In the Kingdom of Gorillas: The Quest to Save Rwanda's Mountain Gorillas

Chapter Two: Why Are You Here?

Why are you here without authorization? Could Rwandan scientists go to Yellowstone, build a research station, and install themselves for as many years as they want? Without permits? Could they establish their own rules and violate your laws?

— Dismas Nsabimana, Director, Rwanda National Parks

If you see anyone in the park, shoot them.

— Dian Fossey

On February 3, 1978, Walter Cronkite began the CBS evening news with a report that Digit, a young silverback gorilla, had been killed by poachers in Rwanda. Few in the listening audience knew anything about Rwanda or its people, but millions had seen Digit reach out to touch Dian Fossey in a recent National Geographic film special. For them this was almost like a death in their extended family. For Dian, it was a death in her only family.

For us, Digit's death was a deep shock and a dark warning. We were still in the U.S., making final preparations to go to Rwanda to study and help protect its rare and endangered mountain gorillas. In less than a month we would have been sitting with Digit in his forest home. Instead, we were heading into a storm. And Cronkite's broadcast showed that when it came to gorillas that we knew by name, the world was paying very close attention to their fate.

Our arrival in Rwanda's capital of Kigali was uneventful. Tall Eucalyptus trees planted under the Belgian colonial regime still shaded its quiet streets, leaving the curious scent that we associated with cough drops in the air. Somewhere, nearly 130,000 residents were going about their daily affairs, yet the urban bustle of a modern capital city was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps this reflected the fact that Rwanda in 1978 had fewer than three thousand registered motor vehicles in a country of almost five million people. One of those vehicles was an old Peugeot pickup truck doing double-duty as a taxi brousse, or bush taxi. After negotiating a rate — and declining the preferred seating offered to Amy inside the cab — we joined almost twenty other passengers for the five-hour northerly trek toward the Virunga volcanoes. Standing in the back and swaying together as we clung to a lattice frame of metal pipes, we passed the time in conversation, reactivating the "backcountry Swahili" we remembered from our Peace Corps days in neighboring Congo. As we talked about our planned work, we realized that our fellow travelers did not share the Western world's awareness of, nor concern for, the last of the mountain gorillas. Digit's death was not broadcast on Radio Rwanda.

The slow pace and 360-degree exposure from the back of the pickup gave us time to absorb the changing landscape. The initial stretch was unusual not only for its level paved road, but also for the intensive conversion of the Nyabugogo wetlands, which it bordered. The neatly ordered patterns of well-tended rice paddies completely filled the former marsh. Crowned cranes, black-necked herons, and a few sacred ibises appeared to enjoy full use of the altered habitat, though countless other species no doubt had been eliminated by the wetlands' conversion. At the end of the valley, an ugly concrete structure proclaimed itself home to a combined pig-raising and molasses-producing project. Funded by the United Nations Development Program, it produced an unforgettable, if indescribable, mixture of odors.

Leaving the Nyabugogo, our dirt track wound up a steep series of switchbacks before leveling off on an extended ridge. To our left, Rwanda's major river, the Nyabarongo, flowed red with a heavy load of sediments. Yet the surrounding countryside was surprisingly dry: a mosaic of pale browns and greens in which small plots of already harvested sorghum, beans, and corn were juxtaposed with permanent stands of coffee and bananas. Freshly tilled fields awaited the first rains. Halfway to our destination, we slipped into the narrow canyon of the Base River, where a few giant tree ferns stood in silent testimony to a former, more diverse forest community. But beyond that point, nature again yielded to the much greener farmlands of the rugged Ruhengeri highlands, where the rainy season had already begun.

