Gorillas Draw Tourists Back to Rwanda

VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK, Rwanda —  Hans-Dieter Steinbach, the German ambassador to Rwanda, celebrated his 50th birthday last week with Guhonda and 10 other rare mountain gorillas in the silverback’s group.

A month ago, Steinbach would have considered his trek up the Virunga range ill-advised, but the European Union recently lifted a travel advisory discouraging its citizens from visiting the park. The EU issued the warning in May after members of the Interahamwe Hutu militia--which helped plan the 1994 slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus--infiltrated the park, killed a mountain gorilla and ate its meat.

With the park no longer off limits to Europeans, tourists are slowly trickling back to Rwanda, one of the few places in Africa where mountain gorillas live.

Tourism officials say they are using the gorillas’ presence to show that Rwanda is more than the scene of horrific genocide. Marketing officials are being dispatched to Berlin, London and New York to tell people that it is safe again to enter the forest where primatologist Dian Fossey researched her book “Gorillas in the Mist.”

Rwandans are counting on the gorillas to help earn much-needed hard currency for their country, where 90% of people survive on subsistence farming.

“We call the gorillas our ambassadors,” said Gatana Wa Biso, a spokesman for Rwanda’s national parks.

The U.S. State Department, though, has yet to lift its travel warning for the park, fearing that Americans could be attacked by roving gangs of armed Hutu militiamen. Still, scores of U.S. citizens visited the gorillas last year, outnumbering any other nationality, including Rwandans.

In its gorilla campaign, Rwanda is targeting intrepid travelers--people who believe these animals are a bridge to humankind’s past and who are willing to pay a park fee of $250 a day to gawk at them. The fee includes security. Visitors are escorted by naturalists and fresh-faced soldiers toting worn AK-47 assault rifles.

Last week, Steinbach and a group of seven other visitors walked past fields of potatoes and pyrethrum--a natural insecticide--into the unfenced forest. March is in the season of short rains in Rwanda, and on that day, the steep, uneven trail was soft enough to swallow visitors’ shoes. For nearly an hour, the group made its way through climbing vines, patches of stinging nettles and thickets of dense bamboo to get to the gorillas’ nest.

The gorillas appeared unfazed by the outsiders. Ryango, a 19-year-old silverback, chewed on a clump of bamboo. Kampanga, a 2-year-old, rode on her mother’s back.

Then, Guhonda, the silverback who has a reputation for aggressive behavior, made his appearance, stomping over tall vegetation. Guhonda is the Kinyarwanda name for the thumping sound he makes when he stands up and beats his chest, as if to say, “I’m the king of the jungle!”

Two years ago, Guhonda, who weighs about 550 pounds, beat up and chased away the silverback that controlled this group. Not long after, he nearly killed the park’s veterinarian. The attack occurred when a guide became scared and ran off after Guhonda came to check on an infant in his group.

Guhonda attacked veterinarian Antoine Mudakikwa, the nearest human in sight, sinking his 2-inch-long incisors into his leg and ripping through his muscles. For 15 minutes, Mudakikwa faked death as Guhonda stood over him.

But the attack, according to Mudakikwa, created a special bond between man and beast and made Guhonda the veterinarian’s favorite primate.

“Now he beats his chest every time he sees me,” Mudakikwa said.

Last week, Guhonda beat his chest and charged, only to veer away from the visitors at the last moment.

Despite armed conflict in the last decade, the number of mountain gorillas has slowly increased--thanks to local and international conservationists who promote ecotourism. Researchers estimate that about 360 gorillas now live in the Virunga range, which straddles Rwanda, Uganda and Congo--up from 324 in 1989, when the last full census was taken.

Humans remain the biggest threat to the gorillas. A few have been killed in recent years by rebels in Rwanda and Congo, according to Mudakikwa.

Last year, Innocent Kagango, a 29-year-old rebel, deserted the Interahamwe militia and surrendered to Rwandan soldiers after some of his comrades killed a silverback and ate its meat for food.

I asked them, “How could you dare to kill and eat those peaceful old men of the mountain? They look almost like human beings,” he said. “I thought these people can easily eat me, and that is why I began my plot to desert.”

Wa Biso and other Rwandan officials acknowledge that they face a challenge in convincing tourists that they’ll be safe from rebels in the forest.

But there are other challenges. This impoverished Central African nation has few hotels to accommodate tourists. Many visitors spend the night in Uganda. Others sleep in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, and make the 90-minute mountainous drive here to see the gorillas.

The Rwandan government is urging local and foreign entrepreneurs to build hotels in Ruhengeri, the town nearest the park.

Steinbach, the German ambassador, said the gorillas could be marketed alongside Rwanda’s scenic Lake Kivu and other resorts.

After trekking down the hill in pouring rain, Steinbach was wet and muddy but his two cameras were laden with pictures.

“I’ll always remember this birthday,” he said.

“Would you do it again?” a visitor asked.

“Yes, but in the dry season.”