Close encounter with a Gorilla

If you’ve been on our Instagram or TikTok you would have seen that the video below has had more than a million views on Instagram and over 27 million views on TikTok!

Here is the story that accompanies the video, read it first so you get the context of what actually happened!

Richard has been guiding an Arc Earth trip and the he explains in vivid detail what happened this past Monday:

What an incredible morning with the @kwisanga_family of gorillas. When we first arrived the clouds were darkening and the vegetation was thick. The trackers were trying to find views for us as the gorillas fed and the storm grew closer. What started as a drizzle turned into a torrential downpour and the gorillas found shelter and so did we.

When the rain finally passed all the gorillas started coming out of their hiding places and the males were trying to keep warm by chest beating. While watching another gorilla the Silverback came marching in from behind us and put on a show that won’t be forgotten in a hurry by our cool, calm and collected guest who handled the moment perfectly. She then moved out to make sure we kept a safe distance from the gorillas.

In theory we try and maintain a big distance but in reality it doesn’t always work out this way. Masks help us minimise any passing on of our diseases to them and distance is maintained as best as possible. We are also limited to 1 hour with the family as this is the point at which the chance of sharing our diseases with them exponentially increases.

This was filmed a privately guided conservation safari which we put together with @arcearthtravel