Gorillas (in the Midst)

by Michael Pagedas (United States of America)

A leap into the unknown Uganda

Picture it. New Year’s Eve. 2010. I was in Mgahinga National Park in Uganda to track the endangered mountain gorilla. This park lies in the Virunga Volcano region that spans the countries of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are only around 800 mountain gorillas left in the world, and they can only be found in this region. One of my inspirations for visiting was the movie "Gorillas in the Mist," filmed in the area back in the late 80s [That I should go on my trek five days after the 25th anniversary of Dian Fossey’s murder can either be chalked up as a freak coincidence or destiny]. Another inspiration for my wanting to visit the gorillas was Carl Akeley. Akeley revolutionized the art of taxidermy and was a key player behind the Hall of African Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. One of the dioramas in that hall depicts a group of mountain gorillas in a specific area of Virunga that Akeley had visited, loved, and where he is now buried. I had always been drawn to that exhibit, not only because of its vivid detail, but because it had seemed like a place that I, too, would one day like to visit firsthand. Thankfully, that day came. As our tour bus made its way up the bumpy dirt road to our drop-off location, I noticed that the land all around the volcano had been developed into farmland, restricting the gorillas’ movement. Once we started walking, however, I quickly discovered that gorilla conservation would be the least of my concerns that day. I hadn’t prepared myself for the degree of difficulty of the climb. I didn’t bring enough water with me, and I was out before I knew it. I also didn’t plan on altitude exhaustion, which quickly overtook me. The rangers told us that the mountain was 3474 meters high, which didn’t seem like much until I did the conversion later and discovered that it’s almost 11,400 feet!! Add all of this to the fact that I had just recently recovered from a bout with malaria, and the odds were not in my favor of even making it up to see the gorillas. I consider myself pretty physically fit, and within the first few minutes, I was already at the back of our group. Fortunately, my fellow sojourners and a friendly porter helped me along the way.  One of the variables of gorilla tracking is that you never know how long it will take to find the gorillas or where exactly they will be. Some people have spent several hours just getting to the gorillas. Trackers are sent up the mountain early each morning to facilitate finding the gorillas, but that doesn’t making getting to them any easier. Much of the journey was spent going up steep embankments with not much room for a foothold and only vines and thorny brambles to grab for support. When we got closer to the gorillas, we began zigzagging up, down, and sideways, all in an effort to stay on their trail. We reached the gorillas around 2 hours after we started the hike. I was physically and emotionally spent, but nothing on Earth can match the feeling of being less than 15 feet away from a wild animal that knows you are there but allows you to get up close anyway. Although the gorillas are habituated to human presence, tour groups are only allowed one hour with the animals. No touching is allowed, but the gorillas are free to move close to you, shake your hand, and so on. No gorillas approached me, so I guess my reputation preceded me.    As happy as I was to have had the chance to see live gorillas on their home turf, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming pessimism afterward. Conservation work is being done, but there’s still a very real chance that in the future, your only chance of seeing a mountain gorilla will be at a place like the American Museum of Natural History. For now, the gorillas have their “living museum” and they’ll hopefully keep it for a long time. 