Dian Fossey,author of Gorillas in the Mist uses this book to talk about her experiences researching gorillas in the wild. Starting in the year 1963 and ending in the year 1983, Fossey gives us an intimate look into her life and interactions with the mountain gorillas.
The book begins by telling the story of her first experience in Africa. The reader walks away from the first chapter of the book keenly aware that this is not an average woman writing of her weekend stay with gorillas in a zoo. Here is a headstrong woman willing to go to any lengths to travel to Africa to see the majestic gorillas, a physically capable woman handling the challenging terrain of the mountains undeterred even after breaking her ankle along the treacherous path to see the gorillas.
After her first African encounter Fossey cannot wait to come back and research the gorillas for an extended period of time. She leaves the United States in 1966 and travels to the Congo to study. However,this turns into an abbreviated stay because of the wars going on in that country. She moves camp to Rwanda,where she establishes a permanent home at the Karisoke Research Centre. Her study of gorillas starts here, and she quickly finds that living in the Parc National des Volcans will be physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging for her.
I was certainly ready to start reading about experiences with gorillas by the time that Fossey had gotten settled. The research at this point moves very quickly. Groups of gorillas are numbered and individuals are named. At times it became difficult to keep up with all hte names and numbers given to the gorillas; Fossey, however, does a wonderful job of keeping the reader informed of which group and which individual she is talking about.
Involved in the book is information about Fossey's life with other researchers. I was eager to read about how she overcame the language barrier between herself and the Rwandese. It was also interesting to read about thier initial trials and errors with food and locals that were recruited to help track the gorillas.
This book informs about the poaching problemin Africa. She lets the reader know that she is doing everything she can to thwart the poachers efforts at capturing the gorillas; that without support this species will be literally hunted to death. Sometimes her behavior was rash. She wrote about how she retaliated against poachers and their families. In one instance she stole a herd from a local Rwandan until she obtained information about the poachers she was looking for. Some of her tactics in stopping poaching were less than diplomatic,to put it diplomatically, she could have handled many situations differently. Clearly, however her aggression toward poachers came out of her love for gorillas.
I enjoyed reading about the entire life cycle of an individual gorilla from birth until they were sexually mature. I felt more connected with the gorillas because of this and it made me want to turn the page to find out what would happen to my favorite gorillas next. It was also fascinating to read about gorilla interactions. In many wats they are similar to humans in that the infants need a significant amount of love and support and as they grow older they fall into the typical male and female roles. The males would try to imitate their fathers whom they would eventually succeed; and the females would become very interested in infants born into the group, often playing with and grooming the new additions.
After reading several pages I was hooked and found every detail fascinating. My only criticism is that sometimes the order of events is skewed. Fossey would tell an entire story about a gorilla, then go on to talk about a time before this story unfolded. It seemed sometimes that she was putting the proverbial "cart before the horse." This made the story line at times hard to follow. Despite this stylistic shortcoming Gorrilas in the Mist is a moving story about Dian Fossey and her life with the African mountain gorillas. She was passionate about her work and her passion vividly comes through in every page.