Face to face with a silverback

Treetops covered in mist envelop the rainforest around us. It's still early, but the eerie atmosphere, and knowing full well that we are approaching the home of the mountain gorillas, adds fuel to the arrival at the gate of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southern Uganda.

My travel companion Philip and I show our expensively purchased entry permits to the ranger and join our team around a long log lying on the ground. The ranger places us at one end of the log and positions himself at the other. That's seven meters, he yells. "The distance between the gorillas and you must not be less than these seven meters under any circumstances!" In awe, we nod. On the one hand, it's dangerous for us to get too close to a gorilla, as they can quickly feel threatened and become aggressive. But the distance is even more critical for the gorillas themselves since humans can carry pathogens to which they are not immune.

The last mountain gorillas

Our team consists of a few tourists and several armed rangers who have strapped on weapons to protect themselves against any poachers or elephants. About 400 mountain gorillas live in southern Uganda in the approximately 20,000 hectares of rainforest - nearly half of the world's remaining population. Our goal is to find the "Bitukura" family and spend about an hour near them.

We try to block out the thought that we might trudge through the rainforest for hours without finding any gorillas. Before we enter the rainforest thicket, Philip and I are instructed to put our thick wool socks over our jeans to prevent giant ants from entering our pants.

With a machete, the ranger steps forward and beats a path clear. Strikingly colorful birds accompany us for the first few minutes. The march is exhausting. Soon we can only pay attention to setting one safe step after the other between all the roots and branches.

Suddenly the ranger points to a treetop. A tiny gorilla is swinging around between the branches, and a second one is sitting in the brush at a safe distance. The gorilla family is very close. We have to be absolutely still and move slowly. Excited, we walk past the young gorillas and deeper into the rainforest. A few minutes later, the ranger gives the sign to stop and lets us move closer together.

The family leader, the infamous silverback, peers down at us from a distance. We freeze in awe. The gorilla with the silver stripe on his back comes closer in our direction. Then, gallantly struts around the trees, closely followed by several blackback gorillas with an exclusively black back. The family is now directly in front of us. We have long fallen below the seven meters, but we must not move hastily under any circumstances now.

The gorilla family gnaws on plants, romps around, and tolerates our visit. Red eyes with a jet-black rim gleam over at me, and I feel a deep sense of awe for the giants of the rainforest.

The silverback has deep scars and wounds on his head and arms. How these fights among gorillas look in reality is left to our imagination, thank God, but illustrates the sheer power of these creatures.

For one hour, we have the privilege of observing twelve of the approximately 800 remaining gorillas directly in front of us.

The limited tickets to the national park allow tourists to visit these gorillas once in southern Uganda. The proceeds are used exclusively to ensure the gorillas' survival in their endangered habitat. It is an awe-inspiring encounter that makes you realize how important it is to let these animals have their environment and that seeing animals in their natural habitat is one of the most gratifying travel experiences one can have. (2017)