>>DAVID NIVEN: 8,000 feet up in the rainforest of Zaire.
A man called Adrien Deschryver searches for the animals
who have become his driving force in life,
as well as his constant companions.
The creatures he seeks are possibly the ones that man finds the most imposing on Earth.
The reason is obvious, they so closely resemble himself.
[branches rustle]
They're extremely shy and the dense undergrowth in which they live
makes observation appallingly difficult.
They can also be extremely intimidating.
Though, aggressiveness is not their true nature.
[GORILLA HOWLING, BRANCHES SNAPPING]
[howling continues]
>>VOICE 2: Come, come, come, come, come.
>>DAVID NIVEN: Deschryver took four years to get gorillas to accept him,
even though some of the adult males still charged him.
[GORILLA HOWLING]
[DESCHRYVER SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
[gorilla howling]
[gorilla huffs]
[Deschryver speaking foreign language]
[gorilla howls]
>>DAVID NIVEN: This is the story of an extraordinary man, Adrien Deschryver,
and his fight to save one of the last populations on Earth
of one of the rarest animals on Earth,
the mountain gorilla.
[GORILLA HOWING]
[gorilla howling]
Adrien Deschryver stands firm when faced with a charge of a fully grown male gorilla.
This is because he understands not only gorillas in general but this particular animal.
Their nature is not all as legend insists.
The strip cartoon image is of a blood thirsty creature
who embodies the Mr. Hyde side of man's own nature.
The horror aspect was emphasized by King Kong and later by the monster called Konga.
âŞ
>>DAVID NIVEN: Both Kong and Konga were about thirty feet tall,
and although they had a kinder side to their natures, they were essentially horrific.
[kong growls]
How true are the legends about the great ape
who fascinates man by constantly reminding him of his own primeval origins?
Well, to begin with, the gorilla is astonishingly human-looking.
Everything written about his great strength is true too.
The muscles that can snap a four inch bamboo like a twig could pull a man apart.
The gorilla does beat its breast, though not for the reasons usually ascribed to it.
[GORILLA THUMPING CHEST, HOWLING]
The males put on one of the most terrifying demonstrations in the animal kingdom
but only when they feel threatened.
But all of this is only part of the story.
Until recently, very little has been known of the other,
gentler family side of the gorilla's life.
Largely because of the difficulty of studying these peaceful vegetarians
in the inaccessible forests in which they live.
[gorilla growls]
The vast nation of Zaire, the former Congo in central Africa,
contains small, isolated pockets in which live the few thousand remaining mountain gorillas.
They're scattered over an area 300 miles long by 200 miles wide.
One such concentration exists in the mountains
to the northwest of Bukavu on the Rwanda-Zaire border.
The twin peaks of Kahuzi and Biega tower above Lake Kivu in the western rift valley.
The peaks, themselves, are bare volcanic rock.
Their lower slopes, heavily forested,
making ideal habitat for the largest of the great apes, the mountain gorilla.
The forests are humid and rich in the herbs and vines the gorillas prefer.
The forests start at around 6,000 feet.
Below that the fertile land has been cleared for cultivation.
Once inside the trees,
you're in a world that the layman would call jungle and the scientist rainforest.
It's lush, dark, and smells richly of wet Earth and forest herbs.
Only the hum of insects and the cry of an occasional turaco breaks the silence.
Concealed in the 600 square kilometers of Kahuzi-Biega National Park are, perhaps,
250 mountain gorillas, some of the last in their species.
The world they inhabit beneath the canopy of the trees
is one of undisturbed primordial peace.
[repeated gun shots]
>>DAVID NIVEN: Adrien Deschryver, sometime hunter, survivor of a bloody civil war,
is best described as a man of peace even though one violent part of his life made him otherwise.
A Belgian with plantations on the slopes of Mount Kahuzi,
he survived the terrible Kongo fighting of the early 1960's,
though, he saw his farm and home burnt to the ground.
Deschryver is a man of great gentleness and few unnecessary words.
