Video: This is What It’s Like to Photograph a Wild, Territorial Silverback Gorilla

Wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas — of adorable Meerkat photography fame — recently went on a trip to the Republic of Congo to photograph a wild silverback gorilla. He came back with some awesome photos, which you can see below, but not without putting himself in a teensy bit of danger along the way.

“The gorillas in this area have only recently become habituated to humans so they still seem very wild,” Lucas explained to us in an email. “This male charged at me several times to let me know who was boss!”

Of course, fearless wildlife photographer that he is, the sound you hear in the background as the gorilla is charging isn’t him running away or screaming in terror (the reaction I imagine I would have had). Nope, just the shutter clicking away so he could capture the moment in pictures.

Here are some of the gorgeous shots he was rewarded with for his bravery (the pictures of the silverback charging you can see in the video at the top):

To see more from Lucas, be sure to check out our coverage of his viral Meerkat experience and then head over to his website or give him a follow on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram.

Image credits: Photographs by Will Burrard-Lucas and used with permission