Victoria knew exactly what she was signing up for when she married her husband. She knew that when she agreed to marry Damian, she would also marry all of his animals. Damian Aspinall owned two zoos, and he was well accustomed to dangerous exotic animals. It didn’t take very long to convince his new wife to join him to go on a trip to Gabon so that he could introduce her to the two gorillas he nurtured back to health more than ten years ago. It was a grueling and lengthy trip to the mountains, and once they spotted the enigmatic creatures, things went awry. Nothing could have readied them for how Victoria would affect them. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

No One Without The Other

Damian Aspinall was raised in an unconventional environment. Damian spent the majority of his youth at Howletts Wild Animal Park, which his father, John, established in 1957. The park, which is approximately 700 acres long and home to a vast assortment of exotic species, is located in Kent, England. Damian believes he built a deep connection with the local gorillas on this estate. He was helped raise by one of them. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

An Interesting Childhood

As an adult, Damian recalls a moment as a kid when he became stranded in a tree and was rescued by a very parental gorilla, who brushed away his tears, slung him over her shoulder, and carried him down to safety. While Damian recalls his particular bond with the gorillas at his father&#8217;s park with fondness, nothing could have equipped him for his subsequent encounter with a different set of gorillas. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

A Deep Connection

John Aspinall built Howletts Wild Animal Park when he established the charity organization The Aspinall Foundation. In the spirit of wildlife protection, he created two zoos: Port Lympne Wild Animal Park and Howletts Wild Animal Park. Each of these zoos specializes in breeding vulnerable and unusual animals like tigers and gorillas. One initiative involves rearing orphaned gorillas and reintroducing them to their native habitat in Gabon&#8217;s Plateau Bateke National Park. Damian became head of the organization after his father&#8217;s untimely death, and he had huge plans for his father&#8217;s personal project. Photo Credit: Chris Jackson

Labour Of Love 

He didn&#8217;t have many pals visit him during his childhood. He claims that this was due to all of the deadly creatures that wandered around his house and the fact that he has always had a greater bond with animals than other people. &#8220;When you have tigers in the garden, you don&#8217;t get playdates. It was just the animals and me except for the occasional mate,&#8221; Damian recounts in a conversation. Damian claims even though he did not have many friends, he was perfectly satisfied with his life. Photo Credit: Derek Cox

He Was Content

&#8220;We have Super 8 films of me as a seven-year-old, playing with tigers and bison around a tree or dashing through the lawns with a band of wolves,&#8221; Damian lovingly recalls. He is now a wealthy man as an adult. Damian&#8217;s finances had not always been easy, primarily given the fact his father, John Aspinall, had failed to assist him with money. Photo Credit: Eleanor Bentall/Corbis

Recalling Fond Memories

Damian Aspinall put in a lot of effort to make it big in the real estate business. However, when his father died, there was no funding left to keep the parks that he so much loved running. The future for the animals who called the parks their home appeared dismal, with the parks losing roughly £4 million each year. &#8220;I understand why the rest of the family didn&#8217;t want to become involved. I was forced to do it because my brother and sister had no interests in animals,&#8221; he added. However, there were more problems to come. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

He Was Forced Into It

Damian Fisher married Victoria Fisher in August 2016. She was from the Italian region of Tuscany. But, as she soon discovered, loving Damian came with a price. Damian had officially relocated to Howletts Wild Animal Park at the time. Additionally, he had a whole pack of wolves under his control. Kago, the dominant male wolf, slept in his bed. The question then arises: how did these lovers from different worlds become acquainted? Photo Credit: Chris Jackson

How Did They Meet?