He's also a man of deadly action when necessary.
During the fighting, he evacuated his family safely across Lake Kivu by dugout canoe.
At one point he captured 300 raiding Simba rebels single-handed
with a jeep and heavy machine gun but none of this saved his property from destruction.
Nowadays he seldom visits the ruins of his former home but when he does so,
he climbs the tower and remembers the six months his family lived inside it
with a machinegun trained on the surrounding bush from which the attack might come at any time.
When peace returned to Zaire in 1965 Deschryver had had enough
to last several life times.
Now all he wanted to do was preserve the peace of the forests around his property
and above all peace of the great animal rarities who were lords of that forest,
the mountain gorillas.
[gorilla howls]
As a former hunter, he knew the value of local trackers.
He knew, too, that these trackers had previously been the most successful gorilla poachers.
So, on the principal that the best poachers make the best gamekeepers
he enlisted their help in trying to make contact with at least some of the gorilla groups.
[TREES SNAPPING]
[snapping continues]
[tress snapping]
They kept at it day after day learning a little more each time
about the movements and the habits of the gorilla families.
[GORILLA HOWLING]
[indistinct conversation]
>>DAVID NIVEN: This initial phase took Deschryver nearly four years.
At the end of that time one or two families seemed willing to let him approach and study them
though they were still very shy of revealing themselves in the open.
[gorilla growls]
One trick that he adopted early on was that to reassure a gorilla that you meant him no harm,
he ate whatever the gorilla was eating.
Deschryver believes that an eating gorilla is one that comes in peace.
As far as the gorillas are concerned the same apparently goes for their distant relative.
At the end of four years Deschryver had begun to understand the ways of the gorilla.
Today he freely studies the daily lives of several families and of one family in particular.
The one dominated by a superb silver-backed male whom he calls Kasimir.
[GORILLA NOISES]
We meet Kasimir as he is making up his mind to cross a road that cuts through the park.
[TREE SNAPPING]
Deschryver waits silently with his chief trackers, Mishebere and Pili Pili.
He's been able to anticipate Kasimir's intentions but now he talks to him by way of reassurance.
>>DESCHRYVER: Come, come, come, come, come, come, come.
[SOUND OF A TREE BRANCH FALLING]
[GORILLA HOWL]
>>DESCHRYVER: Come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come.
>>DAVID NIVEN: Gorilla's don't like the trackers
perhaps because they associate them with earlier hunting
and the trackers don't care much for the gorillas either.
So when gorillas are close his trackers sit well behind Adrien.
[TREE BRANCH SNAPPING]
>>DESCHRYVER: Come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come.
[GORILLA HOWLING]
>>DAVID NIVEN: Kasimir is responsible for the safety of his family
so he is understandably cautious about crossing a road
that has been recently been made through his home range.
[GORILLA SCREECHES]
>>DAVID NIVEN: Kasimir comes out first and stands guard all 450 pounds of him.
Then come the females and the young.
[gorilla growls]
The first three are safely up the bank on the far side.
Next a mother and two young.
[branches rustle]
Satisfied that the coast is clear Kasimir is content to hand over guard duties to his subordinate male.
The second female that is crossing is called Broken Arm.
Finally the rear guard, the second rank males, first Hannibal.
Then a gorilla named after a tracker whose mouth is always open, Musha Romina.
[GORILLA GRUNTS]
>>DAVID NIVEN: Kasimir takes his family of nineteen up the bank
to be swallowed by the forest once more.
It is Kasimir's family with whom Deschryver has a close day-to-day relationship with.
[branches break]
A gorilla's day starts just after dawn.
The whole day is governed by the need to eat.
Kahuzi-Biega provides rich feeding much of it at ground level.
The small animals, young males, females, infants,
sometimes spend their night in the trees building well-made nests there.
The larger animals build their nests on the ground.
[gorilla growls]
The senior male Kasimir leaves the family from the nest's side.
He knows the general direction he intends to take them in search of food.
