Get a real job? um.....no!: Um bongo, um bongo I went to the Congo....oh and we saw gorillas and they were freaking awesome

Because the Congo is so dangerous we weren't able to camp there so our expedition there started early in the morning. We drove teh 14km to the border and crossed the border (which incidentally was a wooden fence with a big truck tire for a gate) with ease. We met two men (johnny Walker and Joe), who were very persistent in trying to sell us old Zaire banknotes but that was basically our only troubles. We then hopped in this awesome military style vehicle and drove for about 2 hours up a very bumpy road past loads of locals and villages. About 5 minutes into the drive some kid, who was about 13 years old, pointed at me and then did a cut throat action (deadly serious and a number of times), excellent, what a great welcome to one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The rest of the drive was uneventful and we had the usual mzundu, mzundu and kids running from all over the place to see us in the truck. Even the adults here seemed happy to see us which is nice because in Uganda the majority have been throwing rocks at the truck.

We arrived at the start of the trekking site (again surrounded by curious locals) and started walking towards the jungle. The scenery was spectacular and was so not what I was expecting (it reminded me so much of Vietnam). After about an hour we broke off into smaller groups and headed into the dense jungle.The walk was pretty cool but our guides were going at a pretty quick pace and it was all uphill and we were basically walking on fallen trees, roots, plants and insects. The jungle was so dense and the guides at the front had to use their machetes to cut it back so we could get through. Within about 10 minutes we heard all this rustling an there was a gorilla and its baby just sitting in an opening...our guides ushered us on as this wasn't the family we were heading for. The walk took about an hour and a half but as we chopped away at a tree and saw a gorilla sleeping with her baby it was all worth it. She did try and charge at us which was so scary but the guides can communicate with them so she eventually settled down. There were 4 in the family all together - mother, 2 babies and a huge (and I mean HUGE) silverback. It was pretty amazing - we just watched and took photos, and laughed at how human like they are. We were only allowed to spend an hour with them so all too soon we had to head back through the jungle and home. Something really cool though, on the way back we stopped at a second family - here there were about 15 gorillas, we were only allowed to stay there for 5 minutes (as the regulations to protect them and pretty strict) but it was really awesome to see such a big family.From there we were back in the truck and home, exhausted and sore (you should have seen my feet - I will try and upload a picture) but really happy after such an awesome day and well worth to $550 we had to pay. There are only 720 mountain gorillas left in the world.