Download this page in PDF formatA former client and dear friend taught me once that we don’t remember days in our lives, we remember moments. Trekking the endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda is one of those moments.
There are presently only about 750 endangered mountain gorillas remaining and many of them are in Uganda’s beautiful, lush, rainforest; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
The morning of our trek we met our guide and our fellow trekkers inside the park at
7:30am for the do’s and don’ts of trekking and what we could expect on our journey. We were told trackers had gone out between 2 and 3 that morning in search of the gorillas and once the gorillas were located, the trackers would wire back with where they were and about how long it would take for us to reach them. (It could take as little as 2 hours or less or as much as 12 hours to find them). So with our group’s machete and rifle wielding trackers and guide, we started the steep trek up the mountain. Fortunately about an hour and a half into the trek, the call came in that they had been found and we were only 30 minutes away! Music to my ears, given that I had already fallen 5 times! (Oh yes, did I mention? I highly suggest a good pair of hiking boots for this journey!)
And then the “moment” arrived. All of a sudden there was a gorilla in front of us, just munching away on the leaves of a tree. Although the guides like to keep people at least 7 meters from the animals, before we knew it, 4 more came much closer. We were so fortunate, as one was a Silverback, plus, a pregnant mother with her baby, and 2 male gorillas, all within 4-6 meters of us. It was truly a breathtaking experience as I stood there in utter silence realizing that I was within only 4 meters of one of the most dangerous animals in the world, in the middle of a rainforest half way around the world, that this was not a zoo, and there was no fence. A moment I shall never forget and now I cannot wait to go again.
More on Uganda coming soon….stayed tuned.