He beat his knuckles on his chest, making a poketa-poketa sound. The family clown - a young sub-adult - made an appearance. The other held her baby close to her chest and with obvious enjoyment, kissed him tenderly as he fed. They seemed just as curious about us, one of them settled down to stare intently. вЂњMove back!вЂќ said the ranger, and we reluctantly did so.ДЄ couple of females walked over to a clearing behind us, and we followed. The rangers and gorillas exchanged a few вЂњcough-gruntsвЂќ which translate to вЂњIвЂ™m here.вЂќ The adults watched us closely without stirring, but a couple of young ones were so intent on their rough and tumble games, one nearly cart wheeled into my lap. Gingerly we walked up to the group, and sat down 10 feet away from them. It was a confident, strong, male gorilla, alerted to the arrival of strangers and ready to defend his family.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw a silhouette of the silverback in the foliage. We waited under a canopy of trees and half an hour later we were summoned a few feet up into a cosy nook where the Hirwa, or вЂњLuckyвЂќ group chose to rest. Three hours into the trek, we were asked to halt as the gorillas were found foraging while moving up the slopes of the volcano the trackers were trying to calibrate a meeting point between us. Some of us were troubled with siafu, warrior ants that sneaked up into delicate parts before announcing their arrival with a bite. Vines tripped us, branches smacked us and fronds blocked the paths, but not long enough to slow us down. A deep ravine lay on the left, with the treetops bathed in sunlight.

The trek uphill, at about 9,000 feet, was exhilarating. If you want to go to the toilet, please dig a hole and cover it later. The young ones may like to inspect your clothes and equipment move back. You must not touch the gorillas, even if they break the rules and touch you. вЂњIf you have a cold, do not visit the gorillas as they share 97% of our DNA and catch the virus easily. Our family of four was joined by four others, and we were briefed about the encounter by Vincent, the guide. The gloves, since you ask, were to protect us from stinging nettles as we parted curtains of vegetation.ДЄt 8 am, our gorillas had not been found, but the rangers looking for them knew where they had built their night-nests the evening before, and were now tracking them on through forests thick with hagenia trees, bamboo and ferns. We hoped to spend an hour with a family of the charismatic mountain gorillas, a species whose plight was brought to the worldвЂ™s attention by the American primatologist Dian Fossey. Geared in hiking boots, spats and gardening gloves, we cut across a mosaic of farms and started our climb up the thickly forested slopes of Sabinyo Volcano in northern Rwanda.

Meat log mountain game play