Craigotravels

So I’m squatting on the ground staring a 12 year old mountain gorilla in the eye…

He’s crawled out of the bush and put his right hand on my leg. Though I’m with ten tourists, a guide, and four rangers with AK-47s, I assure you, the only thing I’m thinking about is whether or not this 140-pound gorilla named Marika is going to kick my ass.

So I held still and held his gaze. And I could see intelligence looking back. This was a creature with a soul. And for whatever reason he found me as interesting as I found him.

For $500 I’d bought a permit to visit mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The permit allowed one hour in the gorillas’ presence— if you found them. There’s no guarantee and there’s no refund. When I’d checked in at the ranger station I was assigned to follow the Mubare group of nine gorillas. I admit, I was slightly disappointed because another group had twenty-four. As it turns out, the Mubare group was the most habituated to humans. In other words, if I’d stared a gorilla in the face from any other group, it probably would have knocked me down.

But after thirty seconds of unblinking eye contact, Marika let go of my leg and bounded away. Everyone let out a collective sigh—until moments later a baby gorilla crawled shakily out of the bush and straight towards me.

“Advice behind.” My guide was repeating. It took awhile to register what he meant: everyone back up. So we did, leaving the baby to her waiting mother.

As our visit came to a close, we were watching the group walk away. Silverback far in front. Baby riding on her mother’s back. Marika taking up the rear.

When suddenly he bound toward us and slid down the hill, slapping the guide’s boot as he went. Then Marika waddled right up to me and made a few jerky motions. I braced myself for pain…

He slapped my shoulder, ran off ten feet, stopped and looked back. I swear he was checking to see if I wanted to play. I did, but time was up. I smiled at my new friend and gave him a wave.

You might ask why the gorilla’s came up to me and no one else. By chance I was wearing a red shirt. And for a gorilla, red is not part of their everyday color scheme.

One of my favorite things about travel is making new friends from all over the world; I never know who I’ll meet and what fascinating views on life I’ll be introduced to. In the jungles of Africa I made a friend who's different from anyone I’ve ever met, yet strangely familiar. Almost like he's one of us after all.