THE Seven gorillas' pioneering journey back to the wild took one-and-a-half days, during which time the gorillas travelled by truck, boat, plane and helicopter.

The people of Gabon see their return as a source of national pride, so when they landed a of 250 people had gathered to greet them

It had been an immensely long journey, which had begun 36 hours before with gorilla being given a sedative in honey, which would allow the older ones to be more fully sedated with a needle for their transfer.

Among those who had gathered here to watch their departure was was Australia's Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, who had flown in for two days to film them leaving.

He said: . "Every zoological facility would like to say it's doing great things for conservation but doesn't have the money or experts to pull something like this off.

"It's a mammoth task to actually breed and rear these gorillas and manage an area of natural habitat that they can be released into.That they've done that is just amazing."

It was 30 minutes after the sedation that Djalta, the eldest gorilla, but still only five, was carried from the enclosure to the waiting truck by keeper Colin Lee. Within 10 minutes Kwibi, four, the second eldest, was carried out by Colin Angus and keeper Hannah Barlow on a stretcher.

Kiba was next, followed by the two babies Kido and Ima, who are both only about 18 months old. Ama followed and then Djaltam, Djalta's younger brother was carried to his crate by keeper Brian Hammer.

They set off in the early hours of the following morning.