During the day they'll cover anything up to two miles seldom more.
Shortly after dawn one of the trackers has watched to see which way the gorillas are moving.
Soon head tracker, Mishebere, and Deschryver arrive at the nest's side.
The condition of the nest tells them how long it is since the gorillas got out of bed.
Mishebere produces a loose bunch of gorilla hair from a silver-back. It's Kasimir's.
When they're traveling gorillas move in single file.
The trail will be harder to follow later when they spread out to feed.
There are rotten logs to be crossed, jagged needles to be avoided,
vines and creepers to be cut and parted.
Sometimes the approach takes hours even though torn chutes
and nibbled leaves show that the gorillas are only a short distance ahead.
Until they're close Mishebere leads cutting a trail with his Panga.
[Mishebere cuts branches]
[gorilla barks]
Often the gorillas are heard long before they're seen.
[gorilla barks]
If they are uneasy they often beat their breasts.
[gorillas beat their chests]
The noise is made by hitting the cupped hand on the chest
[rapid beats]
It's not aggression as many people suppose but a gorilla's way of releasing tension
like you or I scratching our head, humming, or lighting a cigarette.
[trees rustling]
If they're feeding on a banana tree the sound of tearing leaves can be heard hundreds of yards away.
[trees rustling and leaves tearing]
The whole family under Kasimir's leadership has halted to demolish one particular tree.
Kasimir scoops out the soft bitter pulp.
It's not the best part but it's full of moisture and he needs a drink.
The females at the foot of the tree get the most succulent portions
but that's only because Kasimir doesn't want them at the moment.
The entire family may spend up to half an hour disposing of this single tree.
It's only one item on the menu in their twelve hour day most of which will be spent eating, eating, eating.
It's been estimated that an adult male gorilla disposes of sixty pounds
of food or vegetable matter every single day of his life.
[leaves tearing]
[leaves tearing and squeaking]
[gorilla crunches leaves]
>>NIVEN: By the time Kasimir decides to move on there's very little of the banana tree left.
Deschryver maintains that Kasimir is an excellent conservationist.
His family seems to wreck one banana tree at a time.
As Mishebere and Deschryver follow once more
they pass the remains of Kasimir's previous banana tree snacks.
A third tree has been left untouched for the future.
Gorillas are highly selective feeders.
They appear to know just what plants they want at any given time of the day and season.
They have a large selection to choose from.
A list of over 200 food plants has already been compiled.
Next on this day's menu is a clinging weed called galium or bedstraw.
[Plants snapping]
Once again using his eating mime to approach Kasimir
Deschryver studies the great ape's technique for dealing with this troublesome weed.
The leaves of galium are armed with little hooks which make it difficult to handle.
To get around this minor inconvenience Kasimir rolls it up before swallowing.
[Crunching of plants]
After years of contact it appears that Kasimir actually likes to meet Deschryver
and always chooses an open space in which to do so.
In the open he no longer charges him.
Just the same Deschryver often takes ten minutes of cautious step-by-step approach
to get as close as this.
Hannibal is number three male not yet silver-backed
you can always recognize him by his down-turned mouth.
He is an inquisitive animal and lately Deschryver has been able to approach him
even more closely than Kasimir.
What follows is an incredible scene because this time it seems to be Hannibal
who wishes to make contact with Deschryver though at first the gorilla plays hard to get.
[Gorilla grunts]
Deschryver senses that something unusual is going to happen.
[Gorilla pounding chest]
[Gorilla shouting]
>>DESCHRYVER: Come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come.
>>DESCHRYVER: [speaking in French]
>>NIVEN: Hannibal is reassured and settles down again only feet away.
[Birds chirping]
But Deschryver is still certain something tremendous is going to happen and suddenly it does.
[Gorilla shouting fiercely]
Was this aggression or a desire to make contact?
Deschryver was totally unhurt as action replay shows.
[KISSY NOISES]
[Gorilla roaring]
>>NIVEN: The blow from that huge fist never actually landed.
