through the bamboo forest.
You can check out more photos of the Gorillas we used Africa-in-focus to get us there and back, small groups only,they also did all the bookings/payments for the Gorillas etc which have to be done well in advanced.
Or watch it on YouTube Here
Baby Gorilla Playing on Silverback Gorilla
