Gorillas! 

We visited the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda very close to the DRC border. Many of the gorillas come from the DRC and stay in Uganda to avoid the conflict and poaching there (they don't need passports).

We set off on an 18 km, with 800m elevation, 7 hour round trip to see the gorillas, but all the puffing, panting, aching knees and shouts of 'leave me here to die' was worth it just to see these beautiful apes. When you look into a gorilla's eyes and they connect with you it is like looking into your own soul. How anyone could ever hurt these gentle creatures is impossible to understand.

Mountain gorillas were only discovered in 1902 and scientists believed that this would be the first sub species that would be discovered and made extinct by man in the same century. Luckily they had Dian Fossey (an American primatologist and conservationist and  also slightly mad) who fell in love with these incredible creatures and protected them with her life. I firmly believe that her murder caused the outcry that saved them. For anyone that has never seen Gorillas in the Mist please watch it!

We spent an hour and twenty minutes watching the family interaction and then had to leave them in peace. Here are some of the moments that I had with them.