Chris Stares down a Gorilla
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
8
19
Trip End
Nov 11, 2007
Kampala,
Uganda
Sunday, October 7, 2007
So we arrived at the UWA office and after a quick orientation (which included a list of things not to do near the Gorillas - no eating / drinking / smoking, no coughing / sneezing in their direction, no flash photography, stay 7 m away and 'extend back' if they get closer, no looking them in the eye...) the group heads down into a deep valley - one side farm land and the other inpenatrable forest. There are 8 paying customers (including ourselves) and then each of us hired a porter who was actually a local farm boy / girl in their early 20's. Some of the group needed them, most didn't but it was nice to have a local person to talk to
Gorilla in the trees
.As we approached the bottom of the valley the sound of crashing trees and loud erie gorilla noises echoed up. Finally, we got close enough to see them - 9 mountain gorillas lounging in the trees. We got as close as we could to the gorillas - we were standing on a small path through the trees and gorillas were directly ahead of us on the same path. Then there was some noise from behind our tour group, and the heads of gorillas appeared - seven in total - on the same path. Now there were gorillas in front and behind us. After a couple of seconds of panic from the paying customers the guides had us back as far off the trail as we could - like maybe 3 m. I was crouched into a thorn bush. Most of the gorillas turned into the trees on the opposite side of the path from us, but the silverback and a blackback walked right past us. The silverback stopped right at our group - looked us up and down, and then kept going - grabbing a branch to have a snack on the way by. Next came the blackback - but he stopped just before the tour group and stared right at us - and kept staring. The whole point of being there was to watch the gorillas, however this gorilla was watching us so I spent the time trying to figure out where to look without looking him in the eye. Chris of course just stared him down - he apparently had missed the rule on not looking the gorillas in the eye. The blackback eventually passed with a flourish - he took a running jump, grabbing the same branch as the silverback, before running past.
We followed the gorillas around in the bush for another 45 minutes - got to watch the baby swinging in the trees, watch the young ones wrestle, the adults eat and sleep. It was absolutely amazing.
We spend the night in Kisoro, and then after a crazy 11 hour drive back (there was a motorcycle with a couch strapped on the back) we are back in Kampala. Chris and I are enjoying a down day to email and do laundry - maybe go to visit some of the sites in Kampala, and tomorrow we head to Fort Portal to visit crater lakes, game parks, and the Rwenzori mountains.
