This episode describes the journey from Bukavu on the southern tip of Lake Kivu by boat to Goma, then our truck ride than hike up to the slopes of Mt Mikeno and Mt Karisimbi in the Virunga Mountains to the ranger headquarters to see the mountain gorillas on the Congolese side. We enjoyed a lovely chicken dinner that night from a very fit chicken, which was a pleasant change from our recent diet of chilli sardines and dough balls. The next morning we were up early to search for the night nests from a gorilla group. We were very lucky and found them within an hour instead of having to trek for hours. We watched them for an hour. It was one of the highlights of my life when a juvenile came up to me and grabbed my leg and started pulling me along. It was an amazing experience to watch these beautiful animals, just as much as they interacted with us. Too soon we had to leave them but you could not wipe the smile off my face for days. My photos did not work but I got some film. If only I had a digital camera then........ My life lessons here were living in the now instead of thinking of what to do when things go wrong. Visiting the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat was such an amazing experience and will never be forgotten. Being witness to the encroaching farmers chipping their way into the forest of the gorillas made me understand the impacts of human populations and the pressing need to protect and conserve this species and its habitat. The US$100 park fee we paid helps conserve the species but we heard from the rangers that they only get to keep ~$5 of that for gorilla conservation, and the rest went to corrupt officials. It was such a shame. I am not sure of the status now. I was so privileged to visit this family group with the silverback Rafiki and interact with them for an hour. If you ever get the chance to visit, do not hesitate.  Photo: Porco Rosso on Unsplash --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/justine-murray0/message