Rounding a long, descending curve about four hours into our ride, we saw the Virunga volcanoes reveal themselves one by one, from west to east, towering over the northern landscape. Our fellow travelers helped to confirm the names which we had read in the works of George Schaller and Dian Fossey: Karisimbi — "the cowrie shell" — its often snow-capped summit rising to 14,797 feet; Visoke — "the watering hole" — with its magnificent crater lake; Sabyinyo — its jagged ancient rim evoking "the teeth of the old man"; Gahinga — "the hoe" — classically flat-topped like Visoke, with a distinctive breach on its western flank; and Muhavura — "the guide" — its 13,540-foot perfect cone visible from all corners of the country. Standing shoulder to shoulder, in camouflage cover of mixed light and clouds, the volcanoes that day seemed like solemn sentinels, guarding the last mountain gorillas that roamed their forested slopes.

In the outpost town of Ruhengeri, we bought some food and negotiated a ride to the park border with the driver of another pickup truck. His load of potatoes provided some relief from the bone-jarring grind up a primitive track of lava rock that led to the base of Mt. Visoke. This was the end of the road. Behind us, the land was cleared of all natural cover, replaced by well-maintained fields that abutted the park along an almost perfectly straight line of the kind that humans like to impose on nature. Above us loomed the more alluring chaos of the remnant forest of the Parc National des Volcans: our home for the next several years.

The foot trail to the Karisoke Research Center began with a narrow cut through a lava wall, where bits of rubbed-off hide testified to the recent passage of elephants — perhaps returning from a crop-raiding mission to nearby fields. After a brief, precipitous climb, the trail skirted the steepest slopes as it wound up and around the southern flank of Visoke. Along the way, it crossed a half-dozen streams and passed through an equal number of open glades. These grassy clearings attracted large numbers of Cape buffalo, whose ample dung testified to their presence. Gorillas avoided the clearings, though, perhaps as much because of the mud, which sucked at our boots, as the open exposure. Finally, after about an hour's climb and short of breath, we reached the research camp. Karisoke was named for its location in the saddle between Mts. Karisimbi and Visoke. The fantastic shapes of one-hundred-foot-tall Hagenia trees dominated the generally marshy environment and dwarfed the camp's six buildings. These were simple structures made of raised wooden platforms and frames, over which corrugated tin siding and roofs were nailed. The result was protection from rain, but not from the constant humidity and cold, which, at ten thousand feet, dropped to freezing on many nights. Tired and ecstatic to finally reach our new home, we felt no discomfort as we fell asleep under several sleeping bags that first evening.

The next morning, we set off to meet the gorillas. Dian Fossey was still in the U.S. to set up a fund in Digit's memory, so our guide for this first contact was Ian Redmond, a young British biologist who was acting camp manager in her absence. After barely passing Ian's first test — traversing a ten-foot log bridge across Camp Stream — we followed the edge of an extensive marsh west of camp, then climbed a series of small hills on the eastern flank of Karisimbi. There we quickly rejoined the trail where Ian had left the gorillas the day before. Tracking from that point was a straightforward procession through the gorillas' nesting site of the night before and on to that morning's fresh trail. The trail itself was a minor highway of trampled vegetation, punctuated by bowl-like depressions and neatly discarded plant matter where individuals had stopped to feed. Focused on the trail sign, and trying not to trip over the grasping vegetation, we failed to notice when we caught up with the group. There was no sound at all from the gorillas; certainly nothing like the repeated barks from Casimir that greeted our arrival when we followed his family almost five years earlier in Congo's Kahuzi-Biega park. Instead, we practically stumbled over a small juvenile who was sitting calmly to one side of the trail.

This was Group 4, one of several families named in the order in which they were discovered by Dian. Within minutes of our kneeling down where we could see most of the group, a two-year-old named Kweli approached. He was beautiful, with deep brown eyes that reflected both light and human kinship. His name meant "Truth." Kweli looked away shyly as he moved to inspect the new white apes more closely. His mother, Macho, sat nearby, calmly observing her infant with the dazzling eyes that earned her her Swahili name. On this first encounter, Kweli gingerly touched the hem of Amy's jeans, then twirled slowly away in a comic series of spins that brought him back to his mother's side. We looked at each other with wide eyes and full smiles. Inside, our hearts were pounding as our minds raced to place the experience in some kind of context. But there was no precedent for the wonder of such direct contact across species lines.

