5 Hours with Wild Mountain Gorillas (World's Best Wildlife Encounter?)

So Uganda is home to over half of the world's wild mountain gorillas. And over the next few days we are going to be hiking deep into the impenetrable forest, that's actually what they call it here, to hopefully get up close and personal with the world's largest primate. Just trekking through the jungle with guys with guns.

Hopefully it goes something like this video we saw online and not like this one. But that's what makes wildlife experiences so exciting. You never know what's going to happen. But we're going to be working our way up to the gorilla experience. Phase one of this experience is going to be heading to Chabali national park to meet the chimps.

Then we'll be doing the classic gorilla trek where we get to spend one hour with the mountain gorillas. And finally we're taking part in what they call a. Ow.

That was a thorn.

A gorilla habituation trek. This is where we head.

Deep into the forest like we are now, to a group of wild mountain gorillas who aren't used to seeing humans. I think this is where some of the most unique encounters are going to come from.

That was without a doubt the scariest moment of my entire life.

This is an experience that you probably haven't seen anywhere else.

That silverback has never seen seen humans.

So join us as we begin an adventure that's been on our bucket list for over 10 years.

All right, here we go. To start this trip, we flew into Kigali, the beautiful capital of Rwanda, our 108th country. We got picked up by our new friend Godfrey. He's the man and he'll be driving us around and taking care of us this week. Beginning with an eight hour drive to Chibale National Park.

It looks like we have a police escort.

I personally love road trips, especially when there's a lot to see out the window, which there was. We drove past this giant tea plantation. Gorgeous. So many people transporting heavy stuff on bikes and these guys hitching a free ride behind a dump truck.

That was so dangerous, I don't blame.

Them on these hills.

Two hours into the drive we stopped to cross the border into Uganda. Land border crossings can get a little interesting sometimes. First they asked us to stop and wash our hands. And apparently we weren't supposed to film that. And we were officially in our hundred and ninth country. Our route just happens to go through Queen Elizabeth national park where we casually saw some elephants from the road. Yes, roadside elephants. We're not even on a safari. All I've been thinking about are chimps and Gorillas. I was not emotionally prepared to see an elephant on this trip. Next, we officially crossed the equator into the northern hemisph. That hurt. Then we were almost at our home for the night when we happened upon a troop of baboons.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

How cute. Look at those babies. That's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. They're so tiny.

Oh, did you see that one? She picked up both of them. Yeah, just casually crossing the street with her babies.

That was by far the highlight of the day. And finally, 10 hours later.

Cheers.

We made it.

Cheers, Godfrey. This is where we're staying. Home sweet home. Oh, I might have a sore neck after that one.

Check out this view. Massive deck.

But we have to get up really early tomorrow, so after a quick dinner.

We called it a day.

Or at least that was the plan.

All right.

I'm gonna catch it with the cup. I'm gonna slide the daily drop sticker between the cup, and then we're gonna throw it outside. It might not quite fit that guy just hanging out.

Oh, my gosh. I actually think I'm confused.

If this thing falls on my head or jumps at me, I'm scared. Please don't jump.

I'm scared. I don't think we can do it.

How about the trash can?

Nate, this is a terrible idea.

I wanted to just leave it alone, but the rest of the trip, I'm gonna be wondering if this thing is in my suitcase if I don't get it out of here. Please don't jump.

Where'd it go?

It's behind the curtain right here. Oh, where'd it go?

Oh, crap.

Oh, I think I see it.

Where?

I think it's up in the corner.

Yeah, there it is. Can we hold my poisonous. Probably.

Should I do it?

I don't know.

I don't think I'm brave enough.

My whole body's itching.

I'm gonna protect myself with the trash can.

Is it secured?

I think it's in there.

Here.

Oh, please don't run on me.

Is it in there?

I can't see.

Is it in the cup? Please be in the cup.

I don't know.

Oh, yeah, there it is.

You're so brave.

Oh, you're not that flexible.

You can do it.

Nice.

