Gorillas (the rest of the story)

Since visitors are allowed just one hour with the gorillas, you can imagine the pressure you feel to get some good pictures.

Here is a video from the beginning of the visit where you can hear all the shutters snapping and see another guest getting her picture taken in front of Guhondo:


Using your flash is not allowed, so I had a hard time with my point-and-shoot camera in the denser, darker areas of the bamboo thickets. But i was able to get some good pictures, a few short videos, but also took time to really just look and see and experience it from out behind the picture viewer. For the full set of pictures, please see my gorillas set on Flickr.

Apparently sometimes the gorillas stay fairly still and visitors kind of stay in one place and observe. This was not at all the case during our visit. Guhondo was very deliberate in his movements; others seeming appeared and disappeared more quickly. In this video, you can see Guhondo on the move:


As the gorillas moved, we had to both stay out of their way and also try to follow them at a safe distance (following Francois' lead at all times). Francois kept a vigilant eye on us, and gave direct instructions when we were too spread out, or needed to move or crouch down. His comfort and confidence is extremely reassuring.

There was one particularly curious blackback--an adolescent male who has not yet gone silver-- named what sounds like "geishamotz"(I know that's not spelled correctly so I'll keep it in quotes). He ventured over towards us a number of times, but mostly Francois was able to dissuade him. This may be a picture of him leaving in a huff from being thwarted from getting a closer look:

However, there was one time that were were a bit stretched out observing "geishamotz" who appeared to have calmed down. Suddenly he seemed to gget a great idea, to properly introduce himself to the visitors that day. He popped up and charged straight for u. The 7 meter buffer evaporated. Francois dove down the line to create a barrier between us and our would be new best friend. Of the 8 visitors, Lumbe was 7 and I was 8 in line away from both "geishamotz" and Francois, the human barrier. Thick bamboo completely shielded us from moving out of the way. At some point I stopped breathing and my heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of my chest to save itself. I willed my body to become smaller, preferably into a jello-like substance that could ooze through the bamboo, but all I managed to do was follow the instruction to crouch slowly. (please note, all of this happened in about a half a second) There was nothing left to do but to see what would happen next. At that instant, I swear I saw a smile on "geishamotz"' face as he gently flicked my left thigh just above my knee, and scampered farther off.

I remembered to allow oxygen to enter my lungs again. Francois noted that the 7 meter rule is fine for humans but that the gorillas don't seem to observe the same rule. "Geishamotz" could easily have tossed us aside like a leaves in his path, but he really just wanted to play. Thinking back on it now, I guess I'm "it" for now in this little game of tag.

Unfortunately, I don't have footage of this close encounter, thought i think Julia or her husband may have a video of it--I'll try to link to it if it gets posted.

Overall, it felt a lot like hanging out at a friend's house on Saturday morning--kids were playing:



Enjoying some good eats:



Sitting around, enjoying the view:

And if you're lucky, getting some attention from Mom:





Visiting with the gorillas was an amazing and truly unique experience. I have felt so great since; renewed maybe. Though as this picture (correctly) suggests, a shower was in order to count as "refreshed"...
Thanks for reading this far--you deserve some sort of award, like the certificates we received for visiting the gorillas!