One more obstacle remained before the MGP could advance. Approval of the specifics of the tourist program required ORTPN. With his rejection to any tourist initiative focused on the gorillas, Dismas Nsabimana had shocked everyone in the previous months. It was generally believed that his shifting stance came from a bribe from Dian.

He did, however, explain his position on the admirable grounds that the gorillas shouldn’t be disturbed. With half of the gorilla population dead and the cattle project announced, however such claims had little bearing. Nsabiman’s opinions were made immaterial when Benda Lema took sudden replacement as ORTPN’s director.

Short, balding Benda Lema has sharp eyes and a taste for elegant outfits. Unless one considered his degree in economics from Patrice Lumumba University in the Soviet Union, he had no background in conservation or tourism. Rumor had it that Lema, his surname, was short for Lenin Marx.

Though they did not show up in our conversations on gorilla based tourism, Benda Lema had some Marxist inclinations. His main concerns were about the gorillas’ potential income source. The questions were very pertinent to ORTPN, which had to make money to pay its expenses. They were also crucial for Benda Lema’s capacity to argue against the still-pending Virunga cattle project within agriculture.

We gave Benda Lema the best possible responses to support his cause without guaranteeing outcomes we could not be able to fulfill. Here we were on somewhat unstable footing, but because we had no experience whatsoever with the market for this new kind of travel. As visitors to East African parks, we believed that entrance costs as low as $2 greatly devalued wildness and species.

In Rwanda, we had fourteen hundred visitors most of them were resident expatriates visiting the Parc des Volcans in 1978, each paying just $5 for a seven day ticket. Given that we could provide a view of gorillas, we thought the market could support a much higher price. But what would the market pay and how big was it?

If five thousand cattle were expected to bring in $70, 0000, we would declare that three thousand visitors would pay $25 apiece for a total of $75,000, needing a response and using our “opposition research” to excellent use.To raise the stakes, we said we believed a well-run program would inspire more individuals to show up and spend even more. The need for quality control did not appear to affect Benda Lema; rather, the figures captivated him. Many folks are fascinated with the gorilla?

Indeed, we told him, hundreds of insane white people would spend a lot of money to climb the difficult terrain and chilly rain to sit with wild gorillas. The director mumbled at the idea.Beaucoup d’abazungus, fais? Indeed, that much we could confirm for the planet was populated by insane white people.