The right hand simply pulled out the shirt.
[Gorilla roars]
Hannibal has never tried to repeat that performance.
Possibly once was enough for him.
It certainly was for Deschryver.
At mid-day the gorillas seek thicker cover and Deschryver once again follows them.
They've been eating continuously since they arose from their nests just after dawn.
Now the gorillas take a lunch break, or rather a non-lunch break.
For up to two hours each day they relax and stop eating,
presumably to digest the huge intake of the morning.
Complete peace falls over the forest.
The sound of crashing branches and rending leaves stops.
During this siesta period the gorillas groom and relax.
[Crunching of plants]
Towards the end of the lunchtime break there's sometimes a disturbance.
The youngsters grow restless while like human children after a picnic.
With the indulgence of their seniors they take part in play fights.
The midday halt is the only time they can do this
without getting left behind by the constantly moving family.
[NOISES OF THE THICKET BEING DISTURBED AND CHIRPING SOUNDS COMING FROM THE GORILLAS]
>>NIVEN: Deschryver observes the same lunch time pause.
His field craft and knowledge of gorilla habits often enables him
to anticipate the next stopping place along their intended route
and he waits for them there.
They climb up into the trees for their first feed of the afternoon.
What they're after is a parasitic growth rather like mistletoe.
[BRANCHES CRACKLING AND GORILLAS CHEWING]
>>NIVEN: Previous observation of gorillas in more open country
has suggested that they were cautious and rather clumsy climbers.
In the forest of Kahuzi where there are plenty of large trees to bare their weight
they show themselves to be extraordinarily agile.
[Foliage crunching]
They move on again.
There's still three good feeding hours left.
Their chosen route is taking them towards the edge of the park
where the trees end and the farm land begins.
Kasimir clearly has a definite objective in mind.
It's very rarely that the whole group emerges into the open together
but that's what they do now on a track at the border of the park.
So here assembling for their portrait is Kasimir's family.
The young male Fred escorts a female.
The difference in size is very evident.
The males besides being much bigger have a fatter face and a higher peaked forehead.
Fred is probably seven or eight.
This female looks pregnant in which case she's probably carrying Kasimir's infant.
Kasimir has first choice of receptive females.
Though Kasimir is over twenty he's still very much in command of the group.
His stately exit tells the youngsters and more timid females that it's safe to cross the track.
[Gorilla growls]
Any quarreling in the gorilla group is usually among the females.
Males take little notice of female temperament.
They prefer to eat in dignified silence.
[Gorilla growls]
Gorillas do a good deal of barking to warn or appear aggressive.
Sometimes they give a questioning bark as if to ask 'who's there?'
[Gorillas barking]
>>NIVEN: Now Hannibal and Mushamuka martial the rest of the family to hurry on
in the general direction which Kasimir has indicated.
[Gorillas crunching leaves]
The final objective is now reached.
A wild fruit called a bwemba is ripe for the gathering.
When the bwemba season comes gorilla groups make their way
to certain well-known bwemba trees and pillage for ripe fruits.
First they'll clean up the fruit that has fallen to the ground.
Then Kasimir leads the assault to the top-most branches.
[Gorilla growls]
Mushamuka follows next.
Then come the females and younger males.
A youngster beats the branches though it's hard to say why perhaps this time in play.
[Gorilla growls]
[Gorilla tapping branches]
The bwemba feast is over for the day and when the family finally climbs down
each member has his mouth stuffed full of the fruit.
The gorillas seldom leave the forest and trespass on the farmland.
When they do so it brings them in contact with the chief danger to their future: man.
This particular man is no direct threat to them.
He's a simple farmer and he has every right to be where he is
but as long as trees are felled and forests cleared the gorillas will be on the retreat.
Now it's the African farmer who beats a retreat minus his hat.
[Gorilla grunts]
The gorilla family continues unperturbed to find a resting place at the end of their day.
The farmer's hat becomes an object of brief curiosity.
