This is the emotional moment an elderly man fulfilled his lifelong dream of meeting a gorilla in the wild after guides helped him into the jungle on a stretcher in Rwanda.
Footage shows the tourist, identified only as Collin, being lifted to within meters of the huge primate watching with other gorillas in the background.
It’s not yet clear why Collin had to be lifted into the mountain jungle on a stretcher, but guide Cameron Scott called the experience “amazing,” “happy” and the “experience of a lifetime.”
Colin is elderly and his exact age, identity and nationality have not been revealed.
They carried him through the dense forest until he met the primate.
The group, led by Cameron Scott, founder of Royal Ngala Safaris, was looking for the famous Hirwa gorilla family, known for their twins.
This is the amazing encounter of a man who fulfills his lifelong dream: an encounter with a gorilla
They found them in a clearing.
Scott said they were in that clearing because they had been chased there by a Silverback.
Collin was gently lowered to the ground and had a rare face-to-face encounter with one of the adult twins.
Cameron Scott shared the video on Instagram and wrote: ‘This was a first for me. Our group was looking for the famous Hirwa family, which means (luck) in the local Kinyarwanda language.
‘Fortunate because this family was blessed with twins who both lived to adulthood.
‘One of our group members, Collin, was unable to get up the mountain and was carried up in a stretcher by our wonderful guides and porters to fulfill his lifelong dream of meeting wild mountain gorillas in the wild.’
Scott went on to talk about the meeting.
Collin was gently lowered to the ground and had a rare face-to-face encounter
He said: ‘What happened was actually astonishing as we were blindsided by the Gorilla family we were essentially following as they were chased from their original location by a lone, aggressive Silverback.
‘The result was that we bumped into each other in a small clearing, without any preparation or warning.
‘Collin was immediately lowered to the ground and he ended up having a very rare encounter of a lifetime with one of the twins, who was now in fact a proud black-backed gorilla.
‘Another incredible and hilarious experience.’