Oh, where to go? It's not a nanny.

More.

Shut up.

Shut up.

Where did it go?

Oh, my gosh.

Shut in the flashlight so we can see if it goes.

What? What?

You're not gonna go out there further?

No, I don't want to get my socks wet.

Oh, my gosh.

Ready? Three, two, one.

I heard it.

Oh, it's still in there.

How about that? Just stays.

Is it all me?

I don't see it.

Now. How are we gonna go to sleep?

Nice work.

Thanks.

You're so brave.

Oh, my goodness.

I'm so happy I'm not you.

Hopefully that was the same one.

I'm just kidding.

Okay, see you in the morning.

Good night.

Good morning. Sun is just starting to rise. We had a quick coffee before we left. Now we are on our way to the national park to see the first of the great apes. The jumps.

All right, we've just entered Cavale national park and this is the primate capital of the world.

All right, see you soon. See you soon.

Here we go.

Oh, my gosh. And it is just the six of us heading into the forest today. We have our guide, William. We have two guards behind us with big guns who are here to protect us in case we come across any forest elephants, which would be epic. And a porter to carry the backpack tell us that was a good way to support the local community.

We are 30 seconds into this adventure and we've already seen baboons and a red tailed monkey. I can hardly wait for the chimpanzees.

William, how long do you think it'll be until we see the chimps?

I cannot really tell you at the time. We can encounter chimps because it is. They are wild. They don't stay in one position that we shall find them there. But the nature tells.

So trekking with the gorillas has been on our bucket list for over 10 years now. But this summer we binged this Netflix documentary called Chimp Empire, which is basically like a cross between Keeping up with the Kardashians and a David Attenborough documentary.

Boo. There's so much drama. You never know what's going to happen. You have to watch the next episode. But also the cinematography is incredible. So because we watched that documentary, we decided to drive an extra six hours and add the chimps onto this trip. This is like a warm up for the gorillas.

Having fun?

Yes.

Me too.

Those are chimp skulls.

The look on William's face when he.

Heard the chimpanzee call.

I just, I was so much excited.

It seems I'm having a lucky team.

We're very lucky.

Thank you. Footmark of elephant.

Look at this.

An elephant was here.

How often do you see elephants?

Actually, two days back I saw them around this place.

Wow.

Okay, are you ready?

Excited.

But I kind of want to be nervous.

Honestly, after watching that series in summer, I feel like a chimpanzee X. I feel like I could probably hear those.

Sounds if I tried.

What I supposed to do?

Okay. Actually they told us not to try to speak to them.

They have a lot of calls, but every call has its meaning. I myself, I cannot really tell that. What is the chimpanz trying to say? Their either is.

So you asked me. Then they said, let me reply here.

All right, we're getting closer. We just found our first tracks. It was the knuckles of a chimp just perfectly imprinted into the trail.

I like it when he does that.

How do you know?

Cuz I'm an expert.

All right, we must be getting close. We're speeding up.

We've lost the trail.

Everything grabs you.

I'm stuck now.

It's turning into an adventure.

So also this one a food for chimpanzee. Do you wish to test?

Yeah, test.

It's paquetia.

How is it?

It's good.

Did this hurt? There we go.

Do you know?

They were there.

Thank you. Welcome.

We did not wear the right shoes.

Thank you. Thank you.

This is the best tour ever.

Me and Moses.

Oh no.

Just went to a whole new level.

And your shoe got wet.

Anyway, waterproof.

So follow me.

All right.

I think we're close.

Yes.

So you need to have your face mask here.

We put on our mask.

So you come here.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

They found them. We're super close so we put on masks to make sure we don't spread any disease.

Just getting a small glimpse up of the leaves right now.

My heart is racing after watching that documentary. We know what they're capable of.

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Oh.

He'S climbing the tree.

Wow. This is crazy.

I feel so obnoxiously human right now. Just flopping around, trying not to fall on my face. The gems are so graceful.

Things are getting crazy.

I feel like I'm trying to get a photo of Sasquatch right now.

