The Aspinall Foundation, founded by conservationist Damian Aspinall, has been striving to return caged gorillas to the wild. They have assisted hundreds of apes over the years, but one couple stands out from the rest.

Damian released a pair of Western lowland gorillas, Djalta and Bimms, into the woods of Gabon, West Africa, after 15 years of rearing them in Kent, England.

Damian has seen the monkeys numerous times since their emancipation, but his daughter Tansy, who grew up with them, hasn’t seen them in about 12 years.

“My sister Clary and I often played on the lawn with Djalta and Bims, and we occasionally went into the cages with other gorillas.” “I loved being around them all, but those two guys were like our relatives to us,” Tansy added.

“I last saw them when I was ten years old, and they were being crated up for the trip to the conservation site in Gabon,” she said.

So, two years ago, the animal specialist requested that his daughter accompany him on one of his visits.

The father-daughter team traveled to the West African country’s jungles to reconcile with the now-wild gorillas in the hopes that the apes would recognize Tansy.

“When we set out to find them again, I was a little apprehensive at first because I didn’t know if they would remember me after all that time or if they had become hardened by life and possibly dangerous,” Tansy said.

They waited for Djalta and Bimms for hours on a boat until they arrived from the jungle, and something remarkable happened.

Watch the video below to discover if the gorillas knew Tansy after all these years:
That was very cute! They even asked her to stay for a longer period of time.

Spread the word about this wonderful reunion! It will undoubtedly bring a grin to their cheeks.