There was a sobering side to that first meeting and others over the next few days. Group 4 was Digit's group. Did the other gorillas remember the attack and Digit's death? His piercing screams must have accompanied the hail of blows from spears and machetes, and reached the ears of Kweli and the others fleeing the poachers' attack. How did they distinguish us from poachers? Why did they still tolerate any humans at all?

These questions hung in the air like the perpetual Virunga mist. Yet they didn't lessen the magic of sitting among wild gorillas, as if we were at a forest gathering with friends. On our second day, Kweli's seven-year-old brother, Augustus, sauntered up to Bill, paused only inches away, then pushed him gently backward and knuckle-walked across his chest before sitting down to feed on some choice celery nearby. He was clearly bolder than Kweli, and unfazed by his human observers. For four days, we lost ourselves in the Virunga wonderland. We saw gorillas every morning, and began to learn their individual personalities as well as their family relationships. We walked around Camp Meadow each afternoon and watched black-fronted duiker and bushbuck browsing along the forest fringe. Late afternoon was a good time to work on our Swahili and learn from the Rwandan trackers and other camp staff. At night we would relive the day's events and experiences. It was a heady time. But it came to an abrupt end with the arrival of a message that we were to return immediately to Kigali to meet with the director of the Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux: the Rwandan national park service, or ORTPN, as it was commonly known.

Dismas Nsabimana was a striking presence. Tall and trim, with a handsome face, he seemed comfortable and self-confident. On this day, he certainly had the upper hand. Pourquoi êtes-vous ici sans autorisation? he queried. The question of our presence and who had authorized it was fraught with potential, all of it bad. Dian Fossey could surely explain our apparent lack of authorization to work in Rwanda, we thought, but she was not with us. She had just returned to Rwanda from the U.S. the day before and was resting at the U.S. ambassador's residence. Still, we assured Mr. Nsabimana that she could account for our status. The problem, according to Nsabimana, was that none of her arrangements had been made with Rwandan authorities.

"Could Rwandan scientists go to Yellowstone, build a research station, and install themselves for as many years as they want? Without permits? Could they establish their own rules and violate your laws?" Nsabimana's anger grew. In part, he was getting back for the adverse international publicity heaped on Rwanda in the wake of Digit's killing, and we were much easier targets than the famous Dr. Fossey. But he was also right. No government authorization, in fact, had ever been requested or granted for our work. This was a matter of principle for Dian, as we would learn, who only reluctantly recognized a limited form of Rwandan sovereignty over the park, and none over "her" field station.

It certainly was not the case that we hadn't prepared for our mission. We recounted the origins of our work as Peace Corps volunteers in Congo, the change of plans to work in Rwanda, our grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Chicago meeting at which Dian had said she would take care of everything. When we reached this point in our account, Nsabimana responded with a dismissive laugh and shared a knowing look with an assistant seated nearby. He appeared to find considerable humor in the idea that we would expect Dr. Fossey to make any arrangements with his office. In any event, there was little point in arguing our case further. All we could do was apologize and assure him that we would cooperate fully with ORTPN in the future. Nsabimana gave a brief concluding lecture on Rwandan expectations and, after a two-day wait, we were granted three-month renewable research permits.

The tone of our discussion had actually started to change when we described our research proposal. Nsabimana seemed unappreciative of the research then being conducted at Karisoke, with its primary emphasis on gorilla behavior. In contrast, he saw our proposed work on gorilla ecology and population trends as responsive to some key park management needs. Our parallel focus on human issues addressed even more fundamental Rwandan concerns. We knew that Fossey's research on the social lives and personalities of gorillas had generated global attention, sympathy, and support; now we had an opportunity to demonstrate the relevance of our own more applied research to local and national interests, as well.

