In the early morning, low clouds hug the fertile valleys surrounding the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest with the forest stretching, ridge upon ridge, into the blue haze beyond.The Bwindi Forest is of considerable importance because of its antiquity. At least 25,000 years old, it is one of the few forests in East Africa where lowland and montane vegetation can be found in one continuous belt. It is also the best secure haven of the mountain gorilla, the world's largest and most endangered Great Ape.