Oh, so much fruit.

These golf ball sized fruits have been raining from the sky all over the place. It's only a matter of time before one hits us in the head. There was a group of up there jumping around the tree, swinging branches and.

They'Re so ripe that they're just falling so easily.

Plus they eat them really quickly. Squeeze all the juice in their mouth.

And then they just drop them.

Yeah, that would hurt coming from 100ft up.

So a group of chimpanzees is called the colony. And this colony that we're with right now has over 100 members. We've been just following them, trying to keep up through the forest all morning. I think they finally feel safe in this giant fruit tree. They're just hanging out up there eating. So it's hard to get a perspective for just how big these are because they're so far up in the tree. But chimpanzees can grow up to 5ft and 150 pounds. So picture just like a little shorter than me and my exact same weight up there swinging from branch to branch. But also chimps are three times smaller than gorillas. I can't even fathom what it's gonna be like to be face to face with a gorilla tomorrow.

What were all the sounds we were hearing this morning? Like when we would get close, they would get really loud.

That's the noise that we are trying to make because they were at a different area. So they were trying to make a call to meet.

Wow, it was such an intense morning and now we're just hanging out, out watching them eat, enjoy themselves.

This is crazy.

Chimpanzees, they have a predator of birds. When they find a baby in the nest, they always take. So we have also pythons, they also grab the chimpanzee, the young one, the juvenile, they take them. They also have inter community fights. So you find this community fights with another community. They reach an extent of killing each other.

The next baby chimpanzee that is born, can you name it after me?

All right, we're leaving the chimps to finish their breakfast. I would never ever get out of this forest alone. I couldn't even guess which way to go right now. And this might sound weird, but even though we were just barely seeing him through the bushes in the beginning, moving with them through the forest. Forest and trying to keep up was by far my favorite part. It was such an adrenaline rush. I'm pretty sure my skin got ripped in like eight different places.

The funniest part is I didn't even care. Like I would be like caught on.

Something and I'd just be like.

No wonder they were running from us. It was intense.

We survived the jungle. Nice work, boys.

Come back.

Thanks for keeping it safe out there.

Oh, gosh, Nate, it's been in there for two hours.

Oh, no.

Okay, look, see, it's right there.

Okay, it's getting closer to the corner.

Oh, you poor thing.

Ah, stop. Okay, I feel like it's making it work.

You see it?

Hold him.

Oh, you're so close, Nate. You're So close. He's better than I am. Oh, he's so close.

Oh, it's still there.

I just pulled a tick out of Nate's eyeball.

The reason it was stuck in there for two hours is because.

No, surely not.

And that's what they do, they stick to things.

That's disgusting.

I cannot believe you had to take in your eye and you just left it there.

Also, I don't think we've mentioned this yet, but we showed up and this was a complete surprise.

Phase one complete.

Okay, from here we have a six, maybe eight hour drive to the Bwindi Impenetrable forest.

Highlights of the drive included stopping at the equator, which, by the way, we made a short debunking that the water spins in opposite directions when you're on one side versus the other. So we'll link that down below if you're interested. And then we passed back through the Queen Elizabeth national park and saw an elephant way closer.

So much closer.

It had huge tusk and it was just munching on the grass on the side of the road, like basically right beside the road.

And so far, haven't seen a spider yet.

See you in the morning.

I'm so tired. Turns out chasing chips is hard work.

Real quick, I want to give you a little sneak peek of what's coming up later in the episode.

