Gorilla Trekking In Uganda
Friday, July 30th, 2010Distinguished by several adaptations to its high altitude home such as a longer and more luxuriant coat, the most celebrated resident of the Virunga Mountains is the Mountain gorilla.Approximately 300 mountain gorillas live in the Ugandan mountains with their total range of some 420 sq km actually spread across Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC. There are two or three large groups of between 30 and 40 individuals in the Ugandan mountains with the remainder living in groups of 5 to 15 animals. The mountain gorilla was unknown until 1902, when two individuals were shot in the Virunga Mountains by Oscar van Beringe.
One of Africa’s indisputable travel highlights (and a peerless wildlife experience) is a mountain gorilla safari or gorilla adventure in the Virungas. It is difficult to describe the simple exhilaration when first setting eyes on a wild mountain gorilla. The silverbacks are enormous animals weighing about three times as much as the average man with a shaggily luxuriant coat exaggerating their bulk. Yet, certainly by comparison with most primates and despite their fearsome size and appearance, gorillas are remarkably peaceful creatures. If these gentle giants had the temperament of vervet monkeys, baboons or, for that matter, humans gorilla tracking would be a considerably more dangerous pursuit.
The gorilla’s unfathomable attitude to their daily human visitors is almost more impressive even than their size and bearing which differs greatly from that of any other wild animal. On our last visit one of the gorillas regularly broke off from chomping on bamboo to study us with soft brown eyes staring deeply into ours; it was as if he was seeking out some sort of connection and, whilst this may sound anthropomorphic, almost everybody who visits the gorillas experiences an almost mystical sense of recognition.
Equally fascinating is the extent to which the gorillas try to interact with their visitors, often approaching them and occasionally touching one of the guides in apparent greeting as they walk past. gorilla trekking in Uganda Raising considerable curiosity with several of the youngsters and a couple of the adults was a photographic tripod as one large female walked up to the tripod, stared ponderously into the lens then wandered back evidently satisfied. It is almost as if the gorillas recognise their daily visitors as a troop of fellow mates who are too passive to pose any threat. Safe in the knowledge that we’d accept its dominance a youngster would occasionally put on a chest-beating display as it walked past us, it would never dare do this to an adult gorilla! It should be said here that the guides try to keep the tourists at least five meters away from the gorillas as close contact with humans can expose gorillas to fatal diseases – however the reality is that there is little to be done to stop the gorillas flouting rules of which they are of course unaware.
One is allowed just one magical hour with the animals when gorilla trekking. Far from a cheap exercise, one should be under no illusions about this and the fact that getting there can be hard work. gorilla trekking The hike up to the mountain gorilla’s preferred habitat of bamboo forest involves a combination of steep slopes, dense vegetation, high altitude and slippery underfoot conditions, especially after rain. luxury safari For all that, the more accessible gorilla groups when on gorilla treks can be reached by reasonably fit adults of any age and, in over 20 years of African travel, we have yet to meet anybody who has gone gorilla trekking in Uganda and regretted the financial expense or physical exertion