My First Ever Gorilla Trekking Experience! What I had never imagined or expected in life! Part 2

We did the Nkuringo sector and we were joined by another family of 3 and that’s how our trek became livelier.
Ahead, was a group of porters/guides who went to scout for us the location of the gorillas. This is so because these gorillas don’t stay in one place. These move in groups of families. They keep moving as they search for food. So, if there’s no one looking out for their location that would mean the clients will walk longer distances than expected and even walk in vain because of a possibility of not knowing where to find them. I remember the lady asking how far we will go to meet them. But she was very determined to trek with her children

Our guide Martin took us through the different types of food consumed by these gorillas, their nests, and their medicines and how they use them. He told us the overall behavior of gorillas, and this was interesting to hear how animals can have as much intelligence as humans.

Into the thick impenetrable forest, we enjoyed the clean air, the different bird calls, the medicinal herbs and their benefits. It was Nature O’clock.
Barely had we seen tracks of possible feeds and wastes something that indicated that they had just been in that spot not long ago than we received a call that the family had crossed the river.

“The river??” Martin exclaimed! Yes, they did. As an experienced guide he didn’t display any panic but confirmed to us that we were actually nearing the gorillas. He asked the porters to stay where they were and wait to help us cross the river something they did willingly. They were about 6 of them and we were 5 in number.

It had just rained and the flow of water in the river was quite vigorous. So, we couldn’t cross with our feet also because of our shoes and the water levels were a bit high. So, Martin requested the porters to carry us on their backs to cross the river. They had gumboots on something which prevented them from getting soaked in water.
Being carried on one’s back? What an exciting and scary thing to do. I was last carried on the back 30 plus years ago and now. Every other person was worried about the experience but also had no other means to cross over so we had to hid to what we were told to do.
It felt like a child again

And there we were all ferried to the banks of the river and immediately told not to make noise because guess what? Someone was laying down right at the bank after a heavy meal. And the other was still feeding

The shock on my face rolled tears in my eyes. I was astonished at how a gorilla was actually looking and acting exactly like humans. How big they were! Wait a minute. I forgot to pull out my camera and stared at this gorilla sleeping, scratching itself and trying to remove some bugs from its fur. As if I had a connection to this gorilla, it did exactly what humans do. I finally gathered myself to take a video of this moment.

Don’t trust anyone to capture this moment for you.
This gorilla got up and sat down to continue feeding.