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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Swissboy" data-source="post: 3518029" data-attributes="member: 4926">Gorilla tracking dayDay eleven was reserved for our booked tour of tracking of a group of Mountain Gorillas. We had been a bit uneasy about this tour as one hears about very variable efforts that one has to put into seeing them. As a precaution, we each took a porter which was definitely a smart decision. Porters not only carry the backpack with lunch, camera etc., they also help in difficult terrain. We had to traverse and finally climb some steep slope. So it was good to have someone helping not to lose the balance, a problem that tends to come with age (we are both around 74).The group of gorillas we visited has been habituated to humans for a very long time. Nevertheless, we were very much impressed by the relaxed way these great apes dealt with our visit. It was definitely a superb experience for us. Sure, it's costly, but realizing the benefits, it seems well worth the expenses.  The benefit is at least four-fold. For one, the gorillas benefit from being protected, but it is also to the advantage of all the other creatures of these forests that they can keep their habitat. Third, of course, these activities provide a lot of income to the local people. This involves  tracking teams who constantly monitor where the habituated groups move to. Then the guides, the porters and the people at the hotels etc. And finally, it is a great chance for us visitors to meet our close relatives in a way that one gets the feeling of being at a comparable level. Some people claim the visits would stress the gorillas. We did not get that impression at all. If there is an element of stress, it comes from the guides trying to cut away ferns and other vegetation that gets into the way for taking decent pictures. But the visit is limited to one hour per day only. So it's not a constant bother at any rate. One sign of us not having bothered the group came after we had left the gorillas. We had gone back to the road when we suddenly realized that the gorilla group had essentially followed us and was now crossing the road very close to us."Our" group consisted of the silverback male plus four females with a youngster each. The youngest gorilla was only three months old, the other youngsters were around one, two and three years old if I remember correctly.</blockquote>

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