A large silverback mountain gorilla in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Zaire.
click here to hear the gorilla. We trekked through the jungle for about 3 hours before we found a family of gorillas,
and this silverback was the dominant male.
The females and juveniles were pretty shy but this male had been gradually
habituated for close human contact.
At one point I sat next to him about a metre and a half away !
He made threatening gestures to me which made me flinch !
If a gorilla threatens you you're not supposed to run as he will most likely
chase you and hurt you.
With all the trouble occurring in this part of Africa in recent years I was
worried about the survival of these magnificent creatures.
I read recently that most of the gorillas have survived the tribal wars,
although the main threat is now from poachers.
All of the gorilla national parks are still closed to tourists except the
one in Uganda, but some tourists were murdered there recently.
So at the moment it's difficult to see these marvelous animals, and with
the way things are heading, you may never see them again outside zoos!
(I don't have any gorilla photos of my own because the two rolls of faster film
I bought for this trek didn't turn out! Bummer!)
Click on the picture to go back.
* Photo courtesy of Ed Douglas, a fellow trekker.
