In the jungle, the mighty jungle"

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OH MY GOD!!! I have come face to face with a big silverback Gorilla, literally stood 3ft away and almost had a heart attack when two had a flight and came charging towards us. My heart has never beat so quickly!! But what an experience, definately up there as one of my top 3!! Definately worth the exhausting trek.

Got up bright and early on sunday, ready to see the gorillas. Attempted to have a shower but no such luck, good job I didn't bother in the end anyway. After a 20min drive in the truck, we arrived at the border to the DR Congo. Once we got our visas (yey another one, and my most impressive yet) we had to wait for what seemed like a life time until our car came to pick us up. The 13 of us doing the trek on sunday were further split into smaller groups. Our group of 6 were picked up by an armed guard and put into our car (if you can call it that) before heading towards the jungle. The drive though the Congo was a long slow process, never before in my life have i experienced such'horrendous roads. The atmosphere in the Congo felt so much different to what i'd experienced previously in Kenya and Uganda. The poverty is so much more apparent, i suppose there's a reason why its the most dangerous place in the world for women. Children shouted as we drove past "Jambo Mzunga, give me money", some even made gun signs with their hands. The volume of children, most with dirty torn clothes, some with runny noses, sores and signs of malnutrition. Tiny mud huts to call their home, and as previously mentioned the worst roads of my life - more dirt tracks covered with rocks and stones.

Once we arrived, we were given a quick briefing. We were informed that once we got close to the Gorillas we had to put on face masks, could only spend 1hr with them and had to be at least 7metres away at all times (only 20 people per day can get a permit to visit the mountain gorillas in Virunga. There are only 700 left in the world, it costs $400 for a permit currently but the price is set to rise to $2000 in the coming years as the numbers are decreasing). We commenced the trek, walking for about 1hr through crop fields until we reached the national park boarder. Soon we were in the jungle, trapsing through thick vegetation as high as me, climbing over rocks and tree stumps. After another hellish hours walk we were asked to put on the face masks, we had arrived!!!

The moment I set eyes of the gorilla lying casually under a tree was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, so surreal. We were taken around the corner where two silverbacks were waiting. They were huge. Followed them through the jungle as they and their family moved around. Must have seen 9-10 gorillas, some of which were only small babies. Watching them was fascinating, so human like. At one point, one went over to another an put his arm around her neck, very cute!!! The 7m rule went straight out of the window, I had gorillas literally walking right past my feet, mind blowing!! Before long the hour was up and it was time to leave the gorillas in peace and commence the 2hr trek back to the car, which didnt seem half as long as the first time around. It seems that we were very lucky to see our gorillas so soon, the other group had a further 2hrs to trek until they came face to face.

Getting back to camp that night everyone was buzzing, we couldn't believe what we had witnessed. Everyone that went had a different story to tell. An early night was had by all that night, all overwhelmed and exhausted from the days events. One more day in Kisora, whilst the other group do their trek and then its back to Kampala and then onto Jinja for a few days of fun activities.....

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