Face to Face with Mountain Gorillas

There she was, taking a walk and look what she bumped into – mountain gorillas. Of course, as Cynthia Bathurst, executive director and co-founder of Safe Humane Chicago explains, – that is exactly who she was looking for. But why in the world would you traipse halfway around the world to bump into mountain gorillas?  Bathurst talks HERE about this once in a lifetime trip on Steve Dale’s Other World, WGN radio, which she describes as life-changing.

There are only three nations on the planet where you can see these gentle giants, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda or Uganda – and Bathurst chose Uganda, and explains what the experience was like. You literally wind up in the living room of mountain gorillas – large as life, no bars or cages. And not only are you watching them, they’re watching you, it’s like you are the Netflix show.

One trek in the mountains, she says, was straight up and for 3 1/2 hours.

She describes what it was like to share space with the mountain gorillas.

We talk about why Bathurst wore a mask as gorillas are under the best of circumstances particularly susceptible to human respiratory illnesses, including corona viruses. One adolescent gorilla even tried to play tag with her.

Bathurst answers questions from WGN listeners – Do gorillas recognize people with masks? Do gorillas smell bad?

There are several different ways to see the mountain gorillas, here’s one company that does so and does so responsibility.