Since that “endless summer” taste of being close to the largest and most powerful of the great apes, I have been fortunate to be able to observe mountain gorillas (Kuja was a western lowland) in the wild. I’ve sat and observed many of the gorilla families that live in the Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda. I’ve seen how precarious the continued existence of gorillas in the wild has become. Situated on the upper slopes of the Virunga Volcanoes, the ever-shrinking world of the mountain gorilla is now completely surrounded by cultivation. The gorillas there are castaways on an island of habitat, adrift in a sea of humanity. Less than 750 mountain gorillas remain alive today, in two isolated and increasingly vulnerable remnants of forest. Each gorilla lost, every acre of forest destroyed, threatens to tip the balance against the continued survival of the mountain gorilla.
Virunga volcanoes, Rwanda– an island of gorilla habitat in a sea of cultivation
In central and west Africa, lowland gorilla populations–while still numbering in the thousands–are increasingly under threat as bushmeat hunting, logging, mining, and human-borne diseases like Ebola decimate their populations and destroy their forest home wherever gorillas are found.
Mother gets a kiss at Bronx Zoo’s amazing Congo Gorilla Forest, home to two families of western lowland gorillas.
Gorillas will have an important place in my heart as long as I live. I’ve sat within a few yards of Guhonda, the largest silverback in the Virungas, an enormous being with the strength of 10 football linebackers.
He could have crushed me like an insect and never broken a sweat, but I never felt afraid in his presence. Gorillas are that gentle. And yet, Guhonda would without hesitation use every ounce of his great strength–and even sacrifice his own life if necessary—to defend his family, should they be attacked. Gorillas are that devoted to one another. But leave them in peace to live out their lives– and they in turn will leave you in peace. Unlike people, they have no need to misuse their strength for selfish purposes.
Ryango, the Sabinyo group’s second in command after Guhonda, deftly peels and munches on a stalk of bamboo
Okapia 