Posts Tagged primates

Silverback Gorilla Rwanda | Guhonda from Sabyinyo

My very first encounter with a Gorilla on my treks in Rwanda was with this male

Silverback called Guhonda

who is said to be the oldest and largest Silverback in the world. Guhonda is the head of the

Sabyinyo family

named after the Sabyinyo volcano which means “old man’s teeth”.

My first glimpse of Guhonda was of him sitting comfortably in some bamboo chewing away like a gentle giant just 2 meters from me which, for a first encounter, is one of those that makes your heart pound in your head from excitement.

After the first few minutes of my close encounter with Guhonda my guides asked me to to follow them to see the rest of the Sabyinyo family who were all situated just behind some bushes. I spent the next 20 minutes observing and photographing the rest of the members until Guhonda suddenly came marching out from where I first saw him and walked right up towards me, stopped about 3 meters from me and stared directly toward me.

Having never been

in the company of Gorilla’s

, least of all a fully mature Silverback, my heart was now pounding even more thinking that perhaps Guhonda had a bone to pick with me. Then all of a sudden Guhonda stood upright, hooted, stamped his feet and thumped on his chest and that is the moment this image was captured.

It was only afterwards that the guides told me that Guhonda was warding off nearby forest buffalo, for me it was a thrill of a lifetime that put a cherry on top of this bucket list trip right from day one. Silverback Gorilla’s often use such displays to intimidate other Silverback’s or other threats to their family’s safety. They are said to display a variety of up to 9 different actions and in this encounter I got 3 all in one.

This was shot with a 50mm fixed lens so you can deduce just how close I was to Guhonda when this happened. This was a truly amazing experience and one which will remain at the top of my list for a very long time to come.

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Young Gorilla – Agushya (Group 13) | Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Photos

During a trip last year to Rwanda my wife and I spent several days trekking Mountain Gorilla’s in the Volcanoes National Park. On our second day we spent a precious hour with the Agushya family otherwise known as Group 13. This family was comprised of members of all ages including some very playful youngsters. I tell you one thing, you cannot believe how quickly one hour of your life passes when in the presence of these magnificent creatures and when you encounter a group with playful youngsters you don’t know where to point your camera first. Before you know it your guide is whispering to you that you have 5 minutes left and you think huh? Photographing Gorilla’s is a challenge of its own because no flash photography is permitted whatsoever so you are entirely reliant on natural light conditions. In some parts of the forest it can be quite dark and unless you know the constraints of your camera and lens you’ll be coming home with many blurred images. I worked with two camera’s during my visits with the Gorillas and they both outshined themselves repeatedly. This image was captured of one of the youngsters sitting by himself while watching the others at play.

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Breakfast with a Gorilla – Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Photos

Hi Readers, It sure has been some time since my last post. I’ve been working on a number of different projects this year which have been keeping me very busy. But finally I am able to steal some time to start blogging again and herewith is the first new post of so many that are overdue. I was part way with writing this blog post when I got interrupted by Lunar Eclipses and other things, so finally I have gotten back to finishing this post. My wife and I did an extensive journey through Africa towards the end of 2010 and one of our stops was Rwanda with the sole purpose of trekking to see the Mountain Gorillas. Seeing the Gorillas has been a life long dream for both of us, for me the dream started the day I saw “Gorillas in the Mist” as a teenager and is one of those binding memories that has stayed with me for life.  Seeing the Gorilla’s is one of those bucket list things that sadly for many people gets put on the back burner for too long but not getting any younger ourselves we decided we had to make it happen. This particular image featured in this post was from our 3rd day trekking the Gorilla’s. This morning we visited the Hirwa Group meaning “Lucky”. Hirwa came into the lime light on the 17th of June 2006 when trackers witnessed its formation. Two gorillas transfered from group 13 and Sabyinyo and joined the then very small Hirwa group. As luck would have it other gorillas joined them as well and created the group. Despite being the newest group on the block, Hirwa exhibits strength and holds its own amongst all the other established groups. The Hirwa group recently grew in numbers with the birth of twins in March this year and is most definitely proving to be a very strong family. When we arrived at the group they were very much having Siesta time but not long after our arrival some of the youngsters started playing and some of the older Gorilla’s awoke and continued with their eating activities. At this time of year the Bamboo shoots are plenty and Gorilla’s are just suckers for Bamboo shoots. This female picked this spot away from the playful youngsters and sat peacefully eating her Bamboo breakfast and the moment was captured. This photo was featured today on the acclaimed Earthshots.org web site and I’d like to thank Earthshots for the selection, it’s a special image to me and it’s wonderful to have it recognised. I’ll be covering more of our Gorilla treks in Rwanda in a lot more detail with a lot more images.

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