Birthday gorillas - guest blog by my Mum

On Amy's birthday yesterday, we visited the Titus group of gorillas in Volcanoes National park. We were told afterwards that our trek should have been a medium one but ended up being long as we had to trek further in the end to find the group.

I could not believe how close we were allowed to be to them. We first met a mother with an 8 month baby, and then close behind a young blackback who literally pushed past Amy to go down the hillside. 

When he had settled we went to see him again and I was really looking into his eyes !!! The guide realised he was getting a little anxious so I had to break the stare - it was an amazing moment . 

(This is actually the silverback as we didn't get a shot of the blackback staring!).

Then we met another mother with a 13 month  baby who was as cheeky as anything and a real little showoff. He swung on the branches about three foot above our heads doing all sorts of tricks for us and then flung himself onto the ground as if he was diving  ! 

 We saw the main male Silverback ( Rano, son of Titus who is now the dominant male ) and he gave us some lovely yawns but no beating of the chest.

 He had two female gorillas lying by his side having a siesta. Finally we watched the same cheeky baby play fighting with another young female for a good ten minutes, then just as we were leaving , the adult female rushed over and literally slapped Amy on the leg. That is a sign they want to play !!! we then left the group, had our sandwiches and descended back to reality. 

A round trip of about 6 hours, so our very own Silverback (Amy's dad) enjoyed having a snooze when we got back and Amy and I had a glass of birthday wine!