Gorilla trekking

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Another early start, we leave the hotel at 6am. We drive to the base of the volcano again and pick up our armed escort, he is more protection from Congolese rebels... It's then another hour drive on very rough roads. At points it is proper 4WD territory, I am petrified that we are going to fall off the cliff side. Fidel doesn't help when he hits a bridge post and breaks the wheel arch off!
We finally arrive at a remote building where the trekking will begin. We take one guide and 2 armed guards who also have machetes for cutting paths in the forest. We start with a short walk through some farmland then we enter the forest. The guide has a GPS monitor so he can take us to the place where the gorillas were last seen. This takes about 2 hours, it's tough going as our legs still ache from the volcano climb. Once we find the last known position, we then look for fresh paths made by the gorillas, also freshly eaten bamboo. Then there they are!!! The family of 13 gorillas, silver back, black back, mothers, babies, youngsters, it's amazing!! They are hidden by some bushes, but soon the silver back comes out to change location, so the whole family follow. He is huge and I am scared but am assured we are not in any danger. We are allowed up to 7m away from the gorillas which is shockingly close, we also wear masks to prevent passing on any diseases. We follow the family to a more open patch and watch them eating and playing in trees. Then the black back comes up behind us, he gives us a mean looking stare and it also huge, but after a few minutes he walks on by. Our 1 hour is almost up so we follow the gorillas a little further and see some youngsters play fighting, then it's time to leave. We walk the 2 hour trek back and then have the horrible 4WD drive back to Goma. Another exhausting but amazing day!

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