Talk To Me About Yum

One adult, Melbourne Zoo: $30.80 AUD

One adult, Rwanda Gorilla Permit: $750 US (approximately $864.90 AUD)

Surprisingly, I wasn’t sold when the idea was first floated.

Why would I pay $750 US to spend 45 minutes watching a Gorilla in its natural habitat?

No, but really?

Observing an animal is an experience. But does that experience change dramatically when the location is shifted from man made to natural habitat?

Yes – I am sure it does.

But whether that change, and improved experience is worth a price difference of $834.10 AUD – well that’s an entirely different question. And my first response was absolutely not.

But I did it. I handed over the plastic. I cringed at the price. And I committed to the experience.

Our guide signals for us to stop.

I can begin to hear gentle rustlings up ahead.

And it becomes apparent that this is where we will spend the next hour, as a beautiful intimidating troop of Gorilla’s come into sight.

A silver back, several females and their young

We sit and watch these living primates maneuver ever so elegantly amid their natural sub-tropical habitat. Behavior so simple and routine becomes a unique and captivating experience, one that requires no cameras – only eyes.

Moments like this cannot be photographed or retold in their complete glory; they must simply be viewed and appreciated with great thought and time.

For these beautiful animals – today – this precise moment – is no different from any other – but for us, it’s as though we are sharing in just a snap shot of something truly profound.

We live a life of excess and dissatisfaction, one that often lacks fore thought and appreciation of basic idea. And it’s not until you sit affront these knuckle-walking creatures, the closest living relative’s to the human race, that you stop for only a moment – allow all thought to drain from the mind – and simply witness what we have been missing all along…

Life in its greatest form,

Simple, unaffected, raw moments that occur each and every day without our knowledge or attention

Of all my years traveling - this, single handedly, has to of been the most incredible thing I have done. To put my feelings and thoughts into words is too difficult. Just go there please and experience this for yourself. It will not let you down, I promise.