Photographer Christophe Courteau is knocked over by a silverback gorilla. Photo: Christophe Vasselin.
A 46-year old Frenchman named Christophe Courteau had the shock of a lifetime this weekend in Rwanda. As he was performing his job as a wildlife-photographer in the Virunga Mountains a full grown silverback gorilla male knocked him off his feet. Courteau claimed his attacker was drunk from the many fermented bamboo stems he ate. When the ape saw another male hitting on one of ‘his’ females, he got into a drunken rage and the poor photographer was simply in the way. The incident was even captured on some unreal pictures.
Courteau told how the giant gorilla named Akarevuro, with a weight of around 275 kilos, punched him aside as he was chasing his rival. “All the members of this family were quite excited on this day, probably due to the consumption of the bamboo stems, which cause the gorillas to become extremely drunk and excitable. Suddenly, Akarevuro, who stood close to us, just ran at me, but I could not move away as I was taking photos on my knees. In less than a second, he was on me, and strongly hit me like a rugby player. With the shock, I felt all his power and weight on my body.”
Courteau survived the incident without major injuries. And besides a cool story to tell he now has the picture of his life, since he managed to push the button right before Akarevuro’s powerful weight hit him. His colleague Christophe Vasselin even got a photo in from the side. Both remind more of a violent King Kong scene than a peaceful documentary about family life in the jungle.
Courteau’s picture right before he gets nocked off his feet by a silverback gorilla.
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Goodness me! I hope the gorillas read this blog, sounds like they might be needing one of your ingenious hangover cures…
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Hahaha well they live in the border area with Uganda and we happen to have a tasty Ugandan hangover cure on this blog.
But more important would be to learn how to be a happy drunk that nows how to care and share. Should Akarevuro, who was boss over a group of around 50 gorillas, really keep all the girls to himself? I’d say with only 700 spieces left in the wild a little diversity in the genes couldn’t hurt. 😉
Cheers,
Micky
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Wise words indeed. Happy drunks who share their women are always role models to be admired, certainly in the world of gorillas. In a situation where a drunken gorilla is becoming violent, all the lady gorillas should have distracted him by showing him their boobies.
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Hahahaha good call! 😀
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ha, i dont need to get drunk to get jealous. I get that way perfectly sober if anyone tries hitting on my SO.
oh well, you gotta be considerate of the ape. he was only taking care of his sweet thing and if that stupid photographer hadnt been in his way….
f
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Yep… Let’s not forget the silverback alpha male is considered king of the jungle. And in the jungle it’s all about survival of the fittest. If you ain’t fit, you got to get the fuck out of the way! 😀
Cheers,
Micky
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The photos are obviously fake.
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