Prime
Gorilla trek helped me overcome my fears
What you need to know:
- I literally climbed a mountain and rubbed shoulders with elephants and gorillas, ever since. I have been telling my friends, if I can do it, you can do it.
While some experiences go by unnoticed, others leave big impressions in your mind and sometimes on your body. I have to say the last experience I had while doing the gorilla trekking, left my toes with some blues that still hurt.
I am not sure if my toenails will survive the deep blue colours or if they will just heal. But the whole experience impacted my whole being in other ways.
For example, when I saw how the silverback gave us his back all through our visit, I understood that he was telling us that he was fed up with this whole episode of tourists chasing him and his family every single day.
Still, he remained calmly seated as if hosting us with dignity, but with that we should be moving on and leaving them in peace.
When I thought more carefully about the idea of the gorillas making a different nest every night for the whole family to rest, and then moving on the next day doing the same throughout their lives, and being told that genetically these are the closest animals to humans, I was hoping that in our daily struggles to provide for our families, and to make a difference with our relatives, we do include some actions that will benefit others too and not just us!
Even the gorillas after being trained by the rangers, somehow understood that it may be in their favour to share their private place with strangers every day. This has provided them with some kind of protection too.
Indirectly, these gorillas have caused whole communities around the forest to prosper.
At our lodge, we met some young American doctors who were working in a health centre close to the Uganda Wildlife Authority station.
One of them told us about the whole range of services they provided. They said young doctors were looking forward to coming here and spending some time serving in this place, especially in such a beautiful environment where they can also see gorillas.
One of the big differences between this trip and the one we did 12 years ago, was how the UWA base camp was well-maintained, the Bwindi Women’s Association did a wonderful job introducing their plight through dance, singing and artwork. You could almost feel the power generated by them coming through to the audience.
The best lesson for me during this trip was not to underestimate my capacities, with a bit of conviction from my friends and a bit of push too. I overcame my insecurities, health restrictions and fear.
I literally climbed a mountain and rubbed shoulders with elephants and gorillas, ever since. I have been telling my friends, if I can do it, you can do it.
My only hope is that these communities around the gorilla habitat, keep maintaining their own true identity, the influence brought in by visitors should not change anything except for the better.
