Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey, a famous American Primatologist and heroine who is responsible for the now-living population of mountain gorillas in the whole world.

Dian Fossey was born in California in 1932 on 16th January and she grew up with her mother and a stepfather since the mother had divorced Dian’s father. She grew up to have too much love for animals. She had one golden fish at their home and when it died, her parents stopped her from keeping any other animal at home.

Despite her being stopped from keeping any other animals, her love for animals did not die. At the age of 6 years, she went to Lowell High School where she attended her first lesson in horseback riding and was put on the school team before joining a University in California where she studied animal husbandry.

After her studies, she started working in Kentucky on people’s farms and this increased her interest in knowing more about animals in the world. A friend of hers traveled to Africa for a holiday and when she came back, she brought photos and narrated stories to Dian about Africa, and from there Fossey started longing for a visit to Africa. Dian Fossey started saving every money she got and in 1963, she got a bank loan because she had less money to travel to Africa to encounter the same experience her friend had. She successfully got the loan and started plans to fly to Africa.

Her Trips 

Her first trip to Africa was to Kenya, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania. While on this Africa trip, she met Dr. Leaky who inspired her more when he told Dian about Jane Goodall and Birute Galdikas who were also researchers. During that time, Dr Leaky was looking for someone he could sponsor to study mountain gorillas and Dian got a chance to be sponsored.

In 1966, she returned to Africa for a long stay to study more about mountain gorillas when she met Joan Roots who helped her get the best services in accommodations. Later on, she drove to D.R. Congo passing via Gombe Stream National Park in western Tanzania where Jane Goodall was carrying out her research about chimpanzees and thus helped her acquire some research methods that helped Fossey so much.

She was escorted to D.R. Congo in Kabara by Allan Roots who helped her get people to work with her and some clearances with the park offices. Her first encounter with mountain gorillas was not an easy one because these apes were very shy and they could not allow her to reach them but she did not give up on her research. Later on, she was joined by another mountain gorilla trekker who worked with Roots called Senkwekwe.

The more time she spent in the forest, the more she learned about the behaviors of mountain gorillas and slowly they got used to her presence and she started giving them names depending on their behaviors and nose prints. In 1967, the political instabilities of Congo forced Dian and the fellow trekker Senkwekwe to move from Congo to Uganda in Kisoro they were brought by the soldiers who had kidnapped them and it was Dian who convinced them to escort them to Uganda on a deal of giving them her car. When she reached Uganda at Travelers Rest Hotel, they reunited with Dr. Leaky who helped her get out of danger.

She was denied a chance to go back into D.R. Congo after being rescued, so she decided to change and started doing her research in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Through her changes to Volcanoes National Park, she met various people who helped her very much in getting used to the conditions in Rwanda.

Where was Dian Fossey staying? 

While in Rwanda, she settled at the base of two volcanoes namely; Karisimbi and Visoke where she later set up a research Centre called Karisoke Research Centre – a name coined from the first letters of Karisimbi and Visoke. In her book “Gorillas in the Mist “, she wrote that little did she know that in setting up two tents in the wilderness of Virunga she was launching an international station for scientists and students from around the world.

Dian started habituating mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park and soon got a gorilla friend whom she named Digit; by that time digit was still young with one finger of his damaged and it was Dian who looked after him, by taking good care of him, the bond between Fossey and digit became strong and they became close friends. In 1977 Digit was killed by poachers protecting another group of individuals, Fossey was so sorrowful that led her to start a very furious fight against poachers.

She used personal funds to employ armed people to help her control poaching activities targeting these great apes. She also had to do all it needed for people to stop poaching, she even reached the extent of kidnapping a poacher’s kid. Slowly she managed to change people’s minds. Unfortunately in 1985, she was murdered by unknown people and was found in her cabin dead. She was buried near her tight friend Digit.

Though Dian Fossey died decades ago, her contribution towards mountain gorilla conservation and habituation is still recognized and honored in the whole world.