Africa
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"Family, Love, Forever"
Even though the gorillas have enjoyed a slow but steady rise in their population numbers over the last 30 years, climate change and humans still pose a very real threat to their existence. As humans need more land for farming, and average temperatures keep rising, the plants that the gorillas depend upon for food keep growing at higher elevations, forcing the gorillas to move further up the mountains, diminishing their livable habitat area and exposing them to harsher climates.
I remember this moment as if it was yesterday: Mom getting settled for a nap with her young baby, and another youngster (quite sure it was “another mother’s child”) disrupting the siesta with playful antics. This mom very gently quieted it down, and managed to settle both babies. Shorty thereafter, she was back enjoying her nap, lovingly protecting these two.
Some moments remain etched in your mind for ever. This will be one of those.
It has been a lifelong dream to see these magical creatures in the wild, and humbling to be in their presence. To watch them interact with each other, and bare witness to how similar their behaviors and expressions are to ours, defies description. We were fortunate to have four different one hour visits with these amazing souls. The trek to reach them was not easy, but worth every single step through stinging nettles, mud, and dense forest.
As important as tourism is to their very survival, one can only hope that that it will continue to be managed in a responsible, caring way.
Tanzania, Africa
From Africa
Tanzania, Africa
From Africa
'The Thinker"
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Mountain Gorilla. Aside of their striking facial expressions, it can be overwhelming to take in how human like these Gorillas are. Or is it us that are Ape-like? No quite sure which comparison would be most offensive..... To be in the presence of this magestic Silverback was quite humbling.
From Africa
The Embrace
Enlightened Being in the Fortest
AfricaBwindi Impenetrable National ParkMountain GorillasUgandawildlife
Wonder
"Nap, Interuppted"
Volcanoes National Park. Mountain Gorillas. Treking for these amazing beings can be an arduos experience, but moments like this make it all worth it. All of the sudden, we stumbled upon this mom napping with her baby. After she held our gaze for a bit, she got up, baby crawling onto her back, and joined the rest of her family that was close by.
