Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Jun 27 2009 | By: Julie

If Rwandans are teaching their fellow Rwandans that they should love and protect mountain gorillas and their habitat, it makes sense that those teachers should have actually seen a mountain gorilla, right? Well, through my years living and working in the northern province of Rwanda, I’ve come to the realization that most Rwandans, including all of the Rwandan AoC staff members, have never seen a gorilla in its natural habitat. Most say it the price of a permit—$40 for Rwandan citizens—is out of their budget.

I think it’s vitally important for Rwandans to feel connected to the animals the world wants them to protect, and I think there’s no better way to develop this connection than to experiencing the gorillas in the wild. So, a few weeks ago, the AoC Rwandan staff got to see gorillas for the first time on a trek we organized with the park authority (ORTPN) and Amahoro Tours. Here’s an account of the day written by staff translator and teacher Innocent UWIZEYE:

No one missed our 6am meeting time with Amahoro Tours at the Muhabura Hotel. Our team was composed of 6 AoC staff members including Eric, Mugabe, Aimable, Phocas, Donat, and myself. We were driven to the ORTPN office where we met François and Puppy, our guides. They first briefed us about the background of Sabyinyo, the group we were about to visit, and then we were driven to Volcanoes National Park (PNV).

Before reaching the park fence, we walked for about 20 minutes through an area that was named after one of Sabyinyo’s group members, Gihishamwotsi. Here we had another briefing relating to how we should behave vis-à-vis with the gorillas. We needed to observe a 7 meter distance, avoid littering, switch off our phones, avoid flash while taking pictures, and make little noise.

We entered PNV at almost 9 am. After covering a short distance, we saw the first gorilla up a tree looking for leaves to eat. It was really amazing to look at it above our heads! It did not care about our presence and just kept on eating leaves. After some minutes it got down from the tree and passed us to join its family members which we were walking to see.

Most of the gorillas had just finished eating and were resting nearby. It was really marvelous to look almost all the Sabyinyo Group members gathered in the same place, under the leadership of the silverback Guhonda, the chief! He was sitting down surrounded by his wives and babies just relaxing. Phocas, as most with of the team, could not believe his eyes that he was seeing live gorillas, for he had only seen pictures of them before. He was so amazed by them and he said he thought humans and gorillas really can be good neighbors.

A few gorillas were busy in the forest. While others were resting peacefully, one of them climbed up a tree looking for some leaves and unknowingly disturbed a hive of bees. The bees reacted by stinging the gorilla and the rest of the group, who were forced to move to a safer place. We followed them and as we moved, a large gorilla who was not the lead silverback but a sort deputy chief suddenly ran towards us, frightening some of us. After looking at all of us very proudly, he sat down and exploded with strong-smelling gas! On our way to the new place where the group had moved to, the deputy chief tried to hinder us and but our guides helped us find our way to the rest of the group. We went through a narrow way crossed by bamboo and countless other species of plants.

After one hour of watching the gorillas, we were told it was time to leave. As soon as we began to walk out, we started talking about our experience. The guides took the opportunity to inform us about how the park uses the revenue obtained from tourism. They told us that it mainly helps in improving the livelihood of the population living near the park and is used to fund the building of schools, water tanks, health clinics, and other facilities. It is also used in supporting associations of former poachers, handicrafts producers, and other groups. The guides also requested that we become advocates for the park wherever we go.

At the end of our trip, we were offered certificates testifying that we visited Sabyinyo Group. Afterwards, all of us headed for AoC Office where we joined our Director Julie and some other staff members who were curious about our trip. Each person in the group took a turn to talk about his favorite memories. It was an experience none of us will ever forget.

Tags: mountain gorillas, park guides, protected area, tourism