Gorillas play, eat, perform for intrepid hikers and guides

They needed their passports to get in to the National Park and had to travel slowly in their 4WD as the local police used radars to enforce speed limits.. 

“As the sun was about to rise you could see the pockets of fog in the valleys as we climbed higher up the hills,” Mr Callaghan said. His driver Osbert on the way said his father had been killed in the Hutu-Tutsi wars and his family had fled to Uganda.

The mountain where the gorillas were straddles Rwanda, Congo and Uganda. Only 10 groups of eight tourists are allowed into the park on any one day, visiting 10 gorilla families

“The track was overgrown so with the steepness of the climb and the rainforest foliage our progress was slow.” Apart from the guide and porters we had another guide with an AK47 – not for protection from the gorillas but from buffalo.

”Our guide was in constant contact with the trackers by two-way radio. The trackers’ job is to monitor the gorilla family movements for the hikers.

Finally, they saw them – a group of six, including a silver back male. “Guides directed us as to where we could and could not be. There was an infant playing with a junior male, having a great time. At times during our hour with the gorillas we were as close as one to two metres but they continued eating and playing as though we were not there. This appeared to be their lunch and siesta spot. One of the gorillas lower down the track was perched on a low tree breaking off branches and chewing them.

“As we moved around the group we could hear the guides and trackers making deep-throated noises to reassure the gorillas we were not a threat especially to the male silver back. Just before our hour was up the silver back marched between us, with our guide becoming a little concerned, moving us all out of his way.

“The guides’ only real advice was if the male stood up and beat his chest we were all to drop to the ground and bow towards him in a subservient manner, slowly moving backwards.”