About The Gorilla Organization

In 1967 Dian Fossey began a campaign to stop illegal poaching, which undoubtedly saved the mountain gorillas from the brink of extinction. More than 30 years later the organisation she founded has adapted to tackle new threats such as human encroachment, war and disease.

In the 1970s and 80s the Organization's work focused on research and conservation within the gorilla habitat, promoting eco-tourism and improving the park infrastructure.

But in the 1990s the Organization decided to change direction. It believed that if there was a will among the people who live closest to the gorillas for them to survive, then they would. To create that will, the Organization decided it had to get local people to understand what a great privilege it was, and what a benefit it could be, to live beside these magnificent creatures. This would involve working closely within communities to promote the Organization and the ideas behind conservation.

Despite ever-growing threats to the gorillas, the attitudes of people living in communities surrounding the Virunga volcanoes - those who put the greatest pressure on the forest - were not changing. So the Organization began to look at a more holistic and long-term approach to promote the survival of the mountain gorillas.

In September 1996, a development economist was hired to design an appropriate conservation programme, which would take into account the needs of local populations. While continuing to support traditional conservation activities, the Organization resolved to concentrate on educational and socio-economic activities in the communities next to the mountain gorilla habitat to help bring about lasting change.

Now such activities include educating local school children, providing micro-credit loans to small businesses, promoting local debate about environmental issues, providing equipment and salary support for vets and rangers, supplying fresh drinking water outside the National Park and continuing research into the gorillas.

Our history

1902 - German army officer Captain Oscar von Beringe shot two unknown apes whilst climbing Mount Sabinyo in the Virunga volcanoes as part of an expedition to establish the boundaries of German East Africa. One became the type specimen for Gorilla gorilla beringei - the true mountain gorilla.

1920s - In 1923 Rwanda became a Belgian protectorate and big game hunters began to visit the Virunga volcanoes to "bag a gorilla". One hunter was Carl Akeley of the American Museum of Natural History. He was so impressed by the beauty of the mountain gorilla's domain that in 1925 he persuaded King Albert of Belgium to create Africa's first national park to protect them. He died of fever in the Virungas and was buried in a glade called Kabara.

1959 - Serious research into the mountain gorillas recommenced when George Schaller followed Akeley's footsteps.

1967 - Dian Fossey, an occupational therapist from Louisville, Kentucky, built on Schaller's work when she moved into the Kabara cabin in January 1967. Forced to flee by civil unrest in Congo, she made a second beginning in another glade a few miles from Kabara, over the border in Rwanda. She pitched her tent between Mounts Karisimbi and Visoke and the Karisoke Research Centre was born.

1977 - On the last day of 1977 poachers speared and decapitated Digit, a young silverback gorilla Dian had known for 10 years. Digit died protecting his family; his skull and hands were sold to a trader. This gruesome event changed the focus of Dian's work, from academic research to applied conservation.

1985 - On December 27 Dian Fossey was murdered. She was buried on New Year's Eve, close to where Digit was buried in the graveyard at Karisoke, eight years to the day after Digit was killed.

1988 - The premiere of the movie Gorillas in the Mist brought world attention to Dian's story and the plight of her beloved gorillas.

1990 - Staff and researchers at Karisoke evacuated the centre at the start of the Rwandan civil war. Although they returned quickly to continue their work, there were more evacuations in the following years.

1992 - Withi, one of the silverback stars of Gorillas in the Mist, was shot while defending his family from intruders who entered the forest after dark. He was the first known gorilla casualty of the war.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund opened its first office in the UK to an overwhelming response from the British people.

Over 110 million television viewers saw the destruction at Karisoke when staff returned to rebuild the centre after three months' absence.

1994 - In a horrific escalation of the civil war, untold numbers of people were killed in Rwanda's genocide. Karisoke rangers fled for their lives, returning six weeks later at the end of the war.

NASA donated cloud penetrating radar images of the Virunga region to make the first accurate maps of the gorilla habitat.

1995 - The refugee crisis following the Rwandan war caused destabilisation and massive deforestation in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), where more than a million people were settled in camps alongside the gorilla habitat. Four gorillas were shot and four others speared to death in Uganda. In Rwanda, the Karisoke centre was destroyed although the rangers continued their daily patrols and scientific research continued from premises nearby.

1996 - The Fund launched two new projects. The first was at Mount Tshiaberimu, the Mountain of the Spirits, in Congo, where a remote group of no more than 20 gorillas face imminent extinction through loss of habitat. The second was a community conservation programme in Rwanda to help local people benefit from their unique heritage.

By the end of the year, new fighting in and around the refugee camps marked the start of the Zairian civil war. Park rangers died or fled and their stations were destroyed. The Fund's field staff maintained their vigil.

1997 - The Zairian dictator was deposed and a new government installed in the capital Kinshasa. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund celebrated the 150th anniversary of the scientific discovery of the gorilla and the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Karisoke Research Centre.