Watanga

Being someone who was interested in gorillas, the blonde, Elizabeth Harding, was not about to give up her hobby – especially not after The Royal Geographical Society, had offered to help her with the finances.
“The lowland Gorillas are becoming almost extinct,” she was told, “You going out there is of great importance as it is felt that they need to be protected and this can only be done on foot and by tracking them.”
It was with this in mind, and a cheque to help her, that the middle aged woman, departed for the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Upon landing in the capital, Kinshasa, she was met by an African guide, who drove her to a camp in the west of the country.
“It’s beautiful,” whispered Elizabeth Harding, as she got out of the jeep and looked at the surroundings and admired the huge African, rainforest, the greenery and the landscape.
She then took out her Cannon Digital camera and began to click.
“You must be Miss Harding,” said a voice from behind, “Hi! I am Richard Michaels, in charge of the Rangers here.”
The Englishman put out his hand to greet the lady.
“Elizabeth Harding,” said the female, as she put her camera back and introduced herself.
The two then began to walk towards the camp. As they did this, sounds of Elephants could be heard in the distance.
“This is just like in Tarzan movies,” said Miss Harding, as she looked around and saw trees so high as if they were almost touching the skies and the dark brown coloured branches almost touching each other, with what looked like brown, ropes, hanging down, “When do I get to see the gorillas?”
“We have to find them first!” replied the Ranger, as they entered a wooden hut, “Due to deforestation, they have all moved further inside and are getting rare and,  sometimes, the Hunters get them as well as the Elephants. Now! I have arranged for you to have some Pygmies as guides. They do speak English so there should be no problems.”
The Ranger then showed the lady to her hut. Early next morning, the guides arrived and the journey into the deep jungle began. As they walked along, they could hear the Elephants.
“If we see any gorillas,” whispered one of the guides, “we make a low clicking sound with our mouths as this indicates to them that we no no harm to them. We have to give them time to get use to us. They roar loudly if they are fierce and do not want us around. When they do that, we must stand still.”
Suddenly one of the guides pointed at some foot prints which indicated that gorillas had been on that spot. Everyone began to look around but were not able to see any. Soon, sensing that the animals were not far, one of the guides, gently began clicking with his mouth, as he looked around. Suddenly he pointed in the distance. Several hundred yards, in front of them, were a family of gorillas. One a female, on the ground, was playing with a baby. She then lay down and held the baby close to her. Not wanting to miss this, Elizabeth, took out her camera and clicked a snap as the mother and baby lay.
“Watanga!” whispered the guide, as he turned to Elizabeth, who was looking through her binoculars.
“We know this female,” whispered another guide, as he turned around, “We call her Watange!”
One of the young gorillas, began to walk around but then stopped and looked around. Thinking that they had been spotted, the guides and Elizabeth hid in the long, yellow coloured, grass and trees and watched what was about to happen. The young gorilla, suddenly began to make a loud noise as well as beating its chest.
“What is it doing?” asked Elizabeth Harding, as she looked on with concern.
“Nothing to worry about,” replied the guide, “It is telling the other members of the family that it will be the next leader.”
As time went on, the gorillas got use to having Elizabeth and her guides around them and allowed them to get near them. But one day, sensing that something was wrong, one of the guides stopped the group from moving closer to the animals. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into an hour. Suddenly there was a huge roar and moans from the gorillas. Watanga, holding the smallest on her back, moved away as did the others. A young gorilla lay on the ground with blood coming out from its back. As the gorillas moved away, the guides moved in to have a look.
“Richard,” Elizabeth Harding whispered into a walkie-talkie, “we need your help. There’s a wounded gorilla. No! I think it fell off a tree and its bleeding from the back.”
Minutes later, a jeep, driven by some rangers, arrived and took the wounded animal back to the camp.
“I have taken many good photographs and the guides were excellent, Richard,” said Elizabeth Harding, as she got into a jeep to go to Kinshasa and back to London, “Thanks to you, I have also made lot of notes to help in keeping tracks of these gorillas. Thank you!”
With that and a wave Elizabeth Harding, ordered the driver to take her away.