COVER STORY
THE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS OF RWANDA
quickly regained my composure to give her a Gorilla chortle, which means “friendship.” She now nonchalantly looked at me without seeming to be disturbed. She surely had heard me coming. I respectfully gave her space and kept walking around her toward another direction. But for me, seeing this wonderful creature in her own element, less than four feet away without any barrier, was truly thrilling and exciting. I will ever remember that instant moment…. It seemed so natural…. I moved on toward the larger family group of Gorillas who were chewing on bamboo leaves while the young ones were swinging from tree to tree and playing hiding games from each other…. So typically of human children. In the DNA scientific category, there is only a 2% difference between Human and Gorilla. And then…AAAH…and there he was! For real! Agasha!! A huge and handsome Gorilla Male. Agasha, known as the strongest and fiercest Silverback Gorilla Male among the Virunga Mountain Highland Gorilla Family Troup. He had fought many Gorilla males threatening to overtake his Family Troup. He held quite a reputation! He was not to be reckoned with! He saw me, and I, him! Since looking into the eyes of a wild animal, especially a Gorilla Male, could be a misconception of a challenge, therefore, I diverted my eyes elsewhere. But he kept his watch on me. When
consisted of six selected scientists, a Ranger Chief, and two Patrol Guards as our protectors. The hike was quite a few miles over uneven, and sometimes extremely rocky, soil to reach an opening to the Mountain’s Rain Forest. The rest of the travel would now be uphill all the way, trudging through wet, sludgy mud and foliage, reaching for limbs and vines to help you climb with more stability. Finally, we began to see a sporadic patch of blue sky here and there. “It is a dangerous mission, but a loving and prideful one. ” As I was seriously pushing aside an array of large foliage, I suddenly found myself looking into the eyes of a Mama Gorilla and her three month old baby. I was less than four feet away! I was startled, but
Mary Virginia McCormick Pittman’s scientific conservation research program, Operation: Save Earth, was invited to join six selected scientific researchers permitted to be accompanied by a Chief Ranger and two Patrol Guards to study and interact with the Agasha Gorilla Family Troup. Patrol Guards are utilized to protect the Gorilla communities from poachers. The Patrol Guards are stationed in areas where the family troups are, but not where they would disturb the Gorilla family troups daily life. The Patrol Guards keep in touch through radios in case poachers are spotted or might be in close range to a Gorilla family. Poaching—both killing Gorillas for large hand ashtrays and kidnapping baby Gorillas for the large illegal international animal trade, are quite lucrative world-wide. It is a hideous, dangerous, and quite alarming profitable international trade. Dian Fossey put her life on the line years ago to bring evidence to the world about this insidious truth! Now, the world works at saving one of our important wild life species—the Highland Silverback Gorillas of the Virunga Volcanos Mountain Range. In her own words: Our van arrived early morning at a local farm whose owners allowed our scientific team to travel over their small farmland and beyond to the bottom of the Virunga Volcanos Mountain Chain. Our team
48 EC Magazines | Fall Edition 2021
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