Gorilas in the mist

Gorillas in the mist…

So it was time to take on these famous gorillas….it all started with a 12 bus ride down to the far south western part of Uganda, to Bwindi Impenetrable national park..

ready for the trek...

We got in about 8pm and we had to begin the big trek at 8am the next morning…After a sleepless night (due to Jem being too excited to sleep!) we met with the other 22 people trekking that day.
There are three habitual groups in the national park and we were out to find Group M...

sweaty gret

We turned up and we were the youngest by far. We were surrounded by professional trekkers, all decked out in this gear with altitude readers and the works…. We didn’t even have rain gear! Oppps…

in the mist

We had a meeting with our guide who basically said, not to run when they charge and to expect anywhere from 2 - 10 hours of trekking to find the gorillas….AND to know we were in safe hands with three guards armed with AK- 47 to protect us from the rebels roaming the park….hmmmmm!

wow

So the trek began…Gret naively thought it would be a nice stroll through the park….HOWEVER we were literally climbing vertically up the mountain with our guide making a path with his machete up front… It was damn hard!! Jem was loving it but when the guide told us the gorillas were near 1.5 hrs in, Gret nearly cried with happiness!

big boy

So we dropped our bags and poles and went into the gorilla’s domain…crazy!

silverback

Jem was so excited by this stage he couldn’t even hold the camera steady so half our photos are blurred!!

long walk down

We were literally 1 metre from the massive silverback and even witnessed him charge us!! We just dropped to the ground while our guide made weird gorilla sounds attempting to calm him…to see him up close was unbelievable…He was just made of muscle and so intimidating! Awesome..!
Plus we saw two mums with newborns clinging to their stomachs…

jem at the end of it all

All up we saw 8/10 gorillas of the M group…we sat there for the hour we were allowed with them, in silence!
It was such an amazing experience & hope our photos do it justice!

g and the boy

The hour flew and the downhill trek resulted in few massive stacks by Gret!!
Look forward to seeing you all soon!
One more week then we are home!!
Love Gret & Jem!

X
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written by

jem_gret on February 11, 2007 from Kabale, Uganda

from the travel blog: East Africa and beyond....

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Hi Gret,
I am in awe, what an adventure! I look forward to your updates, thank you for sharing your African experiences... just beautiful.
Jennie C

written by Jennie Callow on February 13, 2007

Wonderful trip~I like this gorilla~ha

written by

winnerlovely on February 4, 2009

WOW...fantastic photos...this is a trip I have always wanted to do...thanks for sharing it.

written by

blowhole on February 5, 2009

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