We debriefed Dian on our ORTPN discussions the next day at a picnic arranged by the U.S. ambassador, Frank Crigler. We had driven about an hour east of Kigali to meet at an embassy retreat on Lake Muhazi, a marsh-lined body of water surrounded by agricultural and grazing lands. Dian was dismissive of Nsabimana, but otherwise said little about our meeting or anything else. After lunch, the ambassador took us out in a sailboat and told us of his concern for Fossey's emotional state. He said he was her friend, but also felt that her actions, while well intentioned, were not always in the gorillas' best interests. He wanted to be kept informed of events at Karisoke and said that he would do anything he could to help Dian and the gorillas. Not yet forty, he impressed both of us as bright, caring, and exceedingly confident. He certainly was persuasive, as Bill learned when he was talked into taking a spin behind the embassy motorboat on water skis. Only when he got up on the skis did he begin to wonder about the hippos and other creatures in the water. He also noticed a group of small herdboys propped on their wooden staffs, each with one leg raised like so many shorebirds, watching intently as he was whipped across the surface at the end of a motorized tether. Bill could only imagine their thoughts. Amy wisely resisted repeating the surreal experience.

Our return to Karisoke was a welcome relief from the stress of the ORTPN meeting, and the absurdity of Muhazi. Now we could get to work. One priority was to carry out the first gorilla census in more than five years. The last count, conducted over three successive summers in 1971-73, had shown a dramatic decline since Schaller's total of roughly 450 individuals in 1960. Not only had that number crashed to around 260, but the percentage of young had also dropped significantly. Bill's first major job was to assess the current state of the Virunga population through a comprehensive new survey.

Following a few more weeks of familiarization with the gorillas and the forest, Bill set out on his first official census foray on March 4. The target was Mt. Karisimbi, the largest and westernmost of the Rwandan volcanoes, which he intended to census in a systematic progression over several months from west to east. Before leaving, he went up to Dian's cabin to brief her on his plans. She seemed little interested in the census details, asking instead if he wanted to take a gun. When asked why, she simply said, "If you see anyone in the park, shoot them." The suggestion was unequivocal, as was the offer of the pistol, which lay on a table between them. The lanky form of Dian Fossey was folded forward over the table, as she squinted over her reading glasses to gauge Bill's reaction. His manhood was apparently on the line; so were some more important ethical and legal issues about foreigners shooting people for uncertain offenses in their own country. Bill silently recalled the experience of Alan Goodall, who had followed Dian's same blunt advice only three years earlier. Goodall shot and seriously wounded a Rwandan whom he suspected of poaching. Within days, at least five gorillas were herded out of the park in the same area and stoned to death by irate family and friends of the elderly man. Goodall wrote that he saw no connection between the two events, but several others familiar with the killings disagree. Those five dead gorillas from the Cundura region of Karisimbi would not be counted in this census. The gun stayed on the table.

Bill's first contact with a totally wild group of gorillas came on his second day of work on Mt. Karisimbi. Named that day for the river where Bill found them, the Susa group would go on to become one of the great mountain gorilla success stories, eventually accumulating an extended family of more than thirty members. At that time, however, it had the peculiar composition of one adult silverback male, a young silverback, a blackback male, and a young adult of unknown sex. It was an inauspicious start for a family.

That first contact was especially notable for the long-drawn-out "hoot" series from what appeared to be the senior silverback, whom Bill named John Philip because of the nearby Susa River. From behind a partial veil of vines some twenty yards away, he would slowly shake his head, give off as many as fifteen plaintive hoots — owl-like, but increasingly rapid with a rising crescendo — then leap to his feet, give a quick poketa-poketa chest beat, and return to his seated position, peering out as if to assess the reaction to his performance. Though the other gorillas didn't flee, this recurrent display seemed to keep them on edge. The young adult stared constantly at the intruder and chest-beat almost as frequently as the silverback. Yet she or he remained in full view barely thirty feet away, feeding almost constantly for more than an hour. This exceptionally long contact also allowed Bill to draw noseprints — the unique set of markings above each gorilla's nostrils — for each of the four individuals, including the distinctive "double seven" marks that would give the young adult its Swahili name of Saba Saba.

