Mountain gorillas in Uganda

There are only 1000 mountain gorillas left in the wild. They face habitat loss and they are poached/hunted for many different reasons: many cultural and traditional believes, meat (it's rare, so expensive), to keep in captivity and more other reasons.
In 2012 I did the gorilla trek in Uganda (also possible in Rwanda), an once in a lifetime experience.
After walking and sliding hours through the muddy bush we got to see these magnificent creatures up close. When I say up close, I mean up close. The bush is so thick that the open areas are really small. We had to share them with the gorilla.
I was so close to the silverback (leader) I could almost touch him.
I did the trek with my brother and a friend and I am pretty sure I wouldn't have made it without my brother. As I mentioned it was really muddy and it's up and down hill all the time. I would fall on my bum slide a little and my brother would help me up. By the time I was back on my feet I would slide again 🤣
The rangers that guide you are just cutting their way through the bush. There are other rangers already with the gorillas to protect them and through sounds (yelling) the rangers find each other. They obviously know where they left them the day before and once they get close the communication start. This being written; that was my experience in 2012, things might have changed by now.
It definitely was an adventure I will never forget and so special to do with my brother.
The gorillas are just relaxing in the movie. They found their location for the night and they are lying around, playing or eating. It's not an action movie, but a movie showing you the gentle side of a gorilla and not like King Kong.

[@TamaraGuijt]

Amazing animals! We saw them in 2018 & 2023 🤗

[@ZelFzzi]

That’s seriously close!