They had me at "hello"

Mountains Gorillas, that's who.



I must admit, I've always thought they were scary because of their size and partly because of the movie, KingKong. (yes, you can laugh now). Also, I remember being a kid, we would visit the Cebu Zoo and people would say not to get too close because the gorilla might grab me and swallow me whole. That thought NEVER left my mind. Yet at the same time, I remember feeling sad for the big hairy ape sitting in the cage staring back at us and must be thinking, "You freaks are lucky you're on the other side of the situation".

Then a documentary show I saw at PBS opened my eyes to a new perception. I suddenly find the gorillas very fascinating. How they live, how they survive, how they protect their young, how they behave, how extinct they are and how they survived what happened in Rwanda.

Gorillas are not really out there to hurt anybody. Like us, they are just trying to survive. Living their lives. I could not believe that there are poachers who'd kill them either for meat (yuck!) or to sell the baby gorillas for pets (which would sometimes end up killing 5 adult gorillas, in the process).

How sad and cruel is that?

And just a few minutes ago, I saw Cynthia McFadden of ABC's Nightline, she went to Rwanda and have seen the gorillas up close. I'm jealous.

Ecotourism in Rwada is a win-win situation for the people who live near the volcano where the Gorillas live, because preserving the Silverback Gorillas not only protect them from poachers and extinction, it also helps keep up the economy.

Personally, I'd save up my pennies to chase a new dream, I'd want to go there and experience it myself. It may not be as "glamorous" as going to the Bahamas, but it'd be worth the experience.

Like Cynthia said, "It was worth one muddy footstep at a time". I'm sure it was.