February 23, 2011
Mountain Gorilla in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

On our third day of mountain gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, we visited the Amahoro group. It has 18 members including three silverbacks, a 2-week old infant and an 8-month old infant.

The 1.9-mile (3km) hike from the trailhead at 8570 ft (2610m) to where we left our porters at 9150 ft (2790m) took us about 2 hours and 20 minutes because some of the hikers were really ill-prepared. The overall conditions weren't very good for photography because there was a just a thin layer of clouds to diffuse the light, but the gorillas were out in the open so we didn't have to contend with mixed shade from a canopy. I was thrilled to find two different gorillas eating in complete shade which was just about perfect for photography. In the image above, one of the black backs, not yet old enough to be a silverback, was among some dense vegetation. Because of the shade, his eyes really show and no special processing was required for the image. The surrounding vegetation provides a sense of his environment.

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