In the Kingdom of Gorillas

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY SEP 24, 2001

Dian Fossey brought world attention to Rwanda's endangered mountain gorillas in 1978, but the animals have survived largely because of the pioneering work of ecologists Weber and Vedder. Realizing that gorilla conservation was not a priority for a country facing staggering economic and development problems, they persuaded skeptical authorities that a program combining research, ecotourism and education could both protect these majestic primates and generate economy-boosting revenues. Their Mountain Gorilla Project, implemented over Fossey's objections, proved successful, with recent gorilla censuses showing dramatic population increases. Weber and Vedder's fascinating account of their years in Rwanda describes thrilling, sometimes heart-breaking gorilla encounters, and analyzes their painful relationships with Fossey with bracing honesty. But the book's larger, and more complex, subject is conservation in a war-ravaged postcolonial world struggling with increased competition for finite resources. Weber and Vedder ably portray Rwandan society, fraught with ethnic divisions and governmental corruption that not only threatened wildlife conservation but imperiled human safety. Their description of the 1994 genocide of Tutsis by Hutus based on reports from friends still in the country at the time is a chilling reminder that humans, too, are a fragile species. "We can't love animals or save wildlife," Weber and Vedder conclude, "without understanding the social, economic, and political context in which conservation occurs." Though they concede that "complete understanding is a myth," they argue persuasively for continued efforts to this end.