Head in the Clouds; Gorillas in the Midst

By Bibi Jordan

Top on the list was a Gorilla Encounter and a Chimp Trek. But, with her livelihood gone, how this happen? Read her dispatch from Africa's Mountains of the Moon to discover how dreams do come true in the most unexpected ways.

“The gorilla vaulted onto the trail 10 yards from where I stood and crouched down to munch on a fistful of fruits. The answer to a life-time dream! How I’d fantasized of close-up photography of this majestic creature in the wild!

I was on the tail-end of an incredible safari through one of Africa’s most stunning countries, Uganda. I’d sat on the edge of Murchinson’s Falls where explorers Sam Baker and his intrepid wife Florence Baker (an escapee from a Constantinople hareem) had been the first Europeans to witness where the Victoria Nile River surges through a narrow gap over a massive drop. I’d tracked through the equatorial Kibale Forest on the path of our closest relative, the exuberant chimpanzee. I’d been taken on amazing game drives and been hosted at luxury safari lodges.”