Today was the big day and was to be the highlight of my trip! I got up early to get ready and realized how much colder it was here. I say this relative to the day temperatures I was used to experiencing (30+). The morning temperature in Bwindi was about 12 degrees. So that is not that cold but relative to day temperatures, it felt frigid! I ate my breakfast and picked up my pre-packed lunch the camp provided for me. Julius and I then headed to the park registration office to confirm my permit to track. We then headed over to a cabin to watch a video about tracking the gorillas. Then we went outside to be given the official debriefing by the UWA officers about the rules and regulations regarding the tracking.
Each person in our group introduced themselves and where they were from. Along with some other UWA guides who were in training for tracking gorillas we had an awesome group of young people from all over the world. There was myself, and two other Canadians from Vancouver, Gemma and Trevor; Sam from the USA; Antonia from Germany, and Alexander and Thibaud from Belgium. We were all very excited to start our adventure up the mountain, with an altitude of over 1000m. Our permits granted us permission to track the Rushegura group of gorillas. One of the 8 habituated groups of the 30 in Bwindi. 
The guides took us on the trail where the knew the gorillas last were, but in one night gorillas can move quite a distance, so finding them can be no easy task. Fortunately for us, we were told our group would not take a whole days trip to find. We wandered up the meandering paths of the mountain until we pretty much reached the summit. Our hike took about 1.5 hours before heard good news that we were close. And then, out of pure astonishment, we found them. Specifically the silverback and one of his babies sitting on the ground in the bush. It was a little hard to see them because the vegetation was so thick. But we then discovered there were others just near him off to the side. I was standing probably in between the two and then all of a sudden the bushes rustled where the silverback was. He emerged and starting walking right towards me. I tried to get a photo of him as best as I could but I panicked (not out of fear, but surprise) because I thought not to move to scare him. I should have taken a video to show that he walked by me no more than 4 feet away... After that excitement we began slowly following the group as they moved. We got lots of pictures and I managed to get some videos, one especially of a baby walking up to me, smelling me and then walking away! 
Remember, we could only have 1 hour with them before we would have to leave. So we all made the best of the precious time we had with them. It was an experience of a lifetime and I would totally do it again. To see these majestic creatures in their natural habitat was nothing short of amazing. And what is good is the money that we paid to see them goes right back into the conservation efforts of the gorillas. There are only about 600 mountain gorillas left in the world, half of which are in Bwindi in Uganda. Fortunately the census done by the UWA over the past few years has increased! But there is much room for improvement.
After our visit we headed away from them, at least 200m before we could have our lunch. Then we began our decent back down the mountain to finish our journey.
Some important things I learned about these large primates:
- as these primates are so closely related to us, we can pass on many diseases to them
- the mountain gorilla is one of 2 sub species of the eastern gorilla (the other being the eastern lowland gorilla)
- the other species is the western gorilla with 2 subspecies (the western lowland and cross river gorillas)
- Our gorillas at the Toronto Zoo are western lowland, which means they naturally live from central Africa all the way to the western coast
- to date, no individual mountain gorilla has been able to be kept in a captive environment, eventually becoming unthrifty and dying; scientists believe that it is their environment that plays a huge role in their survival.
- mountain gorillas have longer fur than the lowlands, because the altitudes are much higher where they live and it is much wetter and colder; they also tend to be bulkier than the lowlands
- the largest problem for these creatures is human-animal conflict, with gorillas being forced out of their habitats, they wander down into communities and cause problems; poaching is still a big problem as well
Afternoon in Bwindi:
Once gorillas was done, I had planned to go on a community walk to learn about the local tribal communities that reside in the Bwindi area. First, I was guided around to see the Bushiga community. I was taken to a traditional medicine man, who used different herbs and such to heal ailments. He had everything from things to treat headaches, GI upset, to treating malaria and a natural Viagra agent! Very interesting to learn about. We then headed over to a an area where bananas got processed. A man there made banana wine and banana gin from fermenting the fruit. I got to try some. The wine was very nice, and the gin, wow was it ever strong! But still good!
My guide then took me to see the Batwa pygmy tribe that still lived in forest. I was shown the huts where they lived and then was taken to see them. They performed a little dance for me and then one of the village elders made fire with some sticks and then lit what looked like a hand made cigarette! Pretty entertaining. I finished my afternoon looking at some of the handmade crafts people around Bwindi made for tourists. These people were very talented.
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