The life of a wildlife photographer must be one of the most rewarding paths one could take. Imagine all of the amazing things you’d witness while on the job, from lazy, everyday afternoons as a day in the life of a sloth, to wild chases as part of the circle of life.
There’s a whole wide world out there with endless corners to explore. Without wildlife photographers and filmmakers, the rest of us would truly be missing out.
Out in the rainforests in the Congo, families of silverback gorillas roam through the trees in packs. There are endless trails that criss-cross the forest as these magnificent creatures travel in search of food and shelter.
However, sometimes these trails are interrupted by man-made roads, with tons of traffic making it hazardous for the gorillas to continue on their journeys.
With the constant flow of trucks loaded up with coal, one family of gorillas had to wait for the wildlife photographers to take matters into their own hands in order to come out of the shrubbery.
Photographer Gordon Buchanan was on assignment with the BBC, following a troop of gorillas when he realized that he needed to lend this family a hand. He and his team had noticed one gorilla lurking just in their line of sight, looking distressed about the constant traffic.
Once the traffic stopped, what happened next is one of those incredible, once-in-a-lifetime moments.
The leader of the troop steps out into the middle of the road. All 1,500 pounds of him stood there, just meters away from the camera crew, who all had lenses pointed right at him. He stood confident and still as a statue right there in the middle of the road.
Then, out of the greenery comes a train of gorillas. More and more keep appearing. Gorillas of all ages and all sizes parade gracefully for the helpful crew of photographers.
There was even one little baby riding on his mother’s back. How adorable!
What’s most amazing is that the leader of the back waited bravely while his family made it safely to the other side. He wouldn’t move until his mother, bringing up the rear, finally started to make her way across to the other side of the road.
This just goes to show that these amazing animals aren’t all that different from us humans.
Just look at this gorilla and her baby, and you’ll understand.
The patriarch of this family just wanted his whole extended family to make it to safety. It may look like a small gesture from afar, but this gorilla didn’t know for sure that he could trust the group of people who had stopped the traffic for him. You can see the slight hesitation in the gorillas’ faces as they cautiously make their way across the roadway.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of humans out there who don’t have wild animals’ well-being on their minds. There are poachers, illegally killing wild animals for profit. There are those that burn down large spans of forest in order to make way for crops. There are even some who kill just for sport.
If only there were even more like Gordon Buchanan, who is spending his time on this earth doing his best to educate the rest of the world about the amazingness of the wildlife surrounding us.
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