Uganda: Bwindi NP – Mountain Gorilla Tracking

And the last animal-related activity in Africa – mountain gorilla tracking in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The forest here is truly impenetrable – thick and on very steep slopes. And you have to hike and climb for often very long time to find the gorilla groups. A lot of people do this because it’s marginally cheaper than in Rwanda or safer than in Congo, and often come away with little than just a glimpse of gorillas. That was my expectation going in….. And, oh boy – did I get lucky (as usual)! While the gorilla group was only 10 individuals, there was a 2-year old baby male who was particularly playful and friendly – the entire hour turned into watching him and his farther silverback nearby. The little gorilla climbed trees right above, walked up to me to less than a feet close, and did various acrobatic tricks, clearly enjoying the human attention. And then…. As I was filming him climb a tree, he climbed on a thin branch right above my head and the branch broke – so the little guy just fell on my head – straight and direct. A video will be coming up eventually! That was a wild experience! And then his father the silverback slapped him for being naughty. His mom apparently “disagreed” about this treatment, and after a short altercation between the parents, they ended up having sex… So I saw mountain gorillas mate as well, which is almost never possible, even rangers have to track them for days to observe this..