Ellen DeGeneres is living out her dreams in real life!
After her wife, Portia de Rossi, surprised her with a trip to meet gorillas through The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Ellen finally got her wish and shared behind-the-scenes pictures of herself meeting the gorillas in their natural habitat.
In several videos and pictures posted to Ellen’s Instagram, she can be spotted seeing a mountain gorilla for the first time as he comes out of the jungle.
“I can’t begin to describe what this experience was like, or how much it means to me. I’m so grateful,” Ellen wrote alongside the video of the gorilla emerging from the jungle. In the video, Ellen can be seen crouching in the far right of the screen and is wearing a hat.
Ellen also shared this close-up snap of herself with the gorillas in the wild. She captioned it, “We found them.”
And she shared another video where they are exploring the wildlife.
Portia surprised Ellen with the trip to see the gorillas in honor of her 60th birthday. She also surprised Ellen with the news that they would be funding the construction of a permanent structure for the Dian Fossey group in Rwanda so they can continue their research. According to the Fossey Fund, “The structure will be called the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and will be a purpose-built facility for scientists helping to save one of the world’s most at-risk species, work made famous decades ago by visionary scientist Dian Fossey.”
“Ellen’s always been a huge admirer of Dian Fossey and her work with the gorillas,” Portia said when she surprised Ellen with her birthday gift on her show in February. “Ellen shares Dian’s dedication to animals and the bravery in how Dian lived her life. And now their names will share a home dedicated to saving these animals.
The Fossey foundation also shared a photo of Portia and Ellen on their trip to Rwanda. They captioned the smiling pic,”Fossey Fund CEO Dr. Tara Stoinski, Ellen DeGeneres, and Portia de Rossi just finished an amazing hike to see the Agasha gorilla group today. The Fossey Fund was extremely honored to host Ellen and Portia at Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, where they met with staff and discussed plans for the new Ellen DeGeneres Campus of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.”
Talk about an incredible moment for Ellen!
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