Gorillas
We had a lovely campsite on the shores of Lake Buyonyi.

A view across the lake through some palm trees.

A view along the shore.

A view along the opposite side of the shore with a diving platform in the foreground. The lake is up to 650 feet deep but the springboard here is purposefully short ad not very

I took a day trip leaving Lake Buyonyi before dawn to visit Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, one of only two places where you can trek with mountain gorillas. We headed into the hills and there some stunning sights and beautiful scenery. The area id very fertile and a good climate to grow just about anything.

The head of the valley and the edge of the national park where the fields end and the jungle begins.

Looking back down the valley.

A photo to try to catch the steepness of the sides of the valley and however steep, there is something growing.

We would be trekking into the forest to see the Bitukura family of mountain gorillas. The oldest member of the family is Rukuma, an elderly male with a distinctive bent finger. His name translates as Finger as he seems to be giving everyone the one finger salute. The dominant male used to be his brother but he fell out of a tree and was killed. Therefore the much stronger and younger male Mugisha is now the dominant male. His name means Lucky. A gorilla looking out across the jungle.

A closer view of two gorillas.

One of the females, probably Betina.

We could get quite close to the gorillas, here is Heather under two metres from a juvenile.

One of the babies staring down at us.

This is what the forest looks like through a gap in the canopy.

There is so much greenery it can be hard to see anything, but then that is why it is called impenetrable.

Another juvenile.

A close up of Mugisha, the dominant male.