Seeing gorillas up close in the rainforest

“Before we go, you need to make sure that you tuck your trousers into your stockings,” said Wilbur, our guide for the day who was kitted out in perfectly pressed green military-esque clothing, a green cap and a green t-shirt with the phrase ‘I penetrated the impenetrable’ on the back and the colourful Ugandan flag on the edge of the sleeves. “We have safari ants,” he continued, “and if they bite you they can cause you lots of concerns. They will make you dance.” Wilbur was briefing us before we headed out to track mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, filling us in on the information we’d need to know before we made our way into the thick rainforest sprawled out below. We were sat in the office which was perched at the top of a mountain overlooking the rest of the park. Claire and I had paid the six hundred dollars or so for our Gorilla tracking permits and woke up at 6.20 that day, ecstatic at the prospect of seeing these magnificent animals in their natural habitats. We awoke at Bwindi Backpackers Lodge high up in the mountains and ate breakfast on their large terrace that looks out over the thick rainforest below, the sun rising from behind one of the giant hillsides.

“The trackers are already in the rainforest,” continued Wilbur, “they have been in there since early this morning and will radio us when they find the trail of the gorillas. Then we can make our way to them and hopefully you will see them. If we are really unlucky and it gets to 3pm and we still haven’t found the gorillas, then we will have to turn back and head home. But if you don’t see them, you can get 50% of your money back.

“If you feel that you cannot walk any further, then you have two options. Number one, you can turn around and walk back to the office. Once you are here you go home, you go to the gym, you work out lots, you come back, then you go again. Or, you if you have lots of money in your pocket, we can radio in a helicopter with a stretcher on and we can pick you up and fly you directly to where the gorillas are.” Claire and I looked at each other. Whilst a ride on a helicoptered stretcher might be fun, especially over a tropical rainforest, we most certainly didn’t have enough cash on us to afford that sort of special treatment.

“There are also elephants in this rainforest, so if we do come across them we need to be careful as they are very aggressive. If we do see them, then we will try and divert around them, if we aren’t able to do so and we come into close contact with them, then the guards will fire their guns in the air and the elephants will run away.”

After our briefing, we were handed sticks and set off. Wilbur was our guide and he was accompanying us on the trek along with God and Edward, two men with AK47 machine guns, who I guess you could refer to as guards. All three of our companions were extremely friendly and helped us along during the trek. So, the five of us set off into the rainforest where we were hoping to come across mountain gorillas in the wild. These animals can only be found in two giant rainforests, one of which is Bwindi, where we were trekking, and the other was a rainforest in the Virunga National Park which is situated in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a tiny bit leaking into Uganda in the very south of the country. The rainforest we’d chosen to visit is home to half of the mountain gorillas in the wild, with around 400 roaming around.

Left to Right – Wilbur, Edward and God

The hike was like nothing I had experienced before. The Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest was not given its name lightly. The forest was incredibly thick and there were no pathways on which to walk. This made it feel all the more like an adventure as we had to hack our way through the thicket, stepping on fallen vines and trampled shrubs to venture deeper within. We made our way down steep hillsides, using our walking sticks and hanging vines as supports, ducked under vegetation and passed gigantic trees that towered as high as you could see. Most of the time the sky was hidden behind the thick green canopy, which kept the sunshine at bay. However, despite the beaming rays of the sun not reaching to where we were stood, the heat and humidity in the forest was still very high.

Claire about to enter the rainforest

Every half an hour or so, when we found a clearing, Wilbur would get on his little black Motorola radio and have a quick chat with the trackers, checking the location of the gorillas in relation to where we were resting. At one such stop he had been told that they were close. We were on the move again. This time we came to a small river running through the forest. Wilbur, Edward and God were wearing immaculate wellington boots and were able to wade across the shin-deep flowing water. Claire and I however, were in hiking boots and were warned not to get our feet wet. Therefore, our three travel companions had to create a makeshift bridge across the river using giant rocks that they would lift up and plonk down, sending water splashing all over the place. Eventually, the stepping stones were in place and we were able to make our crossing. An hour later and after some more hacking and scrambling through the dense rainforests we bumped into one of the trackers. We were now close to the gorillas, very close.

