Gorillas in the Mist

There are three ways of getting to Mgahinda National Park from Kisoro. A special hire taxi, too expensive...a tour bus put on by your tour company, too expensive. And BodaBodas, motorcycle taxis, cheap as chips. So, in the pitch black, at about 6am we jumped aboard our bikes and headed down 14km of volcanic rocks and ash and dust and dirt. Gripping on for dear life, we could see nothing of the road ahead and it was pretty darn cold. But, I was thrilled by it. Knowing that I was about to tick off the number one thing on my bucket list, meant that every bit of the journey was only adding to my anticipation. Being outside of the confines of a car meant that our senses were heightened. The smells of the trees and plants we were passing, the feel of the cold wind whipping by our ears, the sounds of the villages we passed waking up and the birdsong, and, of course, the sight of the mountains, shrouded in the mist as the sun began to rise. It was simply beautiful, I barely noticed the bumps in the road, everything was just as I had pictured it. Gorillas have been a fixation of mine since I was a small child. My favourite books were about gorillas, my cuddly toy, Grilly, was and still is a gorilla...he still sleeps in my bed! All I ever wanted to see at the zoo were gorillas, all I ever wanted to be was like a gorilla. My Grandma loved them too, her talking about the gorillas is one of my strongest memories of her. She always wanted to take me to Howletts Zoo to see them, but was never able to. My Dad took me there shortly after her death in her name. I bet she never imagined that I would actually get to see them in the wild. This day was not just about me, it was about my Grandma as well, and her memory was strongly in my mind. Throughout the time I truly wished I was flying home that evening to tell her all about it, I know how enthralled she would have been, and I hope she is proud that I was able to do this. Mgahinda National Park is Uganda's smallest. It has three peaks and borders Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. This is a great place to see the gorillas, as permits can be obtained at short notice and the foliage is more open than Bwindi Impenetrable. The one problem being they don't need Visas to pop over to either of the other countries. Fortunately, they were happily munching there way through the Ugandan undergrowth. They were some way from the Park HQ, so we were bused round the park to a closer point. My travelling companions were a family of 5 Austrians and a Dutch couple. I was very lucky to have such considerate, honest and decent people to watch the gorillas with. The walk up to the gorillas took about an hour and was pretty hard going, lots of foliage, lots of difficult climbs, but you barely noticed as the sound of the gorillas started to become more obvious. The sight of broken branches and gorilla dung along the way meant that you the excitement was continually building. The trackers had located the gorillas nice and early meaning that they were prepared for humans to approach. Rounding a corner, I looked up to see a Silverback sat up staring right at us. The intake of breath in the group was an amazing sound in itself. He sat there looking, then looking away, weighing this group of humans up and deciding we were just about alright by him. However, there are three silverbacks in this group, making for a rather tense, testerone filled group of animals. And as we sat looking at the dominant male, his understudy came flying through the bushes at our tracker, screaming and smashing his chest, he must have travelled about 20 yards in no time at all. The tracker stood still, as is the correct technique, we all shifted very uncomfortably and quite frankly, we were all looking at each other in terror. We had been told about charging, but you never really expect it. The sound of the scream is ear piercing, and the sight of 250kg wild animal flying at you is one that is unforgettable. Still, the chap calmed down a touch [though he did do two more mini charges during our stay] and we continued to watch the dominant silverback as he watched us straight back. I sat about 4metres from him, just in awe. You see them on TV, you see them in a Zoo, but nothing can prepare you for the sight of the greatest animal on earth, sitting just metres away, staring at you. It is as magical as it is terrifying. As the dominant male walked off, we followed him for about 10minutes as he worked his way through the undergrowth. Soon we found ourselves sitting amongst the whole group. IN the tree a female sat eating as her 8 month old son swung in the same tree. The dominant male sat munching away, but the tension with the other males still clear...if another male entered within 10metres, the dominant male would shout at them, throw his arms about and generally make it clear that this was his food. How the group can survive with three silverbacks, two women and male black back I do not know, but it does make for pretty spectacular viewing! As we watched the other baby showing off in the tree right above our heads, the young male blackback approached us. He worked his way up a small path towards us then stopped. The tracker told us all to shift back half a metre, as we sat in a line looking out over the group. We were told that the gorilla wanted to pass by us. And he did. He came up, turned and walked along the line of us strange humans...then stopped by me. I know what you're all thinking, hairy nick, looks like a gorilla...something tells me that this chap was thinking exactly the same. He stopped there, just staring at me. I stared right back, in shock, in terror, in delight. His eyes were such a beautiful, deep brown. Here I was, half a metre from the greatest of all apes, a future leader of the group, staring right into his eyes. Its hard to explain how the eyes of a gorilla differ from most other animals, but I shall try. When I look into my dog, Brynach's eyes, he has a rather vacant, 'pat me' look to them. Nothing is going on more than just a basic loving look, its very simple and very nice. But the gorillas eyes are calculating, they are thinking, they are considering and they are interested, they are curious. At exactly this time, I felt a tug on my trousers, I look down to see his hand grabbing them, trying to get a grip on my leg. What do you do? I was just amazed, a wild mountain gorilla was interested in my trousers, interested in me! The moment lasted about a minute, but will stay with me a life time. I had always wanted to spend time with gorillas in the wild, watching them. I had gotten to see a silverback charge, a baby swing in the trees, and now, a young male was wanting to find out more about me. You dream about it, but you don't imagine it. Why did he stop at me and not the other 10 people? I don't care, it was wonderful and I just wish my Grandma could have seen it! Afterwards the tracker called me 'the friend of the gorillas', he pulled me aside and told me that what had happened was a special moment that I should never forget...I told him that there was no risk of that happening. One of the group caught it all on video, and is throwing it my way when they get home. So, watch out for that when I get home. Enough from me today. I have gone into much detail, and I could go further still. Can't wait to post up the pictures for you all. It is expensive, it is difficult to get to and hard work, but that hour that you spend amongst a group of the world's most amazing animals is the most precious moment of my life...my first born child is going to have a hell of a job on their hands to beat it! Since my Grandma's passing, my Great Aunt Maud has been my adopted Grandma. I see it fitting that, as Maud passed away last week, it was the money she left me that made my Grandma's dream a reality. Both women are dearly loved and truly missed. Best Wishes Nick