Mountain Gorillas
January 28, 1988

In the highlands of Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi live the last few families of endangered mountain gorillas. The male silverbacks are huge, reminiscent of King Kong. They lead family groups of up to 30 animals.

We paid $40 each to have guides take us in small groups into the forest to stalk the gorillas and photograph them at close range. I thought the guides would have to be expert trackers. On the contrary, wherever the gorillas had been it looked like a bulldozer had passed, and there was a distinctive smell in the air. The huge animals travel through the jungle ripping up and eating everything in sight.

We found them in about 15 minutes, and watched them for an hour, eating, resting and playing. For much of the time, we were as close as six feet from one or more of them. The sun was behind a cloud and my camera showed insufficient light, but I took photos anyway. A tripod would have been impossible to use on the steep slippery slopes.

The gorillas didn't seem to mind our presence. They have human visitors for one hour every morning. It was just a quiet hour on an average day with a family of gorillas.

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