Freya Aspinall's journey to rewild gorillas in Congo Aspinall Foundation

When I'm with the animals, I'm one of them. I'm in their world. It's always been normal for me. I've been able to develop completely natural relationships. There's no training, there's no taming, just pure love and trust. The Aspinall Foundation has rewilded over 300 animals. To this day, we're the only people in the world that send gorillas back to the wild. My father grew up with animals. They became like friends to him, just like they have with me. They're like an extended part of our family. I've learned so many things from my dad, but I think the main one would probably be the respect you have for an animal, and you're always an equal with an animal, and you should never try and test that. I'm on my way to the Congo with my 17-year-old daughter Freya. It'll be the first time that she's ever seen gorillas in the wild. How far are we from the gorillas? I think we're about 12 ways still. Finally, after an exhausting journey, we arrived in our reserve in the Congo, and it wasn't long before Freya and the gorillas met for the first time. Little Bumasa and Lukilele, two orphan gorillas. As soon as the gorillas felt comfortable around me, I slowly became a friend-like figure to them. They then became very excited and treated me like one of them, which means a lot of rough gorilla play. Once the gorillas calmed down and relaxed, they became much more affectionate, and we slowly started bonding and building a relationship. So this is Lukilele, and this is Bumasa. To see these two beautiful orphan gorillas, whose families have been slaughtered by poachers, relax and play with Freya, brought me great joy. I just want everyone to see how amazing it is here, and how amazing seeing gorillas are in the wild. It's where they belong. It's completely 100% where they belong. Back in camp, and the following morning, the most amazing thing happened. During breakfast, some friends came to see us. This is the first time I'd ever seen anything like this. The gorillas came from the forest to come and see their new friend, Freya. There's no question in my mind that these two beautiful gorillas had come to see Freya. We wanted to get them back out into the forest for obvious reasons, but they would not go unless Freya went with them. And after some time and a little bit of difficulty, Freya led the tribe back into the forest. It was clear to me that all the gorillas wanted to do was to get their friend and play again in the forest. And it was wonderful to see the smile on everyone's faces, including the gorillas. Playtime, playtime. Ruff and tumble, it was such fun. Then it was a little bit of silliness, and back to camp. We were a little sad because we weren't expecting to see the gorillas again. They were out in the forest and we were heading back home. The infamous river where I nearly died. I nearly died. I was drowning. So this is the river that I saved my daughter's life. No, I saved your life. It's not the way I remember it. And just around the corner is a 70-foot waterfall. And then something extraordinary happened. Something I'd never seen before. The gorillas came to say goodbye to their friend. It was incredibly emotional. They clearly didn't want Freya to leave. What I would hope for my generation to see from this is that animals belong in the wild and rewilding is so important. And if animals are stuck in captivity, we must do everything we can to rewild them. I cannot imagine a better way to end our trip. It was wonderful to see the gorillas so happy. And it was a joy to see Freya and the gorillas make their bond together.