We travel around Africa by motorcycle 1.5 years and search for where do silverback (mountain) gorillas live; how many type western and eastern gorillas we can see.
We had a lot of dreams to see in Africa and most of them we did. One of the best things to do/see in Africa was visiting gorillas. It was one of our dreams but because of the price we didn’t know if it was possible but we went to gorillas trekking more cheaper than what we were thinking.
Before we start write about how much gorillas permit? How you can find cheap tour for gorilla trek? We would like to give some info about gorillas then prices. You are welcome to ask questions and comment.
How many type of gorillas: Western & Eastern gorilla
Two kind of gorilla possible to see. They are called western gorilla (lowland and cross river gorillas) and eastern gorilla (lowland and mountain gorillas). Most famous one is mountain gorillas from Eastern and they are known as silverback gorillas. Also, they are the biggest one.
Western and Eastern lowland gorillas population are still so much. Unfortunately, I cant write same thing fro Cross river and Mountain gorillas. 🙁 Cross river gorilla population is 300 and mountain gorilla population is around 900. When we asked our guide in gorilla trek we learned about it.
We visited mountain gorillas and know more about them. Male is silverback and around 200 kg. When they stand on two feed they can reach around 1,7 meters. Female is half of male. 🙂
A short video from our adventure : Silverback Gorillas, Virunga Park, DRC
Where do mountain (silverback) gorillas live?
They are in Africa and when you look at the map you can see a lot of countries to visit gorillas. But only few countries have a easy option to see them. Our info comes from our search before we entered Africa because we want to be sure where we can see gorillas western and eastern Africa. But we couldn’t see them on west side because when we were riding motorcycles around gorillas area it was rain season and some security problems.
Western gorillas on the west of africa.
Possible to see them between Nigeria and Cameroon in/around Kashimbila game reserve. Also, Nki national park in Cameroon. Noubele-Ndoki national park in Central of Africa, Loanga national park , Franceville and Bateke national park in Gabon (I think that it is easy to see gorillas in Gabon because you can get a train from Libreville to Franceville and stop at the National Park) and D’odzala-Kokoua national park in Republic Congo. Also, it is possible to see gorillas in Equatorial Guinea.
Eastern gorillas in the east of Africa.
I suppose everybody knows where you can see gorillas on Eastern; Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Congo (DRC)
Mountain gorillas : Silverback Gorillas
We visited silverback gorillas in Virunga national park Congo. The trek started around 9 am and we were next to gorillas at 11 am. They only allow 4 people at the same to visit one family which is good because we felt like nobody around only we were watching the family. When we arrive Burkima they already knew that which families were where and how far. We wanted to visit Rugendo family and had amazing one hour with them. It was wonderful to see the silverback male and a two weeks old baby.
After watched some movies I was thinking that they are so dangerous. So, don’t get close to them! But when I was looking them I just wanted to play and hug because they were so calm and relax. The Rugendo family has an eleven months old baby who was just learning how he can walk and he was rolling around, coming close and close to play. We were running away from it because they can easily get sick from human bacterias. I suppose our video better explanation than write. If you like you can watch our gorillas adventure…
If you have time and safe a little money to visit them on your Africa journey I think that you would have amazing experience. visit silverback gorillas.
!!!!IMPORTANT NOTE!!! If you get cold or feeling sick please don’t go to see gorillas. Human virus can kill them. If you need to cancel your reservation Virunga park gives all money back accept the visa because it is from the government to apply and can’t take back.
!!!!IMPORTANT NOTE!!! Your security is most important thing for Virunga park. Before book your journey to there you should get contact with them and learn the security detail. Even if after book if anything can happen they can cancel the tour and pay back money.
GS