That was so amazing. Hopefully I've given you a reason to stick around. And while I've got you here, I want to quickly say a big thank you to today's sponsor, which is Surf Shark. The same way that it would be really crazy and irresponsible for us to come out here without a guard and a guide is basically what it's like going on the Internet without using vpn. Which is why we love and use Surf Sharp. If you don't know what a VPN is, it stands for Virtual Private Network and it encrypts all the data sent between your computer and the Internet so that no one can steal your sensitive information. Same way the guards are protecting us in case we see an elephant or something out here. A VPN protects you when you're doing things like using a public WI FI network, which can be a gold mine for hackers. But the good news is VPN is more than just digital insurance. It can also add some fun to your life because you can easily use a VPN to change the virtual location of your computer and get access to a completely new content library. So whether it be shows that aren't available in the US or sports that you want to watch VPN will allow you to do that. If you don't already have a vpn. We highly recommend Surfshark. It is the only VPN to offer one account for unlimited devices. Plus, if you go to our link surfshark.com Karen, Nate, you'll get an extra four months for free. It's linked in the description below or you can scan the QR code here on the screen.

Okay, we have the dream team assembled for today. This is our porter, Dennis.

Yes.

And then we have our guy Gladys.

Gladys.

And then we have our guard, Anison and our other guard, Baimock. The dream team.

Thank you.

We are off to see the gorillas.

Back when Nate and I were in college, he used to make me watch this show called idiot abroad. And I actually thought it was quite silly, but now I find it really funny. But we watched this one episode where he comes to Uganda and sits with gorillas.

Communication.

And it blew my mind. I didn't know that people did this. And it has been on our bucket list ever since. And today's the day. The anticipation and excitement that is boiling over in my body right now is indescribable. When we see the gorillas, we're gonna get to sit with them for an hour. And from what I understand, they're not like chimps. They're very calm and peaceful.

So we have around 10, 63 gorillas in the whole world. And we have four, five, nine within Bwindi.

Mark, how many times have you had to shoot your gun?

Three months ago, I shot once.

Ah, just in the air.

Yeah, just in air.

An elephant. Yeah. Okay, move up.

Down.

And when it is rainy season, we try to use our bums. Down.

How long do you think we'll hike before we see the gorillas?

Maybe, like. Let me.

We shall maybe use, like five or three, but depending on how much these gorillas are moving.

Right.

I'll keep calling the truckers. How are you doing? Where should we go? So they are the ones to tell me, let us go this side.

Don't go this side.

The path will be this nice the whole time and wide.

No, no.

There's a specific family of gorillas that we're looking for today, and there's supposed to be 12 of them in total. My expectations are through the roof because Glattus told me a few of them are young babies, which means they're extra curious. And, I don't know, they may or.

May not want to come, like, sit in my lap or cuddle.

So the rule is you're supposed to stay 10 meters away from the gorillas. But obviously the gorillas don't know that rule. So if they come closer to you.

Then you just get to accept it.

So this is the valley where we came from. We've hiked up and around so far. We've climbed up about 400ft, and we're at almost 7,000ft in elevation.

That's the most ants I've ever seen.

Awesome.

It's like a waterfall of ants.

Those ants are the reason we've been trekking with our pants tucked into our socks. Gladys was telling us that the small ants are the workers, and the big ones that you saw with the pincers on the top were the protectors. And she said, if those get in your pants, then you'll be dancing like the women we saw this morning.

So in gorillas, there is no way you can predict.

Okay.

That I shall find this body of hope here.

Okay. So the trackers who have gone out in front of us to locate the gorillas haven't found them yet. So we don't really know which direction to go at this point. So we just sit and wait.

They're looking for their poop.

They're looking for their footprints. They're looking for plants that have been smushed.

Apparently, they're on the move looking for.

Their breakfast this morning.

I wonder if pregnant gorillas have cravings.

The tracker's called.

Let's go.

In case you couldn't tell, the trekkers have found the gorillas.

Gorilla Pope, you could basically be a tracker skipping a new life.

Hope you guys have enjoyed our travels.

The last eight and a half years. This is our new channel.

Let the adventure begin.

So we've been walking on a trail like this for the past hour into the jungle. This is. That was a whole more of how I expected the day to go.

We're keeping our voices down now because we're getting close. Want to come in calmly.

Has to give off good energy, maybe a little playful to encourage the babies to come find us.

The gorillas are definitely making us work for this. Pretty much every video that I've watched of people checking with the gorillas, they've made getting there look miserable or really hard. But this is so fun. Our guide is about 20ft in front of us, and I can't even see her. She's just disappearing into the bushes.

