Gorillas In The Rwandan Midst

Gorillas have long held a unique mystique for humans.

The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith decided to get a look at them in the wild, so she set off this summer on what she called a once-in-a-lifetime experience: hiking up an African mountain to observe them.

Smith took viewers along, via a video recording of the trip.

Every morning, she says, before the sun reaches the top of the Virunga Volcanoes, another "gorilla trek" begins in Ruhengeri, Rwanda.

Here is

My day began with a long, rocky road to the base of the mountain.

From there, it was all uphill on foot. Heavily armed Rwandan soldiers walked alongside to guard against attacks from the Hutu rebels who live in the hills.

Don't even think about doing this unless you're in shape. Climbing uphill for more than an hour only gets you to the entrance to the national park where the gorillas live.

Then the fun really begins as you make your way through heavy brush.

The going was tough. Trail conditions varied from "really, really hard" to "you've got to be kidding me."

After climbing all morning, and wondering if I'd ever see anything resembling a gorilla, my guide, Francis, suddenly stopped.

Hidden among the trees, something was moving. Something big. We were in the center of the Susa group, surrounded by 37 mountain gorillas that we could hear, but couldn't always see.

The thing that's freaky is that you don't know where they are. We found a clearing and got a better look at a group that included the only known pair of gorilla twin babies.

Like humans, gorillas dote on their offspring. And so do poachers.

Hidden among the vines, my guide spotted a trap poachers use to catch gorillas, a rope with a noose-like shape on the end, designed to grab gorillas by the wrist.

It was kind of unnerving being so close to the big apes. The guides told us that an adult gorilla could easily kill a human being if provoked, but that gorillas usually aren't aggressive.

Members of the Susa group seemed to know we were there, but were much more interested in their food.

Gorillas are mainly vegetarians, but we know from King Kong that they like blondes, cracked Smith, who is blonde.

But they weren't all cute and cuddly.

One huge silverback had been in a fight over females. There was blood on his shoulder because he's not the biggest gorilla. And the big guy gets to punish the second gorilla when he tries to take the ladies, so he got in trouble.

Just a few yards away, we found the big guy himself.

The chief, in charge of all 37, has 10 wives, 11 babies and a mean stare.

We weren't really in danger of being attacked, but the guides did warn us to keep out of the gorillas' way, and to never get between them and their food.

I found out that wasn't always possible as a big male approached. It took a few seconds for my heart to start beating again.

Here's the problem: This guy is blocking our way out, and we have to stand here until he moves. Which he finally started to do.

Visitors to the park are allowed only one hour with the gorillas. For me, it was more than enough — for the day and for a lifetime.

Why not just go see them in a zoo? None has ever survived in captivity; poachers steal babies for private zoos, nearly always killing mothers in the process, but babies usually die within weeks.

Gorilla trek permits are limited to 30 per day for the entire national park, which covers several mountains. Gorillas are also susceptible to human diseases; a cold transmitted from an unwitting tourist could kill them.