Damian had enthralled Victoria with crazy stories about his childhood during a dinner party in the park. Immediately, he was smitten with her and asked her out. Some of his bizarre stories blew her mind. &#8220;He had all these stories about Howletts at the lunch date, so I Googled him afterward and couldn&#8217;t believe it all existed,&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t normally choose that kind of setup&#8230; On paper, I don&#8217;t think anyone would have put us together. Neither of us was looking for the other,&#8221; Victoria remarked, echoing Damian&#8217;s sentiments. It took Damian a while, but he finally agreed to introduce her to his gorillas. Photo Credit: David M. Benett

Love At First Sight 

Several years earlier, Damian raised and reintroduced the two male gorillas, Djalta and Ima into the wild. He had been curious as to what had happened to the two he had thought of and raised as his own children throughout the years. Although Damian had been to Gabon before, this would be his new wife&#8217;s first trip to its jungles &#8211; and her first encounter with gorillas. She had no idea what she was in for. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Like His Own 

Damian was all too aware that fully grown gorillas – especially male gorillas – can be extremely dangerous. Their strength and unpredictability made them legendary among the Gabon locals. Although he couldn’t wait to see his old friends Djalta and Ima again, he just couldn’t know how they would react. He hoped that they would remember him, but more importantly, he wondered what they would do when they met his new wife. But, first things first. He needed to locate them. Photo Credit: YouTube/AquavitaFilms

Wild And Unpredictable

Putting their fears aside, Victoria and Damian decided to embark upon the journey of a lifetime. Along with a few experts, they chartered a plane and flew out into the wild forests of Gabon. But on their flight, Damian couldn’t shake the growing sense of trepidation that was creeping up on him. He was aware that the gorillas may not take kindly to Victoria, the newcomer. But he was willing to take that chance. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Taking A Chance

Damian and Victoria quickly found out that finding the gorillas was going to be a lot more difficult than they had hoped. They had to trudge through difficult mountain paths, take boat rides down the river, and hike through the jungle to reach their destination. Although both Djalta and Ima had GPS locators attached to them, the GPS did not provide their exact location, only an approximation. They could be anywhere in the dense jungle. Then, the team decided to take a more creative approach. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

How To Find Them?

As the GPS devices couldn’t provide an exact location of the gorillas, the team decided that the best way to pinpoint them would be to use state-of-the-art technology. They released drones with high definition cameras strapped to them, which were paired with Damian’s smartphone. As the drones flew up the path and reached a clearing, the team had finally found what they were looking for. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Quick Thinking

The gorillas emerged from the undergrowth, startled and confused by the unfamiliar drones buzzing overhead. They cautiously walked directly underneath them to try to ascertain whether the strange devices were a threat or not. Luckily for Damian, he immediately recognized Djalta and Ima near the riverbank. 
It was now or never. It was decided that the team would approach slowly from the river. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Now Or Never

Now that it was time to finally meet the gorillas, Damian and Victoria were growing increasingly nervous. Would they remember Damian after all these years? And would they accept Victoria? But the couple wouldn’t have to wait for long to find out. The gorillas spotted the boat approaching and moved closer, curious. But Damian knew that their demeanor could change in a heartbeat, and that’s exactly what happened. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Slowly Approaching

Gorillas are, by nature, elusive and shy creatures. They will do everything they can to avoid humans at all costs, retreating to the mountains and densely overgrown hilltops. Although they avoid conflict, they can be deadly when they feel threatened. They were in the gorillas’ domain now — Damian knew that one wrong move could mean disaster. The team had to move slowly to make sure that they didn’t startle the unpredictable animals. But how would they react to Damian and Victoria? Photo Credit: Credits

First Impressions

The boat and crew drifted slowly to the riverbank, and Damian flew the drone back. As they drew nearer to Djalta and Ima, the crew fell silent. Everyone was waiting for the gorillas to make the first move, trying to anticipate what they would do next. When they reached the land, it was Damian who moved off the boat, wading in waist-high water as he tried to approach them. Slowly… slowly. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Extreme Caution

When he reached dry land, he walked low to the ground, trying to present as little threat to the gorillas as possible. So far, so good. Then, Djalta and Ima began to make noises, low grunts at first, then gurgles and growls. Damian knew what these noises meant – they recognized him! After making sure that the gorillas were comfortable with his presence, it was Victoria’s turn. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