This trail that we're walking on right now is made by elephants, which I'm.

Very grateful for right now.

This is an elephant footprint.

Never said this, but I really hope.

We don't see an elephant.

Would be a very close encounter. It feels like.

I think it's the trackers.

Okay. Just like the chimps, we share over 98 of our DNA with gorillas, which means that we could easily transmit disease.

These are the great people I told you about who woked up very early in the morning. Come truck gorillas. So these are the heroes of the day.

Good job, guys.

Thank you for finding them.

50. 50 chance. I B. My eyes out.

He's making a friendly move. Oh, it's.

Hi.

I'm staring at a mountain gorilla. We're making eye contact. She's so beautiful. Her hands look just like mine. I truly cannot believe that this is the life, right?

No. The silver bed.

Oh, my gosh.

The alpha male of the group.

Oh.

I want you to observe the jaw. Are you seeing it now?

This family of gorillas is named the mashaya. And it's because the alpha male got in a fight with another group and he has this gash on his mouth. And mashaya translates to jaw. So that's how they've named this group.

I can't believe how chill they are. This is a totally different experience than yesterday. They're just hanging out very close to us and seem totally fine with our presence, while even their ears look so human.

Like, if you're vegetarian, then you'll be our closest friend.

I am a vegetarian.

Yes. They're also vegetarian. They don't eat meat.

No way. Yeah.

They are 99% vegetarians.

Wow.

And the 1%, they enjoy the cocktail.

Ants.

Ah, the ants.

Oh, my gosh, the baby.

You don't need the zoom lens.

We are so close.

He's just scratching his back like a human.

I can't tell how many of them there are back there, but there's at least five.

So there's a certain sound that the gorillas make, and it kind of sounds like they're clearing their throat.

So they'll go.

And that's their way of pretty much just saying, like, is everybody good? So they say to make the sound back. We're just talking to wild gorillas.

I'm scared I'm gonna reply in the wrong way and they're gonna get the wrong message. There are two babies and they're wrestling each other. I think watching them wrestle each other is just as good as getting cuddled by one. I can't get over the.

Okay, so we've got the alpha male who can live to be about 45. We've got three females who can live up to 60 years old. And then two little babies. One is a year and three months, and one is a year and nine months. I've seen some leaves rustling in the distance, so there are even more around us. Is a little crazy.

Oh, hello.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

I could almost reach out and touch these. They just appeared out of the underbrush. We were watching that group up there, and then these just walked right in front of us.

Oh. Oh.

That was incredible.

The baby is climbing the tree right there.

Okay, there's another baby. It's a bit bigger, and it's found itself a nice little spot in a tree. And he's just hanging out, pulling leaves, munching on them.

He kind of looks like it just fell out of the tree.

I feel like I can smell their fart.

It's kind of funny. I've just realized that gorillas have the opposite body hair as human. Their stomach is hairy, but their chest is smooth. Their chest is, like, the only place on their body where they don't have hair. This mom has just decided to bring her baby closer so he can check us out. She's just riding on her back through the jungle. It does feel like at times they stare straight into your soul. Here's where we are. Here's how close they are.

I cannot believe how chill they are with us being here.

I think this one's unhappy that his mom is sleeping. Was that a fart? That was a silverback fart.

Wake up, Mom. Wake up. Mom, wake up. Play with me. Please play with me.

So cute.

The piggyback rides. It's too cute to handle.

You know, it's good when even the guys are taking pictures.

I feel so lucky. I can't believe this is my life.

With Gorias, you never get satisfied. Every minute, every time is a new experience. We are with them 10 years, but every day is new experience.

All right. Fastest hour of my life.

There's no way it's time to go.

This was beyond my wildest dreams. I don't want to leave, but I like to follow the rules.

So.

There he goes. Goodbye, gorillas. I love you.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but Kara has some big tears running down her face right now.

I told you, it's a 5050 chance.

