Although it did appear to underplay the importance of the fauna and flora preservation organization in the project they had started via their money raising drive, we were happy with the new configuration. Before we started working in Rwanda, we knew that valued the work of African wildlife Leadership foundation and had benefited from great guidance from its Nairobi based director, Bob Poole.

Since Poole was believed that Africans were ultimately accountable for their own parks and animals, he had especially urged us to try working with African institutions and people. He died in a terrible vehicle accident within months of our conference, and East Africa lost a valuable voice for conservation.

During a previous visit to karisoke, we also met Jean- Pierre von der Becke, who looked sincere and committed to conservation. He would be a remarkable team leader with his many language abilities and appealing gray hair. We now wanted to know where on the team we fit.

The elements of the mountain gorilla initiative related to tourism and education piqued our curiosity. We had great relationships, language skills, knowledge of how things worked and didn’t function in Rwanda; we had the required expertise with gorillas and schools.

When Robinson Mcllvaine visited Rwanda to formallyize plans for the MGP, we eagerly anticipated our first meeting with him as we had already built the conceptual framework for the whole project, committed a lot of time and energy in its promotion, and were ready for action. MCLLVAINE shut us off after a short presentation however. AWLF’s help will only extend to anti-poaching efforts. The other pursuits have no bearing on anything.

This was Dian’s perspective, but it was shocking to hear it from the CEO of a company whose name was based on local education initiatives and had personally seen the ability of tourism to support park preservation in East Africa. Then, however, came the true bombshell. You two seem to be rather self-serving, and from what I know, you only want to remain on to get notoriety.

We were not ready for this unexpected attack on our character and motivations even though we knew the ambassador had spent the previous evening chatting with Dian. Setting aside his hostility, we went to our thoughts and reasons for the elements of education and tourism related to a three-pronged conservation effort.

We saw that, with ongoing assistance from the Wildlife Conservation Society, we could work on these problems on our own; nevertheless, we reasoned that a joint approach would be more successful for everybody involved. Mcllvaine stopped his personal assaults and started to participate considerably more in the conversation.

In the end, he came to endorse the three-prolonged mountain gorilla project in which we would oversee the components related to tourism and education under Jean-Pierre von der Becke as project director.