[Gorilla barks]
>>NIVEN: After considerable scrutiny they discard it.
Possibly because it's the one piece of vegetable matter they've met with all that day that's
no good to eat.
Kasimir doesn't even dare to look at it as he and his family move away
to a nights rest in the forest.
Tomorrow there'll be another feast of the bwembas.
That African farmer's limits are clearly defined by this vital piece of paper.
This letter justifies all Adrien Deschryver's efforts.
In 1970 President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire designated the Kahuzi-Biega forest
a national park for mountain gorillas.
President Mobutu has more over declared that up to 15% of his country will eventually become
national park.
So the omens for the Kahuzi-Biega gorillas are good although the local situation continually needs watching.
At many points tea and coffee plantations march alongside the forest.
Just beyond more trees have been felled that were once all part of the gorilla's range.
It's a situation which the farmers are always going to try to push to the limit.
On this particular boundary encroachment has been stopped.
Of the process of erosion goes on elsewhere.
In the few places gorillas still exist they're continually being pushed back.
Even close to park headquarters Deschryver has problems with intruding cattle.
Recently he gave the villagers three warnings to get their cows out of the forest
and when this failed acting on direct orders he shot quite a few head.
His trackers who have watched their traditional hunting grounds in the park had a feast.
If such encroachment was not instantly checked
there'd soon be a thousand or more cattle trampling and eating the vegetation
which the gorillas need for their survival and their range would become even smaller.
[Cows mooing]
[DESCHRYVER SPEAKS IN FRENCH]
>>NIVEN: The point was eventually taken and the locals removed their cows
at least for the moment.
Poaching gorillas for food in the remotest part of the forest is a constant threat.
Deschryver has authority to shoot poachers though he's never done so yet.
Even though his own brother was killed by a poacher's bullet intended for him.
There is a tender side to Adrien Deschryver's nature that is far from being sentimental.
This baby gorilla's parents were killed by poachers.
Some farmers had adopted her.
As warden of Kahuzi-Biega park Deschryver has the authority over all gorillas in Zaire
including orphans.
So he flew his own aircraft to visit the farmers who had adopted this one.
Sadly he told them that they must give up the young gorilla.
There are so few gorillas left in the wild that it was Deschryver's duty someday
to try to return this baby to the wild state.
At the time he had no idea how or when and could not have begun to guess how the story would end.
As a start he took the mini gorilla back with him to his house at Bukavu on the shores of Lake Kivu,
with the idea of teaching her some of the skills she'd need in the wild.
Julie the nearest European equivalent to the Swahili word nyani or gorilla
was encouraged to play with his own children.
This was not an entirely successful lesson in breast beating.
To a young gorilla a bicycle offers the same sort of gymnastic opportunities as a young tree.
You can cling and you can swing.
[Children laughing]
>>NIVEN: Adrien introduced her to the sort of companions she might eventually meet
if he ever succeeded in releasing her into the wild,
like this three-horned chameleon.
But would he succeed?
There was no previous record of an orphan being successfully adopted by a wild gorilla family.
[Deschryver speaking French]
[Julie grunts]
>>NIVEN: Gorillas have very little use for water.
They obtain all the liquid they need from the plants they eat
and they certainly never bath.
Grooming keeps their hair clean but there were no gorilla adults to groom Julie
so occasionally she had to endure bath night.
[Julie grunts]
Gorillas are not known to swim.
One of the things that helps limit their natural range is their inability to cross large rivers.
For an animal naturally allergic to water Julie was more cooperative
than many small humans about being bathed.
She was now about six months old.
Up to six months young gorillas progress faster than humans
but this was no human baby however cuddly she might be
and however much she might behave like one.
Deschryver had no illusions about the choice that lay ahead:
confinement in a zoo or the unknown presence of confrontation with wild relatives.
Young gorillas will continue to suckle up to eighteen months longer if they're given the chance.
Deschryver got his wife to bottle feed Julie
but it would be too much of a risk to hope that some lactating female would adopt her
if and when she ever returned to the forest.
