When we were in Congo we went for a village visit in the afternoon of the day we had just seen an entire group of gorillas come out in the open and cross a road—a wonderful and lucky sighting.
Karen got a very good video of it and showed it to the villagers. They really went nuts. The kids shrieked and squealed, the adults laughed, giggled and pointed and even the hard core male teenagers who usually have their disinterested game faces on broke down and loved it too.
Karen wound up showing it three times. My photo below was on the third go around when they had settled down a bit and the ones that couldn’t see it the first two times got close enough to the small screen to get a glimpse—but they were still fascinated. I wish I had been able to video their reactions but I love this photo. Although it is only a split second in time it shows Karen the way I always think of her.
-Text and photos by 24-time WT adventurer (and loving husband) Ralph Shapiro of his wife, 20-time WT adventurer Karen Parsons, Lowland Gorillas of the Congo
