41) Search for the Mountain Gorillas

[stevendoig]

Okay, I'm going tae get personal for a wee minute - indulge me.  I bought this book when I was a wee laddie coz I mind my auld man telling me about the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda/Rwanda and how you could go there and get up close and personal - I remember seeing the book not long after in a bookshop and getting pretty excited! - Anyway, the point is in 2009 me and the wife took a holiday to Rwanda and had two fantastic trips to the cloud forest where we got to within six feet of Mountain Gorillas! (As well as getting pushed aside by a disgruntled sliverback - but I digress)  Anyway, I haven't read the book since, so lets see if it matches my experiences at all - which were some of the highlights of ma life so far !

This book is by Jim Wallace and illustrated by Ron Wing.  The cover is frankly a bit poor - very rushed looking.  Two adult Gorillas (the lassie holding a wee bairn)are the main focus, a very badly drawn leopard, two daft looking guys with a camera are also hanging aboot.  Theres a couple of guys in the background - poachers?

The opening tells me that I'm a naturalist looking for Mountain Gorillas in a reserve in Uganda where they've never been seen before. Me and my pal are in a wee jeep. The author clearly knows his stuff as its quite detailed so far and appears accurate.  Anyway, I've got the choice of either setting up camp or driving on through the night to meet our guide....

[stevendoig]

I decide to camp, I meet a couple of guid lads who offer to take me to their HQ, but I better keep my appointment with the tracker!

we find a gorilla caught in a trap - jings - but hes a hardy bugger and bites through the wire and nips away, leaving us facing a wee man with a machete.....

i'm nice to the wee lad , turns out hes a poacher (though not of gorillas) but I pay him and his pal to take me to some gorilla poachers.

[stevendoig]

We catch the poachers, then I find a wee baby Gorilla, name it Surprise, take it back, make it better and end the story ready to release her back to the wild.

Everyone say awwwww !


Another try I think!

[stevendoig]

This time I helped a few natives find their daughter who they believed had been killed by Gorillas - turns out the Gorillas had found her and were looking after her.

And for a final try me and my pals caught a distant glimpse of a group of Gorillas way up the mountain, but we couldn't get any closer to them.

Okay, obviously I'm a wee bit biased this time, but this is a surprisingly well written wee book, the encounters are believable and theres been a decent bit of research put in.

Recommended!