The forest became so dense you couldn’t see the person in front of you. Guides hacked at stinging nettles with machetes. The sound of our breath was the dominant soundtrack. We felt them before we saw them. A few were up in the trees, dropping pieces of bark on our heads. The dominant gorilla sat on his own, munching vegetation. He ignored us, seemingly unconcerned by khaki-clad tourists in a photo frenzy. A few feet from him, a 10-month old baby that looked like a teddy bear with shiny button eyes clung to its mother’s back. An adult female walked right through our group, touching my leg as she passed. She could’ve ripped me in two but I didn’t feel scared. One gorilla seemed bored by us and sat with his arms crossed as if to say “And? The baby got off his mother’s back and walked up to his father, curling up in the gorilla’s baseball mitt-sized hand.
Read more at AFKTravel.com.
