Close encounters with Rwanda's gorillas

Posted on 23 July 2009

During a recent trip to Rwanda I had the good fortune to go gorilla trekking in the Volcanos National Park. After hiking for an hour uphill through jungle, we came to this family of gorillas.

Everything seemed to be going fine until the big silverback took exception to my shooting the wives and kids. I was mesmerised, staring through my lens and pressing the trigger almost continuously. But suddenly he grew in size, his eye filling the whole viewfinder. I lowered my camera. He was striding straight towards me, with a hunched and swaggering gait. ‘Back off, don’t look him in the eye!’ shouted the guide, but we were pressed against dense foliage: there was no way to get out of his path.

The silverback grabbed the guide and shoved him aside, then brushed past me, heading for two baby gorillas that have materialised behind us. My heart pounded and I was shaking like a leaf, but my whole being was elated. I’d been touched by a big, hairy angel!

Later the silverback came to stand beside our group, making us submit. Like naughty school kids we stared at the ground, not daring to look him in the eye lest he took it as a challenge to his authority.






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