Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

In the kingdom of gorillas: fragile species in a dangerous land

2002; Association of College and Research Libraries; Volume: 39; Issue: 08 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5860/choice.39-4577

1943-5975

Webber, Vedder,

African history and culture analysis

In 1978, when Bill Weber and Amy Vedder arrived in Rwanda to study mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey, gorilla population was teetering toward extinction. Poaching was rampant, but it was loss of habitat that most endangered gorillas. When yet another slice of Parc des Volcans in Virunga Mountains was targeted for development, Weber and Vedder recognized that gorillas were doomed unless something was done to save their land. Over Fossey's objections, they helped found Mountain Gorilla Project. The MGP was designed to educate Rwandans about gorillas and about importance of conservation, while at same time establishing an ecotourism project -- one of first anywhere in a rainforest -- to bring desperately needed revenue to Rwanda. Weber and Vedder realized that Rwandans were bearing full cost of saving gorillas while receiving none of benefit; MGP would change that formula and help to meet local people's needs.In Kingdom of Gorillas introduces readers to world of mountain gorillas. Through authors we come to know entire families of gorillas, from powerful silverback patriarchs, who fiercely protect their territory and their families, to helpless newborn infants, cradled in their mother's embrace. Weber and Vedder take us with them as they slog through rain-soaked moun- tain forests, observing gorillas at rest and at play, eating, grooming, and preparing their nightly nests. They tell us about gorillas they recognized and came to know as individuals, stories both tragic and joyful. They describe a landscape that was heaven one day, green hell next. And they tell of their discovery of terrible andmysterious events surrounding Fossey's murder. When authors first arrived in Rwanda, European expatriates called it the Switzerland of Africa, a name that referred not only to its high mountains and rugged beauty but also to Rwanda's relative political and economic stability. Most outsiders knew country only for its endangered gorillas, but Rwanda was a nation in danger, too. In 1980s Weber and Vedder expanded their conservation work in Rwanda to include other forest reserves, learning more about country, its people, and its increasingly turbulent politics. When a simmering civil war exploded into genocide in 1994, Weber and Vedder were in U.S., unable to contact their many friends and colleagues trapped in horrendous bloodbath. Later they would hear tales of brutality but also of heroism, including stories of park workers who hid their countrymen to protect them from slaughter. Others continued to work in face of danger and without pay for nearly a year. Ironically, throughout genocide and subsequent conflict, Virunga homeland of gorillas was scarcely touched.Today population of mountain gorillas is highest it has been since 1960s, and there is new hope for species' fragile future even as people of Rwanda strive to overcome their ethnic differences. Rich with details about gorillas' lives, realities of conservation, and portraits of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times, this is a riveting adventure story that is sure to take its place among classic accounts of world of nature.