Day 20 - GORILLAS IN THE WILD

We set off immediately after breakfast.  The place where we start the trekking is pretty close so we’re there in about 20 minutes.  We meet our guide Damien and are briefed on how to react when we see the gorillas.  There are 8 of us in the group and so now I have more new friends, a couple from the Yukon, a couple from South Africa who are currently living in Kampala and a couple from the Washington DC area whose daughter is working in Uganda.  Our guide explains that we’re not to approach closer than 7 metres to the gorillas and they even have it measured out on the ground so we can see how close that is.  As we discover when we finally come across them -  nobody told the gorillas about the 7 metre rule because they came as close as 3 feet.

We started on a trail and were climbing right up the hill in thick mud in several places.  It was getting steamy as the sun was brilliantly shining when we could see it through the thick trees.  We were advised to tuck our pants into our sock and boots to be sure that the ants couldn’t get inside our pants.  Within about a half hour of hard trekking we realized we wouldn’t be in the 15 minute group.  About half way up (apparently we climbed over 1800 metres) we left the trail and were in straight out jungle.  We had the opportunity to hire local porters to carry our packs as we had to take at least 2 litres of water each as well as a lunch packed at the hotel.  We each hired a porter and THANK HEAVENS WE DID.  We were also each given a carved walking stick and that was godsend.  There were points where the porters were pulling us up from in front and pushing us from behind so we wouldn’t slide back down in the mud.  I was surprised how well I did.

Finally we met up with the trackers and were advised that the gorillas were just ahead.  We left our porters behind and only went about 20 feet before we saw our first one.  And from there it just got better and better.  We saw the whole family including the silverback and the new babies (about 3 weeks old).  They just kept playing and were definitely not shy about approach us.  It was absolutely amazing.  At one point 2 of them were up in a tree and swung down almost directly into our midst.  It was everything I’d hoped for. 

While the trek up was hard the biggest challenge was yet to come – everything that goes up must come down and we had to take the same route down.  All the mud was more challenging coming down.   By the time we got down I think all of us were almost shaking because our legs were so tired. 

But – I SAW GORILLAS IN THE WILD !!!!!!!!!  I’ll send a few pictures.

On the way back we stopped at a local orphanage and the children sang and danced for us.  It was amazing and again, a real reminder of how lucky we are and how much we have in comparison to others.  They were all so happy and I just wanted to take some of them home.  I left my hiking boots behind so they could be given to one of the children.  I splurged on a massage to see if I could avoid the painful muscles in my legs, that I knew would be coming, and that helped.   

Back at the hotel we’d all become best friends from sharing the experience.  We sat by the fire and shared a drink as we compared pictures and then had dinner together.  

And so it’s back to George for me and my cozy bed with the hot water bottle – this time it’s on my knee in the hopes that I’ll be in better shape tomorrow.