Gorilla Trekking: A ‘Profound Wildlife Experience’
Sep 2nd, 2009 by wwftravel
© Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon
A juvenile is the first to come into view in the dense, misty forest. He swings from a vine with one arm, his feet swaying back and forth. He twists and turns, grabbing leaves and shoving them in his mouth.
A female with a baby walks by. The baby is traveling piggyback style, his wide eyes looking with curiosity at the tourists who’ve just arrived to observe them. The mother, meanwhile, shows only mild interest. There’s no sound except for the crunching of the foliage beneath her feet, the occasional bird chirping and the juvenile munching contentedly in the branches above.
Moments like these are ordinary for the 700 or so mountain gorillas left in the wild. But for tourists trekking to see them in Rwanda’s Virunga National Park and other sites, the ordinary becomes magical.
“Seeing mountain gorillas is described as the most profound wildlife experience on the planet,” says Phil Ward, a mountain gorilla tour planning expert in Rwanda who is helping WWF plan its March 2010 trek.
Protecting the gorillas is a top priority for many in central Africa – and for WWF as well. Tourism dollars generated from trekking permits go to the surrounding communities, helping to create such infrastructure such schools, clinics and roads. To ensure that the gorillas are minimally disturbed, just a small group of tourists are permitted into Virunga National Park daily.
Getting to the elusive primates isn’t always easy. You could trek along steep and rugged terrain for as little as 15 minutes or as many as three hours or more before spotting gorillas. But for many, being in such close proximity to these gentle giants, and realizing just how closely their behavior and interactions mirror our own, is the experience of a lifetime.
“I feel like one of the most privileged people in the safari world,” says Ward, who has completed more than 120 treks in Rwanda and throughout central Africa.
Trekkers are allowed to stay and view gorillas for a maximum of one hour. Interestingly enough, the dominant silverback male seems to know when time is up. He will show up, his back arched, head held high, the patch of unmistakable silver hair running along his back and hips. He settles down to chomp on bamboo, always keeping one eye on his family. At some point, he will call out to the family. “He then ambles off,” Ward says, taking his family with him.
[...] myself during my Kigali tenure, but it is according to pretty much every account you come across “a profound experience”, “Seeing mountain gorillas is described as the most profound wildlife experience on the [...]