What is it about gorillas? Is it their obvious physical resemblance to ourselves? Their imposing size? Or perhaps their apparently idyllic life in an Eden-like forest? It's impossible to put your finger on, but it's certain that everyone who sees gorillas in the wild seems to be mesmerized by these animals. The dignified silverback is always the focus of attention, for his family and visitors alike. For the gorillas, he is their leader and protector. One glance or murmured vocalization from him is enough to stop a squabble among family members. When he moves, they move. For human observers, the silverback is an object of awe, and some fear. The sheer bulk and toned muscularity of his body draws our eyes whenever he is in view. Never mind his reputation as a gentle giant; his size keeps us wary. Whether determinedly chewing on greenery, stretched out sleeping in the sun, or sitting quietly in a thicket lost in his own thoughts, his is a presence to be considered and respected, a true nonpareil. Babies are also stars. An infant doesn't have to do much to attract attention: a mere glimpse of a tiny gorilla sleeping or sucking at the breast while tenderly cradled in its mother's arms is enough to provoke joyous smiles on human faces. But toddlers and juveniles are the most fun. Their antics are non-stop and they keep us laughing. They play-wrestle overhead till their weight breaks the tree and tumbles them to the ground, or they suddenly perform backwards somersaults that vault them into rolls down steep hillsides. We enjoyed plenty of such fascinating gorilla behavior on our Mountain Gorilla Expedition last year with two sessions at Bwindi in Uganda, and three in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. We were especially privileged to be able to visit the Shinda group in Rwanda. This very large family was one of Dian Fossey's original study groups, and it is usually closed to public viewing. The level of difficulty of gorilla tracking proved a mixed bag. While Group H (Habinyanja) in Uganda required a hard slog up a 1,000-foot forested ridge (and a slippery descent on a rain-soaked trail), Group M (Mubare) was literally right next to the road: within 50 feet of entering the forest, we saw gorillas sliding down trees firehouse-style. The apes moved off a bit, but it took us no longer than 15 minutes to catch up and watch them in a lovely natural amphitheatre. In Rwanda we had easy approaches to the Amahoro group. The Sabinyo group was supposed to be an easy walk, but it turned out they had an encounter with a lone silverback that morning. Sabinyo's dominant male wanted to put some distance from his potential rival, so he took his family on walkabout. He only covered some two miles as the white-naped raven flies—which is nothing for gorillas, but proved a nettlesome walk for us gorilla trackers as we made our way over a couple low ridges covered with dense Virunga thickets. The hardest walk was the one to see Group Susa, which lives on Karisimbi Volcano. Starting at 8,000 feet, we hiked through an incredible forest of giant bamboo, then entered the zone of moss-clad hagenia trees, where we found the Susa group at about 10,000 feet. Aside from the "normal" routines of life in a gorilla group, we were lucky to witness some rarely seen behavior. We twice saw gorilla copulations—not true matings by a dominant silverback, but juvenile sex play. The oddest occurred when visiting the very large Susa group, which has more than 20 members of all ages, including two subordinate silverbacks and several blackbacks (of 9-12 years old) in addition to the dominant male. At nine years of age, sub-adult males are very hard to distinguish from adult female gorillas. They are both the same size and color, and even experienced researchers can mistake gender identities. At one point we were watching a cute one-year-old gorilla playing with what we thought was its mother. This turned out not to be the case. The "mother" surprised us by mounting and actually mating with the much smaller infant. When it was all over, the baby sat in the male's lap and suckled his nipple, and the little one seemed none the worse for wear. Soon the real mother appeared. She took the infant from the male, then planted a kiss on her baby's mouth. That kiss was the sweetest moment of gorilla watching I have ever had. The trip's wildlife encounters were not confined only to gorillas. We had excellent sightings of red-tailed and L'Hoest's monkeys in the Impenetrable Forest, and some fine big game viewing at Queen Elizabeth National Park. The boat trip along the Kazinga Channel yielded spectacular up-close viewing of pods of hippos and water birds, and we observed several breeding herds of elephants. We also saw lions and a leopard on the plains where herds of kob antelope concentrate on their breeding grounds. Our leopard sighting was actually a gift from the kob. Male kob constantly emit a three-note whistle to advertise their presence on a territory, but females only whistle when they see a predator. I noticed a female whistling in alarm and took a look in the direction of her gaze: sure enough, there was the flicker of a leopard's tail as it disappeared through high grass. We caught up with the cat and watched her as she sprang from her hiding spot in the camouflaging grass, then padded silently into more distant cover. A question that often comes up is, "How close do we get to the gorillas?" As indicated, regulations require that visitors stay more than 20 feet away. But the gorillas don't read the rules and they do come closer. When this happens, the official gorilla guide will move visitors back, or occasionally stand in a gorilla's path to divert its approach. That usually works, but not always. While we were watching Group Susa, a subordinate silverback suddenly came walking toward our group. Although he was not intentionally approaching us, he saw no reason to avoid us. Our guide hurriedly motioned for us to get back, while he tried to block the gorilla. But instead of stopping or changing his path, the silverback sped up, lashing out with a backhand slap as he passed the nearest person. The blow echoed in our ears but did no damage to the victim, who considered the incident the high point of his gorilla experience. It just goes to show, you never know what's going to happen on safari! For more information and reservations, please contact: Mountain Travel Sobek U.S. 1266 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608 1-888-MTSOBEK (687-6235) or 1-510-594-6000 Fax: 1-510-594-6001 Email: info@mtsobek.com