It's easy to get a young mammal to accept bottle feeding
but far more difficult to wean it onto solids
and this had to be done as soon as possible.
[Julie grunts]
Meantime, while Julie grew in strength,
Deschryver's daily observations of gorilla behavior influence continued.
It was a rainy season and now the gorillas had left the bwemba trees on the border of the park
and climbed high into the bamboo forests that begin at 7,500 feet.
The bamboos provide them with a great deal of protein at this time of year.
For some reason the gorillas become more aggressive and less approachable
in the dense bamboo woodlands.
[Bamboo rustling and gorillas grunting]
[Bamboo stretching and snapping]
>>NIVEN: Julie was constantly on Deschryver's mind.
One of the things taxing him was at what age if ever he should try to return her to the forest.
She could hardly hope to look after herself at eighteen months old.
Above all her education had to be kept up so he started carrying her into the forest
to get used to its sight, sounds, and smells.
He began to show her wild food such as choice banana leaves.
[Leaves snapping]
At first she didn't seem very keen but gradually she began to chew on them.
It was another great step forward.
[Deschryver speaks French while tearing banana leaves]
>>NIVEN: She was already an accomplished crawler.
As first apparent Deschryver next persuaded her to crawl with him.
Just as she would with her mother when roaming through the forest.
She looked to him constantly for guidance.
Deschryver confesses he became completely captivated by her.
Though he remained realistic about her future.
It was no good becoming too attached to Julie as warden he was committed
to returning her to the wild.
The question was when?
Deschryver had no intention of trying to reintroduce her too soon.
He was prepared to wait years if necessary.
The forest was far too intimidating and the behavior of gorillas too uncertain to take any chances.
[Gorilla roars]
>>NIVEN: What now follows was completely unplanned.
One day Deschryver decided to take Julie close to Kasimir's family
to let her hear and become used to the sounds of wild gorillas.
Hannibal was very close and obviously agitated.
[Gorilla chirping]
Now unexpectedly Julie started to cry.
[Julie crying]
[Gorilla barks]
>>NIVEN: Even Deschryver began to get alarmed.
There was no way he could retreat the gorillas were all around.
[Animal chirping]
[Gorilla barks]
[Animal chirping]
[Gorilla barks]
In a situation like this the group would look to Kasimir for a lead.
Suddenly they got it.
[Gorilla roaring]
[Deschyver speaks French]
[Gorilla shouting]
>>NIVEN: By sheer good luck Kasimir stopped in the one open space
where the rest of the family waited to inspect and fondle her.
[Animal chirping]
Kasimir reappeared briefly to reassert his dominance over Deschryver
whom they will regard as another gorilla leader.
Deschryver admitted afterwards that he only dropped Julie on the ground because he expected to be killed by Kasimir.
The whole kidnapping happened so quickly
that it's only possible to see the details in slowed up action.
[Gorillas roaring]
>>NIVEN: Kasimir scooped Julie up carried her away and then suddenly dropped her.
Deschryver starts forward as if to try to recover her but Kasimir
was never once taking his eyes off him charges once again.
This time he successfully picks Julie up under the undergrowth.
[Leaves crunching]
It was perhaps a tragedy that Kasimir took matters into his own hands and kidnapped Julie.
At last unprecedented rain and cold struck the mountains.
She lived for only ten days.
Had there been a nursing female in the group who could have breast fed her
she might very well of survived.
But the one thing that has been proved is that wild gorillas will accept orphaned young.
In creating Kahuzi-Biega National Park the republic of Zaire
has undoubtedly saved one of the largest remaining populations of mountain gorillas.
Adrien Deschryver is convinced that although neighboring forest areas are also inhabited
by the great apes he has made his daily companions.
To establish this scientific surveys must be done over a huge area of forest.
Then his task is to try to get the size of the present park enlarged.
The dedication of the man is so complete that he will almost certainly exceed.
[Gorilla barks]
[Insect noises]