So Far, So Good

Victoria, being careful not to make a splash, lowered herself into the water and began to wade toward her husband. “I decided to gently ease my way ashore. I didn’t want to frighten them and I wanted to make sure that they were relaxed,” Victoria said. But although it was clear that the gorilla brothers had taken to Damian, they had a different reaction to Victoria. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Trying Not To Make A Sound

As Victoria approached, Damian stopped her with a wave of his hand. She stood stock-still as they waited. Damian tied to gage if the gorillas were showing any signs of aggression towards her. It was a heartstopping moment as they both waited for a sign. Then, Djalta began to make a sound from deep in his throat. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Waiting

It was the same gurgling sound that the gorilla had greeted Damian with! Damian took it as a very good sign – it seemed like the gorillas would allow Victoria to come a little closer. She reached the bank at sat quietly by the river’s edge, ready to bolt back to the boat at the first sign of trouble. Then, Ima made a low, rumbling sound. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Grunts And Gurgles

Damian took this as the sign he had been waiting for. Then, Djalta lumbered right up to Victoria and nuzzled her face. They had accepted her! After many hugs and friendly nuzzles, Victoria and Damian decided that it was time to retreat. It had been a long day. But that wouldn’t be the last they saw of Djalta and Ima… Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Acceptance

The couple and the crew returned to the same spot on the following day, hoping that the gorillas would still be close by. Luckily, they were right where they had left them – and this time Ima approached Victoria boldly. He rushed over to her, gurgling happily and embracing her. It seemed that Ima had taken a liking to Victoria. Then, he did something unprecedented. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

An Instant Connection

Ima the gorilla snatched Victoria’s hat right off her head and placed it on his own – just like a human would! The hilarious antics were all caught on film and uploaded to YouTube, where Djalta and Ima have since captured the hearts of millions. The video quickly went viral, and more and more people wanted to know about these majestic creatures and their natural habitat. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Gorillas live exclusively in tropical rainforests in Africa. They are divided into two categories – Eastern and Western gorillas. These two species were likely separated from one another during the Ice Age and have developed their own distinct characteristics. Although gorillas have been known to leave the forest when searching for food, they need the forest to survive. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

About Gorillas

The gorilla population has been on a steep decline within the last 25 years. The western lowland gorilla’s numbers dropped by a staggering 60% and continue to drop at an alarming rate. This is mostly due to human interference and diseases such as Ebola. Gorillas are also poached for meat, sport, and trophies. This has lead to all species of gorilla becoming endangered or critically endangered. This is what Damian and other conservationists like him are trying to change. Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

A Dwindling Population

By uploading the video of his interactions with Djalta and Ima, Damian hopes to change the most common perceptions of these magnificent creatures. Generally, gorillas are shy animals and will avoid conflict. But, any attacks by gorillas that have occurred are largely due to human error. If a gorilla feels threatened, they will defend themselves. Damian and Victoria prove that these animals need to be treated with respect and caution. Photo Credit: David M. Benett

Conservation

Damian and Victoria also hope to raise awareness of the gorilla’s plight. Damian’s rehabilitation project for gorillas and other endangered animals, as well as maintaining the two zoos, costs him around £10m a year (approximately $12.8m). But what does Victoria have to say about her experience with the gorillas in their natural habitat? Photo Credit: YouTube/The Aspinall Foundation

Raising Awareness

“It was the most beautiful and humbling experience and one which I will never forget. Somehow, because we were there on (Ima’s) territory, once I’d got over my initial fears, it seemed only natural to curl up in his lap,” she said. “I hope that watching these gorillas, happy and free, will inspire those who believe, as we do, that the place for wildlife is in the wild rather than in captivity.” Photo Credit: Gareth Fuller

Man Bonds With Gorilla And Let's It Meet His Wife