3
Uganda—Present Day
Eden Matthews grinned at the people nearest her as she got in line with a small group of visitors at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. For $600 and a park entry fee, she was about to have the experience of a lifetime, hiking her way deep into the mountainous terrain of the jungle to see the mountain gorillas.
At twenty-four, she was one of the youngest photographers to have made the journey for National Park magazine. For as long as she could remember, she’d been obsessed with conservation. Her parents had taken her to zoos and aquariums when she was a child, and seeing those animals, knowing their natural habitats were being destroyed, had changed her life.
She swung her camera bag over her shoulder and tightened the elastic hair tie holding her blonde hai
