Brick Making

The mists on the peaks where the Silverback Mountain Gorillas live , rarely dissipate.

Across the bridge ....  thru the arch ....

and here is  our cabin  ( complete with roof vegetation  ) ... and no heat.

Crowned  Crane ...was surprised to see them here , since I always equated them with lower elevations like the Serengeti.

They especially liked to hang out around the bridge that led to our cabin.

Actually .... this should be  GROUP 15.

There are 2 new members  ( a mom & baby) ...

 which haven't been officially recorded yet.

And here are  THE  GUYS  who helped us look for the gorillas:

The Ranger is in the blue sweater.

Two of the guys did most of the machete work  ...

( could barely take a step without using the things ).

One of the others had the tranquilizer gun  ( for gorillas ).

Another one had the live ammo gun  ( for poachers ).

Poaching is serious & deadly business here.

Remember... this is Rwanda and they don't have a  "mother may I" concept of life.

David  Livingston ... eat your heart out  !!

The gorillas  were somewhere on the slopes of that old volcano. 

One look at that & we knew we were going to be for a very long day.

Yep ... that's right.  There were no trails ...no paths ... nothing to make the going easy.

We literally hacked our way up & down the slope...... usually in a crouched position ... because the guys only hacked enough vegetation away to allow us to maneuver through.

We were very thankful that we had put ourselves thru a physical training regimen for several months before the trip.

Those gorillas led us a merry chase up and down those slippery, muddy  slopes

 for  hours and hours and hours.

By the way .... you do know how to track them

 don't you ?

You betcha !!  By following  gorilla  poo .

At this point .... as you can tell from the expression ....

Roy is contemplating how much fun  "pay back  time"  is going to be.          

 Yep ... this was one of  my  trips.

We hacked our way to a bit of a clearing ... saw this ... and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of this  "tunnel".

HAH  !!!   What do they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth ?

LOOK  &  LEARN

Our tour manager Chris  ( on the right )  has been on these gorilla treks countless times ... and he said this was the most difficult one he's ever done.   Lucky  Us !!

Our  FIRST  SIGHT

And then  .... out came  the  alpha  male  !!

A complete sense of awe overcame us all .. and all tiredness was forgotten.

Now ... here's a look at 10 Other Members Of The Group

( a telephoto was used for these )

Town Dwellings

Reminders of the Revolution