After leaving Red Rocks it was a short drive to the border - changing time zones and the side of the road we drove again. We arrived in Kisoro in time for lunch! We were all in rooms this time - Bubu and Ana had their own room and the rest of us had 2 3-bed dorms to shared between us. Lauren and Hunter quickly grabbed me leaving Danielle and Tanya to share with Steph. Danielle finaly came over to the dark side and admitted that Steph had few redeeming qualities! Chilled afternoon eating nice food and relaxing ready for the excitement the next day.

So another early start for a two hour drive in a small minibus up a hair-raising road to the Bwindi Inpenetrable forest to the start point for the gorilla trek - the reason for me being on this tour in the first place. I had first wanted to see gorillas after seeing the famous scene with David Attenborough from Life on Earth when I was a wee nipper - now it was my turn. The whole event was made better as the only person who had decided not to do the tour was Steph - so she wasn't going to be annoying/insulting any of us today!

We stopped on the way to watch the sun come up (I said it was early) over the misty forests - the film was called Gorrilas in the Mist for a good reason!

We met up with our fellow trekkers for an introductory speech about what we would see and what we could and couldn't do. The population in Uganda has been on the increase (thankfully) but still stands around 900 but this increase may just counterbalance those being wiped out in Congo with the current troubles there. As there were 7 of us we were allowed to have our own walk so set off to meet our family - which contained 2 silverbacks and the youngest baby of any of the families.

We were driven back the way we had come for about quarter of an hur before heading up a steep road to drop us off where the road stopped and the walking began. The first part of the walk was up a village road to their fields - the road was steep and I started to worry that the hike could be a bad thing! Luckily just as we hit the fields our guide got the message that the gorrillas were only about another 30 minutes walk away in the jungle. Even luckier, the walk was only 10 minutes before we saw our first gorilla - the clock had started and our 1 hour visit was ticking down.

To start with the gorrillas were mostly hidden in the bushes so we could catch glimpses before they moved off but then they moved onto one of the paths through the forest and stuck to this. They sat and ate, walked passed us, sat and ate again. Every now and then they would move and we would follow - every moment magical until our hour was up. We begged and were allowed to follow once more and watch until they moved off again.

Before we knew it the experience was over and it was time to head off back to our vehicle stopping for lunch on the way. It was only after the event that the true wonder of it sunk in for me and I did feel a bit emotional. It was worth every penny and I would do it again in a heartbeat if our guide hadn;t said what a good sighting we had had. I wouldn't want to be disappointed seeing just glimpses as they rushed though the bush after a six hour hike!

On the way back I spotted a chamleon heading for the bushes and as I had seen them handled before picked him up and he posed nicely with all of us for the required photos.

Back at the place we started we watched a local childrens dance group - surprisingly good and headed back for a relaxed afternoon.

The next day while others visited an orphanage most of us wandered around Kisoro, having lunch and continually trying to get on the internet - one of our most common pursuits in Africa!