Working with Ian Redmond and a Karisoke tracker named André Vatiri, on the next day Bill found no further sign of gorillas, other than old trails and nests of the Susa Group on Karisimbi's eastern or southeastern flank. On March 7, the team planned to move its base camp to the south, but Bill came down with a fever and lay in his tent for most of the day. By nightfall, he was sure that he had malaria, probably contracted during our trip to Kigali to meet with Nsabimana. After three previous bouts in Congo, he knew the symptoms well. He also knew they would quickly get much worse if he didn't hurry back to our cabin and take a curative dose of chloroquine. Early the next morning, Bill set off to find his way back to Karisoke, leaving Ian and Vatiri to continue the Karisimbi census. Growing fatigue made the initial stint hard going, as he had to climb up and over a series of small craters. Once he was on the other side, a thick fog moved in to obscure the view. It occurred to Bill that traveling alone through an unknown forest while seriously ill was not one of his better ideas, but returning to camp proved to be a fairly straightforward process of walking or stumbling downhill toward the Karisimbi-Visoke saddle below. By the end of a four-hour hike, the malarial haze was almost as thick as the mist, and Bill had visions of Cape buffalo behind every bush. It was a surprisingly exhilarating experience, but also a great relief to finally reach our cabin.

A few days of rest, fifteen hundred milligrams of chloroquine, and many cups of hot tea nursed Bill past the worst of the malaria. He wasn't strong enough to go back to census work right away, but he was able to accompany Amy a few times when her study group came close to the field station. Her work with the semihabituated Group 5 was coming along well. As she came to know these gorillas and their personalities, she was beginning to believe that she could actually carry out her ambitious research plan. It was a great opportunity to spend a few hours together with Amy's new extended family.

The involuntary idyll couldn't last, and the Fates soon ordered another large dose of reality to speed Bill's recovery along. The Rwandan response to Digit's death and its aftermath had been percolating for three months. Dian and her Rwandan staff had already extracted a certain amount of revenge by capturing and torturing one suspected poacher. Yet while this vigilante action drove one Karisoke researcher to quit and return to the States — a recently arrived anthropologist from Michigan who was appalled by what he saw — it did not seem to greatly concern government authorities. What did concern them was growing pressure from the American embassy, led by Ambassador Crigler, who was well aware of Digit's international stature. This pressure, in turn, was reinforced by thousands of postcards from irate citizens in England and the United States. Few of these cards showed any concern for Rwanda, its people, or their priorities, but they were blunt in their demands for action to protect the gorillas.

In February, the government of Rwanda had named its senior legal representative in the Ruhengeri prefecture, which included most of the park, to coordinate a response to these concerns. In one of his first acts, Paulin Nkubili presided over a summary trial that produced a four-year prison sentence for one of Digit's suspected killers. The swift conviction and exceptional sentence for a poacher were intended to send a strong signal, and they did. Another suspect fled across the border to Congo. Nkubili's next step was also a radical departure from past practice. In late March, he organized a meeting at Karisoke with the conservateur, or chief warden, of the Parc National des Volcans, the political leaders, or bourgmestres, of the six communities that border the park, Fossey, and himself. Bill was invited to attend as a translator, since Dian spoke almost no French.

