By Todd Gustafson

We ate breakfast at 6 a.m. and headed to the Park Center at 6:30 a.m. for our briefing and off to the trek! The family group we will visit is the Hirwa group of 17 gorillas (including one Silverback and a rare set of twins).

A pleasant, hour-long walk took us through the farmlands and eucalyptus forest to the buffalo wall. On the other side is where the trek began. We hiked a pretty easy 20 minutes (amazingly short) to the trackers. They had been following the troupe and had guided us to this spot via radio contact.

We put our camera gear together and asked where the gorillas were. Our guide took us to the base of a 140-foot jungle-enshrouded cliff face and we stared climbing. I’m proud of this group! We all made it to the top and were rewarded with an hour of gorilla photography like I’ve never had before.  The Silverback Gorilla named Munyinya was surrounded by females, young adults and three baby gorillas. Their grooming soon turned to play as the babies climbed all over the adults. Two young females started wrestling and rolling through green underbrush and the Silverback stood on all fours and walked into the jungle. Everyone else kept playing until the Silverback came crashing back onto the scene, scattering the family. 

They all followed the 450-pound male (as did we) to a new glade where we finished our visit to the gorillas with great chances for portraits. We trouped back down the mountain to our vehicles and drove back to the lodge, knowing we had been in contact with some very rare animals!