This majestic silverback is the dominant male of his group of 21 mountain gorillas that I visited at the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. It took us over an hour of trekking up the steep slopes of the volcano and through dense rain forest before our guide found the group - they travel quite a distance each day foraging. Our trip to see them was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, gentle giants are exactly what they are and, although we were not permitted to go any closer than 30 feet from them, they approached us, their curiosity got the better of them (particularly the youngsters) - one even ran across our feet! Meanwhile this handsome silverback just calmly sat back, chewed his thistles and surveyed everything around him, but he was still watching very carefully over his charges. At one point he became quite agitated over something (I don't know what) and rose to his feet almost aggressively - but what was really amazing was to hear the guide speak to him quietly and soothingly (in what I'm convinced was gorilla language!) until he had completely calmed down again. . .and went back to chewing on his thistles. The relationship the guides have with these beautiful wild creatures was an absolute joy to see. Mountain gorillas are an endangered species with only 1,063 left in the world.