No, I just remembered. We get to do it again tomorrow.

Without a doubt, top five experiences of my entire life. And that includes things like getting married. I'm not just talking travel. That was incredible.

Wedding day out.

Gorillas, honeymoon out. But tomorrow, we're doing what's called a habituation trek. So we get to spend four hours with the gorillas instead of one like we did today. But these are gorillas that are being habituated. So gorillas that they're basically getting used to coming in contact with humans because it helps with conservation, which means that we might not get as close, but things like gorillas charging and more exciting things like that are much more likely to happen. So tomorrow is going to be very unpredictable. So at the very beginning, when we first saw the gorillas, our guide told Kara to go up and make the introduction.

So you can first come for introduction. Okay, we do another intro when we are with gorillas. So who's to make the intro, huh?

Sure.

When we were sitting on that bench hanging out, she was telling us that basically the way you say, like, everything is okay to gorillas is I thought she wanted Cara to go up to the gorilla and go.

And Kara went up and she did it.

And then the guy kept saying, make the introduction. So I was trying to encourage Kara to do it louder.

Hi.

We just didn't know what we were supposed to do. And it turned out she was trying to help with the video. She was trying to say, okay, now's your time to introduce that, like, we're here at the gorillas. That was after, like, three minutes of the longest, most awkward introduction between Karen and gorilla that I've ever seen.

I literally almost told it my name. I was like, maybe. Maybe it's like a formal introduction.

Hello, I'm Cara Buchanan. All right, stage two.

Last day.

Hopefully the best day.

Oh, no way.

All right, we're on our way to pick up our guide, and we're going to drive 30 minutes to a remote group of mountain gorillas.

Today is going to be epic.

All right, ready to go.

This family has 17 members and considered to be one of the biggest groups that we have in this sector.

All right, we are on our way to spend four hours with the gorillas, looking like it might be a little bit more of an interesting trek. Today we are climbing straight up a mountain cosmos. What are the chances that we get charged by a gorilla today?

60%.

60%.

Yes.

Sometimes when we come for the first time, they may start by charging. And the charging is normal. These animals, because they charge. See, maybe if we have come to fight with them, but once they. They realize that we are not competing for anything, we are not making unnecessary movements, they may realize that maybe it's their mistake, not us.

So the gorillas that we were hanging out with Yesterday have been used to seeing humans for the past nine years. So for the most part they were super calm. How long have you been spending time with this group now?

One year and two months. So the gorilla habitation experience is just the process of training the mountain gorillas by daily encounters between mountain gorillas and human beings. So that the mountain gorillas can start looking at human beings as neutral beings or as friends living together in the same environment. And most cases that experience takes two years of training the mountain gorillas. But sometimes we can go for more than two years. Especially if the dominant male or the leader of the group dies or if he leaves the group during the course of the training. We have to start afresh because it is the work of the dominant male to catch up easily and help us train the rest of the members.

I'm embarrassed how hard I'm panting.

We've officially climbed up above the clouds.

So far so good. We are not lost. The way I look at you are in a very nice shape. Even if it means hiking up to midnight. I'm sure you can still make it.

This is elephant.

I don't know why they call yourself guard. So the trackers have found the gorillas trail from yesterday and now they're following that trail trying to find them. So we know we're moving in the right direction. But still no actual sightings of the gorillas yet. That's what we're hearing.

Did they find him?

Yeah.

Casual.

Ow, ow. So many thorns are stuck.

Thank you.

We are attempting to penetrate the impenetrable forest.

I expected the habituation experience to be a little bit more of an adventure. And so far the hike has been just that. I think we're going to straight up this.

Yeah. So yeah. There is a new silverback who has joined the family we are following today. And if that silverback has never seen humans.

So the truckers are trying to see if the silverback can leave the group and then they continue with the original group. So we have to wait here for a few minutes and see how.

Oh my God.

Just a refresher. The silverbacks are the ones who charge people.

They also weigh 500 pounds.

No, there's two of them.

Real experience of following the gorillas because we are following the family which is halfway trained. Now I've seen one of the members who is not yet trained. So I think we shall participate and do Rio gorilla habituation experience.

Is it dangerous?

It will not be dangerous because we know the behaviors of these animals. So we shall try to behave so that they can look at us as very organized animals and neutral animals.

It's normal that the mountain goldas can start charging. Sometimes they can make those scaring vocalizations and they change their faces and they feel like these animals are not happy. But in case that happens, we request you not start running. When you start running away from them, the gorillas will think that you are a coward. Then they will start running after you. And I'm very sure that you cannot run faster than the gorillas.

I am so nervous.

Try not to show it because I.

Don'T want to bring scared energy to the family.

I want to arrive neutral and calm so that they accept me.

Don't look into their eyes when they are charging and remain on a standstill. Avoid unnecessary movements. You can face somewhere, make yourself busy. Once they see that you are not fighting, you are not moving up and down, we think that maybe it's their mistake. And me and my team of the truckers, we shall be there to guide you more about their behaviors so that you are safe. And the Goliaths are also safe throughout the whole time we shall spend with them.

Notice that he said, when they charge.

Getting so close and my heart is pounding, but for very different reasons than yesterday. Yesterday I was just excited to see him and today I'm actually a little scared.

Is that it?

Is that the new one?

The silverback is in the tree. Oh my gosh.

We've only been here for five, five minutes. But so far it is completely different from yesterday's experience. The gorillas are spread out all over the place and they're all up in the trees. They're very curious. They keep looking over at us, checking us out. Oh shoot.

Turn it.

So just in the trees behind us is the silverback that's never seen humans before. I didn't even know he was there there until he let out a big grunt. Wow, that's ominous. Also, there's no one between you and the silver.

Let's change that. This is definitely a bit more spooky. We're on the cliff of a mountain, like extremely vertical and there's so much vegetation that like they could be anywhere. So I'm a little scared to even move cuz I don't want to spook one which would equally spook me. Are you good? Cosmos?

All right, we've got eyes on the silver back. There's also a mother with a baby on her back.

We are just surrounded by gorillas right now. Like, I just keep hearing like branches cracking. There's treasures like around the parameter.

They're all good. Do you think the other silverback being here is causing them to move more? No, they always move this much.

Yeah. Because this group originally has three silverbacks, so the new one is the force. So the other three are strong enough to push him away. So it's not a problem.

They don't feel threatened, right?

They're not.

Yeah, yeah.

They're just moving, eating.

Yeah, that's good. If they don't feel threatened, then neither do I. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself.

It almost feels like the heather silverback is stalking us. He's just kind of hanging out behind and he just appears every once in a while. Also, all of this that you see, all these leaves that have been pushed down, this is all by the gorillas. We're just following their path. Right.

And this one's not yet the silver bug.

This one is the black back, still a young man.

The other silver buck reaching there.

Oh, I see, I see.

They call this family of gorillas ri and that translates to the door. And that's because the silverback of this family is old and strong and pretty much anybody who wants to get to this family has to go through him. He's known to charge, so that's why they call him the door. I feel pretty honored that we haven't been charged yet. Knock on wood. From what I've learned at this, really tough to be a male in the gorilla world. Like, you basically always have to watch your back. There's always going to be another male trying to fight you and prove that he's stronger.

I have the strongest urge to just go scratch his gigantic back.

Somehow I keep getting put to the front of the group.

Honestly, I wouldn't be that scared had we not have been charged yesterday. But that just let me know what it's really like.

Can you see the moment?

They're so funny.

No way. This is going well.

Wow.

Not on me. Not on me.

Well, that was exciting. The mom with the baby got a little spooked and turned to us and yelled. And as soon as she did, the silverback, who's further down turned around and, like, made his shoulders big staring at us. I turned around and grabbed cosmos. I need to work on my fight or flight. Boy, do they eat a lot? Do they ever stop eating?

So about 70% of the day is food for eating. And the silverback, the big male, can eat between 18, 20 kg of vegetation per day. So they really eat a lot.

How long do they sleep at night?

For the whole night. They Sleep. And they are lucky that they don't have predators. There is no animal that hunts them. So their feet sleep the whole night.

So the gorillas are the king and queens of this jungle.

That was a huge gorilla barn.

Why is that so funny? I feel like I'm a middle school boy laughing at that.

The babies are very active so them very well in different corners of this field. So I can say that it's really the best I wanted you guys to have.

Oh, you can have a laugh.

It's holding two of them.

Everybody's super chill right now. And I think it's because the whole group's together. We can see all four silver packs right now.

She wanted to come see what was going on up here.

He's just hidden himself behind this bush.

Oh my gosh.

That was without a doubt the scariest moment of my entire life. My heart rate has gone down to 120. Who knows what it was.

You can't appreciate appreciate it unless you're here. The light feeling that comes over your body is just primal. When a 500 pound silverback gorilla turns towards you, bows its shoulders up and.

Then just starts walking towards you.

Oh my gosh. I feel like I'm gonna throw up. I just saw my whole life flash before my eyes. They tell us not to look. So I was trying not to look but also couldn't look away. I just couldn't help but like, like slowly back away. But I made eye contact with our guards and they both looked at me and went like, you just have to stand there. Which is so incredibly unnatural. 115. It's coming down slowly. Were you scared? No.

You good?

Yeah.

You?

You were scared?

Gosh. He was walking towards us so slowly but so intentionally hid behind a bush that was literally five feet away and then turned around and walked back. Thanks Cosmos.

And you, the man. You also saw the. The Sarabak tried to charge a little bit. It was testing our strengths. And I'm happy that he did not run away so fast.

Me too.

So otherwise we are to going. Going to have a different experience.

Yes.

But I'm happy that the gentleman was a bit strong.

Yeah.

But I forgot all about the camera. I was just like.

So it is also an experience for us because once we leave them without seeing that.

Yeah.

Then we may not get storage there when we are back.

That's right.

So this is a real experience for all of us.

That's right.

As we keep following them, they are about. I think they are about to get some rest whereby my find is hard for us to get clear views. Yeah, But I'm happy that what we heard is what we have seen is even more than sometimes when we stay with them for four hours. Why is habituation important when there are many habituated gorillas? There are more rangers employed to patrol the forest and protect the forest. When the communities are benefiting from conservation activities or from mountain gorger conservation, they don't come into the forest porch because they are benefiting from the resource that we are conserving. So they may not interfere with the integrity of the forest. So the more the people are happy from the conservation activities, the more they join hands with the government to protect the gorillas. Hence the survival of the mountain gorillas. Wow.

Just learned the coolest fun fact. They did the first official mountain gorilla count in 1997 and there were only 300 here in Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. And today in 2024, there are over a thousand. 1063. So the concert conservation is working.

The rain is moving in. All the gorillas are going to sleep in this very thick brush. And it's feeling like this is the end.

I can't even be sad that this is over. Like we said before, I've been envisioning this day for so long that I thought there was no way it would live up to my expectations. And I can truly say it has exceeded every single dream that I had for this trip. I can't believe we got to do it. It's just amazing.

Been lucky enough over the last nine years to have some incredible wildlife experiences. Like more than we could have ever dreamed that we would have in a lifetime. But without a doubt, this was number one. That spider up there is the size of my hand. It's okay. We've got the bug net around the bed, so it's all gonna be fine.

You're just gonna leave it there?

That's my plan.

Are you kidding?

No.

We're sleeping in the safety of the bug net.

Oh my gosh, Nate. Fall under things, that's what they do.

This guy is just sleeping in the middle of the road. I thought he might be dead, but he was asleep. Wake up. There's a car coming.

And they're naming.

A chimp after me.

Maybe.

See you later.

They might demand some one of us to be given to them.

Give us God rest.

Okay, fine. I'll let them the forest.

Okay, fine, I'll live in the forest.