Building a bridge

Ten minutes later, after making our way up a hillside, the forest thinned out and we met up with the other trackers. We left our bags and sticks behind, and walked another 10 metres through some light-green bushes and there he was. Sat beneath a large shrub, on which he was dining out, was a huge 250kg silverback gorilla. This monstrous creature was just chilling, slightly lower down the hill than we were. He was eating his way through a large batch of leaves, his silver back glistening in the midday sunshine. He was joined by a number of smaller female gorillas, a few babies and a rogue male that he had allowed into his group. The babies were clinging to the backs of their mothers, or playing around on the branches of trees, but we couldn’t take our eyes of the silverback. Ten minutes later he had hauled himself up onto his hands and feet and made his way about 10 metres to a new spot in a slight clearing, the forest falling to the ground as he trampled through. He looked like King Kong.

A silverback’s back

Once in the clearing we were able to get close. Real close. The tracker in front, whose name I sadly cannot remember, used a machete to hack away at all of the shrubs in our way giving us a clear line of sight. However, his presence clearly annoyed the giant silverback who proceeded to jump up, turn around and charge at our group. Claire and I were terrified, and for a split second I thought someone was doomed. No one warned us that this might happen, and the lack of any warning led us to think at that moment, that it was not the norm and we were in trouble. However, our guides just stood their ground and the gorilla, the giant 250kg beast that towered over them even when on his all fours, stood his. Our hearts raced, but the guides just stood there as the gorilla surveyed our posse. He glanced around at all of us, making eye contact as he did so, before deciding to himself that all was well. He then just turned around and slowly moved off another few metres.

As he charged… I can’t believe I managed to get this picture as I instantly thought we were doomed…

Again, our guides wanted to get us up close, so we could get a great sight of the animal and possibly others. And, just as before, our machete wielding friend got a bit too close, agitated the silverback and within seconds the Mexican standoff was in place again. At least this time, we knew not to turn and leg it. Though, despite it being the second time the gorilla reared up and charged, it was still hard not to feel an instant pang of terror at the prospect of seeing just how powerful this animal was. As soon as he had stopped and surveyed our group, we all let out a nervous chuckle as you often do when you get over an instant feeling of fear.

The third time the gorilla charged it wasn’t our fault. The young male who was new to the group began screaming at us, a sound that was rather unsettling, and the silverback was merely putting it in its place. It ran over, the young’un legged it, and again the silverback was a mere two metres away, staring us in the eye. He was most certainly in charge.

Eating…

Eventually all of the gorillas made their way across a river, and we were able to watch them crawl across the fallen tree that served as their makeshift bridge. The silverback was first followed by the others, with the mothers crossing the water with their babies clinging tightly to their fur so as not to fall in and get swept away. This was 55 minutes into our allotted one hour with the gorillas, who we had spent two-and-a-half-hours tracking, and was the perfect way to say goodbye to these magnificent animals as they continued on with their day. They crossed the river and instantly disappeared into the thickness of the forest.

We were in awe the entire time, and were amazed at just how close we could get. The whole group, the trackers, the guards, our guide and us two all visibly enjoyed the entire experience. The trek back, though difficult in the heat, and again being a challenge as most of it was uphill through thick undergrowth, was made with a collectively jolly atmosphere. The final stretch of our climb, back up out of the rainforest, was through a clearing and a new tea plantation. The hillside was bathed in the mid afternoon sunshine as we clambered to the top sweating and thirsty. When we finally made it to the top of the mountain we were done. Our adventure was over. We sat looking out over the rainforest in which we were just entangled, eating our packed lunches with Wilbur, Edward and God, waiting for the truck to come and get us. It was an experience I know Claire and I will never forget.