"AMAZING" Bryn Passey's first word after spending two hours with seven gorillas born at Howletts wild animal park near Canterbury and now living in the wild in Africa.

KM reader Mr Passey is spending a week on the John Aspinall Foundation gorilla project in Gabon after winning our Born to be Wild competition.

With him are his daughter Natalie and KM group journalist Julia Walsh.

So remote is the location it took them two days to reach the project on the Bateke Plateau National Park.

But on Tuesday, the journey, which included a four hour drive on a trail across the plateau and an hour by boat, proved more than worth it.

For two hours, the three, accompanied by the project leader and gorilla's surrogate mother Liz Pearson and the late John Aspinall's step-son Amos Courage who manages the project, sat and played with the gorillas in the forest.

Mr Passey, a Royal Mail postman, said: "It was unbelievable.

"I expected to see them in the wild but I didn't expect it to be so hands-on. Just sitting there with them in your lap was great."

While the younger of the gorillas stayed away the older ones played gently with the visitors.

Kwibi, five, the second oldest male in the group, took a particular liking to Natalie, 21, a nursery nurse at Teddies Nursery in Tonbridge.

Natalie said: "I was a bit apprehensive at first but they were not as scary as I thought they would be."