The Impenetrable Forest

 

A silverback mountain gorilla nibbles termites out of a fallen log in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The last mountain gorillas are found in nearby forests of Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo. They are critically endangered but are holding ground thanks to tourism and the dedication of park rangers.

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Gorillas in the mist. Mountain gorillas live in cloud forests with steep mountains and thick vegetation.

Just reaching the park was a misadventure. Heavy rains caused mudslides that wiped out the dirt road in several places. This happens so often that tour operators pay neighbors to clear their local roads.

Lake Bunyonyi was the jumping-off point for our visit to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Lake Bunyonyi fittingly means place of little birds. This sunbird was a perfect ambassador.

This silverback was the subordinate member of the family and kept his distance from the dominant male. But he was a rowdy boy, lifting this 300-pound log with one arm to get to the tasty ants. I wouldn't want to see 600 pounds of angry gorilla up close.

A juvenile blackback gorilla thrashes the bamboo in a threat display that will become terrifying in a few years when he puts up on some bulk. It still stopped us in our tracks.

A young mountain gorilla named Buchura climbs to the top of a tree to bask in the morning sun after days of rain. This little female gorilla nearly lost her hand to a poacher's snare. But the nonprofit group Gorilla Doctors intervened and removed the snare and treated her wounded arm to prevent infection. It took six tries because the dominant silverback was very protective and the rugged terrain was so impossible. Incredible. Read more about their heroic efforts.

Buchura stared back from the top of this tree as I photographed her from the opposite mountainside. And then the limb snapped and she tumbled comically to the soft brush below. But there was a lot of vegetation to break her fall and she was off playing with her siblings again.