Trekking with Gorillas in Rwanda's Virunga Mountains National Park

A mamma and baby gorilla stay close in a little cradle of bamboo, as we watch in wonder from just a few feet away.

We traveled to the small, landlocked country of Rwanda for one main reason, to go deep into the Virunga Mountains and trek to the mountain gorillas. This is the same place, and the same gorilla families that Dian Fossey brought to the attention of the world with her field work and book, "Gorillas in the Mist." Now, it was our time to enter the misty mountains of Rwanda, and have that same shared experience, or becoming part of the gorilla family for a short time.

Whenever I am here, I like to stay at a small, hidden, boutique lodge, called the Bishop's House. You would never know what incredible rooms, service, and food, await you inside from the almost hidden entrance to the historic place. The morning of our gorilla trek, the staff here outfitted us with gaiters to keep the mud off our pants, rain jackets for the rainforest showers, and a waterproof backpack to protect our cameras. They even stashed a packed lunch for us since you never know how long your hike will take you. We felt ready. Now we just needed to meet our ranger and find out which family of gorillas we would trek to this morning.

Here we are, ready for adventure and whatever the day brings. Notice how clean our shoes are in this photo. It was a different story on our return.

It turns out that our national park ranger's name was "Muhoza" which was also the name of the family of gorillas we were going to trek to. They are a family of 22, led by a big silverback named Marambo. This family was just formed relatively recently, when Marambo split off from another group to form his own on Dec 3, 2016. This family is usually relatively easy to access, due to their preferred location in the park, but the downpour of rain last night ended up making the trek quite a bit more difficult.

We made our way through the potato and permethrin farms with relative ease. Greg even turned to me towards the border with the forest and said, 'I thought it would be a little muddier than this.' We were lucky to see some golden monkeys at the border of the forest. These are a subspecies of blue monkey, even though the guides told me they weren't. After crossing the rock wall boundary of the national park, we encountered the real mud. At first we tried tip-toeing around it, but by the end people were sloshing through up to their ankles. One older gentleman who joined our hiking group (limited to 8), just about had a heart attack on the way up. Luckily the porters were there doing everything in their power to get him up the mountain.

The trek was one of the tougher ones I've done, thanks to the mud, and through very dense bush. Incredibly enough, when we reached the Muhoza gorilla family, the forest opened up into a sunny, level, bamboo area. From there, we hardly had to move at all. The entire family was around us, breaking bamboo, slowly eating, and bedding down for a mid morning nap. Marambo himself, slowly walked through the area, not the least concerned we were there. But the real hit of our hour with the gorillas, was the baby gorillas. They were playful, and shy, and curious, all at the same time. Their mom's kept them pretty close, but they were obviously very curious about these newcomers who were allowed into the family's area.

We had a mother with a four month old baby, walk right through the group, as she sat down and started to munch on some nettles. It was the same nettles that had stung me through my hiking pants earlier, so I felt a small bit of retribution. We spent a full hour being totally immersed in their world. We would watch one from a short distance, until another would come even closer. Then backing away, we would realize that now we are right next to the first one. The entire hour was like that, until we were totally surrounded.

There is just something so magical about being in the presence of an animal that is so humanlike. It is something to be experienced, and we had one heck of an experience.

Later in the afternoon, as we were slumming it in a private helicopter, courtesy of the President, we quietly took in our experience with the gorillas, as we watched the patchwork farms and terraced hillsides of Rwanda spread out below us. It is not something we will soon forget.

Each individual gorilla can be identified by the shape of its nose.

I thought this gorilla was looking quite pensive from its perch atop the bamboo.

It was pretty incredible to be close enough to the gorillas to get photos like this.

Our guide took my phone and grabbed this photo for me, after this mom and baby walked right through our group.

The wine cellar of the Bishop's House had a nice selection of South African pinotages among others.

A gorilla, part of the Muhoza family, lays down for their mid morning nap.

This little four month old baby gorilla couldn't help but strain to look around mom and she carried him off.

Walking through the farms on our way to the forested volcanic peaks that make up Virunga Mountain National Park in Rwanda.

Another close up portrait of a mountain gorilla in Rwanda.

This is the silverback of the Muhoza family. He was a good looking, massive gorilla.

This female gorilla was relaxed enough that you close her eyes and drifted off to sleep while we were there.

I might have to wish for my very own baby gorilla for christmas this year.

The silverback of the Muhoza family of gorillas is massive. He was calm and gentle the whole time we were there.

The Bishop's House is my boutique small lodge getaway when visiting the mountains of Rwanda.

Entering the park to meet our ranger and find out which family of gorillas we will trek to see.

The morning views around this part of Rwanda are spectacular.

Baby gorillas going for a ride on mom.

Greg and Sue, finding out just how close we were going to get to these gorillas.

Rwanda is a coffee country. There are cafes and coffee plantations all over the country. And here, at the gathering place for gorilla trekking, they always have amazing coffee to get your trekking day started.

After parking in a brand new gated parking lot for our gorilla trek, we walked through a village, then through potato and permethrin farms, before entering the rainforest of the volcano tops.

This was during our muddy trek through the forest on our way to the gorillas. It was pretty dense and under cover for most of the hike, but this one spot offered a great view over the valley between Sabyinyo Volcano (shown), and Basoke Volcano that we were on the slope of.

We were so close to the gorillas at times, that I had to switch to my iphone for a wide enough angle to capture them.

Two babies and two moms in this photo.

Local porters from the nearby villages are there to assist you on your gorilla trek. They were invaluable on today's muddy hike. Greg called them our 'guardian angels.'

This was shortly after arriving on the scene with the gorillas. We hike for over an hour through thick forest and deep mud, but luckily found the gorillas in this beautiful open area.

Our ranger, Muhoza (far left) had the same name as this group of gorillas.

Not many people can say they have a photo like this!

Heading up on the trail through the farms.

Little baby gorilla being playful.

Look at the baby, just chilling on mom's tummy like a lazyboy chair.

This feisty female came barging out of the forest and nearly pushed the guy in front of me over from behind.

We may have had a private helicopter ride back to Kigali courtesy of the President, after our trek. We really like Rwanda.

Celebratory bottle of Pinotage, a South African staple, back in Kigali at Heaven Kigali restaurant.

"Beautiful", was the friendly cat that everyone loved at Heaven Kigali.