Why has this been such an incredible moment? Well, for one, Pablo's is the largest mountain gorilla group anywhere in the world, with 45 individuals. A LOOOOOT! (By comparison, so far the largest group I had been in had below 15 individuals). The other thing that had kept me away all this time - well, they range pretty much at the very top of the mountain, so all I had heard were stories of struggle and pain on the part of everyone who has even gone to see them.
Considering that the rainy season is upon us and the forest will soon turn into this mud-pot, I decided it would be now or never, so that I could still catch the paths in a decent shape. So now it was, two days after I had been feverish (therefore no strength and serious breathing problems). Then again, when has anything been "as it should be" in my life?!
Luckily, as the bamboo shoot season is also near, and all the 9 gorilla groups we monitor are coming down to feed there, Pablo's was also on the descent. OK, so I cheated a little by not going all the way to the top. But OMG, was the hike CRAZY in any event!!!
My colleague Veronica was there to commiserate, and between IPod music and conversations in Italian we finally reached the group, after almost 3 hours of up-and-down through giant lobelias and thick nettles. Yes, painful at times, for sure, but all SO worth it.
Being surrounded by that many animals is indeed mind-blowing. Wherever you turn, a gorilla will be right there, watching you, brushing by you. Wherever you want to go, another one will either lead or follow you. Veronica, the gorilla expert, would ID them immediately after the nose print and give me the heads-up: this one is gentle, the other one may charge, etc, etc. You certainly don't want to mess with these HUGE creatures (a silverback in his all might would weigh up to 250 kilograms and have the power of 7 grown men)...
Luckily, apart from an interaction between the dominant silverback Cantsbee and a lost baby buffalo, everything turned out to be completely peaceful. The only damage - my knees, which are about to explode from the steep, rushed descent we had to make, in order to avoid the mother of all storms approaching fast. Quite an INCREDIBLE adventure, for sure, and one that opened my appetite for Pablo visits on a regular basis from now on!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment