Mountain Gorillas in Africa
On 17 October 1902, Captain Robert von Beringe, a German officer who was mistakenly called Oscar, came across and shot two mountain gorillas while climbing Mount Sabinyo in the Virungas volcanoes.
This became the first sighting of the mountain gorilla by a European and was a momentous event. Despite the upheavals in the area in the past and Dian Fossey’s fears about their future, the mountain gorilla has survived. The precarious population of about 720 mountain gorillas continues to thrive in the forgotten forests of the Virunga mountains, shared between Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Bwindi forest in Uganda.
Tracking the Mountain Gorillas
Tracking the mountain gorilla through the misty forests requires patience and stamina, often walking for hours in the mud and the wet. Finally meeting them in the undergrowth is an inspiring moment. Quietly chewing away at their vegetarian delicacies, they seem like a marooned human family. The tender grooming and firm disciplining of their offspring seems all too familiar. The gorilla family cast a wary glance at the sudden human intrusion into their private world, but are comforted by the clucking made by the trackers. When provoked, the noisy but harmless silverback grunts, screeches, bares his fangs and beats his chest, before slithering off with attendant females, offspring and other mature males.
