05/03/04: From Chris
It has been quite some time since I have written. We are in our last days here in Rwanda and we have been running around to accomplish all that we have needed to do. As you have heard we have been Chimpanzee tracking, searching for Gorillas, visiting churches and preparing and launching numerous broadcasts for the youth in Rwanda and the US.
Last week we made our way to the Karisoke Research Center near the home of the Mountain Gorillas. We visited with the chief scientist Katie Fawcett. She has been head of the research center for the last two years and shared with us many tales of her experiences with the gorillas. Besides Katie, we met with several of the other researchers and experts of the center, the one continual theme from listening to their stories were how human-like these animals are and how the researchers bonded with them through their observations and preservation of their habitat. The Karisoke Center is located at the base of 5 volcanoes and has a magnificent view from right outside its doorsteps. After hearing all of the stories, it was hard to fathom that these Gorillas really did exist and that they where only an hour or so away.
Today, it all changed, we left early this morning with the park warden and members of the ORTPN to find the gorillas for today’s broadcast. For months I have been telling Mark how I thought this was one of the dumbest ideas GNG ever had and that, the moment the project had to be pulled because we couldn’t run after the gorillas fast enough, I was going to say “I told you so.” Well, when we arrived at the main office of the ORPTN just at the bottom of the volcano, the warden told us some good news; the family of gorillas that we where going to see where only 1 hour away. We all piled into vehicles and headed closer to the forest. After we parked the car a half-dozen porters picked up all of our equipment and headed through fields of crops toward the mountains. As we arrived to the start of the forest we met the trackers who had seen the gorillas earlier and told us that they where at the very edge of the forest, only 10 minutes away from where we where standing.
We arrived several hours before our launch time, so the trackers took Brian, Mark and me to see the gorillas quickly so we would know how much cable we would need between our camera at the gorillas and where we would set up base camp with the satellites and all. Well, the first sighting was amazing. I first saw one gorilla, and then a baby climbed onto a tree and I saw him eat some leaves. We decided that was all we needed and started to head back to the base camp to set up the equipment. As we started to walk away, Brian who was behind me said “go faster”. I really didn’t think much of it until I heard the anxiety in Brian’s voice as he kept repeating “go faster” I looked back and there was a female gorilla and then the silver back gorilla heading our way. I was extremely nervous and then I gave Mark a little nudge to continue as well, then Mark saw them and then we swiftly made our way out of the forest and back to base camp.
Even though we had seen the gorillas, I wasn’t convinced that this broadcast was going to work (let us remember they are gorillas. They can go anywhere in what is a massive park). I decided to just work with the team and get the equipment ready for the broadcast and leave it up to God if this was going to work or not. So at noon our time we dialed into America and had the warden and others from the ORTPN discuss the gorillas with the students who had woken up at 4 am to be a part of this historical broadcast. When we started, we still hadn’t gotten our cable and cameras to the gorillas as they had already moved. Ten minutes into the conference, we got a call from Brian on the walkie talkies that he had a gorilla in frame. So we went with Brian’s camera and sure enough there was a family of gorillas sitting in their forest, eating and resting in the sun. And from then on we had an hour of live interactive education between young people in the United States with professionals in Rwanda discussing Nature at its finest with the sites and sounds of the Mountain Gorilla in their natural habitat. So the conference that I thought would never happen happened, and I think it is one of the finest hours of education this organization has brought to young people around the world.
Until next time.
Posted by gng at May 3, 2004 09:40 PM
