This was the big day: gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park.
You are supposed to stay ten meters away from the gorillas, but the gorillas like to come a lot closer than that.
There were about ten of us in our group, plus the guide and trackers. Each group is assigned a gorilla family to visit. Some families are just a ten minute hike away while others can be over fours hours hiking away. We were going to see the Amahoro (peace) family.
It was a rocky, bumpy drive to get to the trailhead.
We hiked for less than two hours to get to our designated gorilla family.
It was raining lightly when we got to the gorilla family, so most of them were hiding in the thick trees to stay dry. The rain cleared up and, before too long, there were several gorillas checking us out, eating, napping, and playing in plain sight.
The babies were bold and loved to show off for us.
But the adults always kept a watchful eye on the babies and made sure we kept our distance from them.
For the physical and mental health of the gorillas, guides are very strict about enforcing the one hour time limit. The time flew by before we returned to the trailhead and our hotel.