It was the first time that any of the political leaders had been to Karisoke, and the first time that the conservateur had been invited into Dian's cabin, where the meeting took place. The social and political dynamics were complicated, to say the least, and the meeting was a series of steps forward and back. Conservateur Banzubase claimed to be doing his best to protect the park, but felt constrained by a lack of men, equipment, and money. He also felt excluded from the region around Karisoke. This was a jab at Dian's employment of what the Rwandans considered a private mercenary force to patrol roughly 10 percent of the park, or the six-square-mile area that surrounded the research station. Dian countered by saying that park guards were not excluded, only rarely seen. She then went on to make it clear that she felt her people did a better job, and did so without fancy equipment or better pay. Dian also noted that Karisoke patrols spent much of their time in the Congolese sector of the Virungas: a neighboring national park whose international boundary was less than a mile from Karisoke. Although hurt by their own lack of control over Karisoke, none of the Rwandan park or political authorities seemed at all bothered by this violation of Congolese sovereignty. Perhaps they recognized that Karisoke patrols could help to protect Rwandan wildlife beyond their border; perhaps they just didn't care. Left unsaid was the fact that Digit was actually killed in Congo: technically beyond the range — and the responsibility — of Rwandan park patrols blamed for their failure to protect him. Our surprise at learning this from Ian a few weeks earlier was surpassed only by the others' lack of interest in this seemingly important detail. Such was life on a remote frontier, where few could locate the international boundary.

The park patrol discussion came to an end with a final swipe at the conservateur. Dian had been casting covetous looks at two nattily dressed and physically impressive Blue Berets — the elite of the Rwandan military — who had accompanied Nkubili to the meeting. She then suddenly suggested that she would welcome patrols by "men like them." The open invitation for military intervention was a shocker, and Bill first asked if Dian was sure before he translated the suggestion for others. Nkubili seemed to grasp the potential for all kinds of trouble in this, and quickly said he would take up the matter with other officials at "the highest level." It was the last we would hear of the idea. Somewhat shaken at the prospect of losing what little turf he controlled, the conservateur responded with a pledge to do more with the resources at his command.

The agenda next moved to matters outside the park involving local people and authorities. Dian commended Nkubili on his conviction of the one poacher, but appealed to him to do even more — and to give longer sentences. The bourgmestre of Mukingo shook his head at this, gave a derisive snort, and said in French, "You put more value on your animals than on people." Dian glared back at him and stated that Rwanda had "plenty of people — too many." Before Bill could make an editorial decision on translating that comment for the others, she then turned to Nkubili and raised the ante, asking what he would do with politicians who protected poachers. This was translated, but the bourgmestre ignored the pointed reference and returned to his earlier theme. There is not one Rwandan who could value gorillas more than his own people...we need that land for farms...the park gives us nothing, it's just a place for you abazungu [foreigners] to play with your gorillas...when they are all dead you white people will go away...remember you are in Rwanda and this is our land.

The words came out in a torrent, in a tone both menacing and mocking, before Nkubili cut him off. It was his job to end the meeting on the best note possible, so he talked of progress already made, the historic nature of our discussion that day, and the need to follow talk with more action in "our common interest." As his words were translated, Dian stared out the large window to her left. Bill wondered if she was thinking about Digit, who lay buried within her sight less than thirty feet away, or the bourgmestre's challenge. She made no further response except to thank Nkubili and escort the group to the door. Outside the cabin, one of the bourgmestres apologized to Bill for the comments of his colleague from Mukingo. They agreed that it would be good to talk again, which several of us did over the coming years. But the group never met again.

Later that week, Dian said that she liked "Uncle Billy," as she had taken to calling Nkubili, and thought he was quite honest. She was most excited when discussing the Blue Berets, though: "real men" in her worldview. We knew it was going to take a while to appreciate how Dian formed her judgments of others, but nothing prepared us for her bombshell of a few days later. Almost bursting into our cabin one afternoon, she said that her "spies" had important information about the bourgmestre of Mukingo. Asked if he remembered the large, irregular scar on his forehead, Bill said that its jagged shape — along with his combative personality — made him think it came from a broken bottle in a bar fight. But the spies had a different answer: he had had a lobotomy. Bill first paused, then started to laugh. But Dian's sad eyes and pursed smile revealed a hurt inside, maybe not because she wasn't believed but because her illusory bubble was so quickly and rudely burst. Meanwhile, as we learned more about the bourgmestrebourgmestre of Mukingo's involvement with poaching and illegal clearing of parkland, it was increasingly clear what a powerful and dangerous — and fully capacitated — opponent he truly was.

Copyright © 2001 by Bill Weber and Amy Vedder