It is amazing to see such recognizable facial expressions. Trekking with gorillas should be on every wildlife enthusiast bucket list.
Rwanda offers some of the best mountain gorilla trekking opportunities in the world. These incredibly rare animals live high in the mountain tops in Virunga Mountain National Park. About half of the remaining mountain gorillas in the world reside in Rwanda.
My group has just finished a wildlife photo safari in Kenya, and has flown to Rwanda to finish with a bang, trekking with mountain gorillas. The covid protocols are pretty strict here in Rwanda at the moment. We had to get a test before coming, then another after landing at the airport, and quarantined at a hotel until that test came back negative.
Then we jumped in our car for a 4 hour drive up North to the Virunga Mountains. The next morning we met at the headquarters of the national park. Here is where we were assigned a ranger and a gorilla family to hike to. Some gorilla families are high in the mountains, which means a very difficult trek. Other families are close to the edge of the forest. So the rangers break up the groups (maximum 8 people) and assign them different hikes based on their hiking abilities.
We were assigned the Sabyinyo group of gorillas. They are one of the oldest families that have been around since the Diane Fossey days. We hiked for about 20 minutes through the farmlands before entering the bamboo forest. It was another 45 minutes through the forest before we were met by the gorilla trackers. They had us put on fresh face masks as they are worried about covid being transferred to the gorilla from humans since their DNA is so similar.
Then we went around the corner and had the experience of a lifetime. We stayed with the family of 17 gorillas for the next hour. After we left, no one else will see those gorillas until the next day. So the gorillas have 23 hours of each day to themselves.
Here are some of the pictures from that magical experience.
The silverback gives us a little yawn.
There was multiple generations of gorillas in this family. This little baby was definitely one of my favorites.
The baby gave me a few close up opportunities.
We had a lot of good lighting for photos, which isn't always the case in the dense forest.
I like that there is nothing but gorillas in this photo.
Some of the 'teenagers' playing wrestling.
I will definitely be heading back to Rwanda soon after this amazing experience.
Check it out on pinmapple.com as well!
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-Dai Mar
