In Brightest Africa

by Carl Ethan Akeley

A map showing the location of the three mountains, Mikeno,
Karisimbi, and Visoke, on whose slopes the gorillas live. These
three peaks are to be reserved as a sanctuary where further
studies of the gorilla may be made

The first day after we reached the Saddle Camp we went on a fruitless hunt up and down the slopes of Karisimbi. With the guides cutting a path as they go, a party does not cover a great deal of distance in a day. Nor is there any need for fast going, for the gorilla does not range far, nor even when pursued does he go fast. On the other hand, even after the guides have cut a "path" the going is sufficiently difficult underfoot and so precipitous in these mountains that a march of five or six miles is a fair day's work, especially for a sick man. We saw no fresh signs of gorilla on this first ladies' hunt. We did run on to a buffalo trail, but we did not come up to the animals, probably because of the fact that I was not very keen about it as it was very dense country and not at all the sort of place in which to hunt buffalo with ladies.

The next day we went up the slopes of Karisimbi farther to the west. We had not been out of camp more than an hour and a half when I stopped to make a panoramic motion picture of the wonderfully beautiful view of the surrounding country. Just as I was about to begin cranking, a signal from the guides who had gone on ahead resulted in our going quickly to them where they pointed out moving bushes a little distance down the slope. We followed the guides rapidly for a short distance, down on our hands and knees and under a mass of dense vegetation, and as we got to our feet on the other side we saw a huge old silver back moving along in plain sight about twenty-five yards away.

If the gorilla were as aggressive an animal as he has been credited with being, this old fellow should have charged that twenty-five yards in a few seconds and given us a chance to defend the ladies heroically from threatened death. However, he didn't know his part, for it was evident that his one idea was to go away. His departure was interrupted by a shot from Bradley which hit him in the neck. He fell like a log. While we were congratulating Bradley and before we had started for the prize, one of the guides suddenly called our attention to the fact that the gorilla was moving off. He disappeared from view. We followed, scrambling along as rapidly as possible but not making very fast progress. But our time was as good as the gorilla's, for we had glimpses of him as he went down and up the other side of a gully to the crest of a ridge beyond. As he reached the top of this ridge he came into full view perhaps fifty yards from where we were. Bradley fired again. This shot sent him rolling down the slope, stone dead. He lodged against the base of an old tree. He was a fine specimen, a huge creature weighing three hundred and sixty pounds. I believe that he was the big lone male of Karisimbi of which we had been told. He had unquestionably met white men before because at one time he had been badly wounded in the pelvis, leaving a permanent deformation of the pelvic region and a crook in his spine. Like all of the others he displayed no signs of aggressiveness. He was intent only on getting away. He had not made a single sound at any time.

As he lay at the base of the tree, it took all one's scientific ardour to keep from feeling like a murderer. He was a magnificent creature with the face of an amiable giant who would do no harm except perhaps in self-defence or in defense of his friends.

From twenty feet above him on the slope where we settled down with our kit to make pictures, notes, and studies, we had a view of Mikeno and the surrounding country which I then thought, and still remember, as the most beautiful view I have ever seen; and I believe my companions, one and all, quite agree with me. The motion-picture camera was directly behind us up the slope where we had deserted it. It was sent for and a panorama was made from over the body of the dead gorilla. Mikeno was at her best; she had thrown aside her veil of cloud; her whole summit was sharply outlined against the blue of the tropical sky. The warm greens and browns of the moss-covered cliffs suggested a drapery of lovely oriental weave. From the summit well down the wonderful line of the western slope the eye was arrested by old Nyamlagira smouldering lazily and sending her column of smoke and steam to join the hovering cloudbank above—then on again the eye swept over a scene of marvellous opalescent colour in which were dimly seen distant mountain ranges; suggestions of shimmering lakes, and mysterious forests—then around to Chaninagongo, looming dark and massive in the middle ground, smouldering, too, but less demonstrative than her sister, Nyamlagira. Lying almost at the foot of Chaninagongo and to the south, glistened in the tropical sun the loveliest of African inland waters—Lake Kivu. Behind us, upward toward the summit of Karisimbi and adown the slopes in front, there stretched a primeval forest of marvellous beauty—in character unlike anything else I know—a veritable fairyland—and at our feet lay dead one of its great giants.

I realized that the search for a background and a setting for the gorilla group was ended. We will reproduce this scene on canvas as a background for the gorillas when they are mounted in the Museum. The foreground will be a reproduction of the old dead tree with its wealth of vegetation in the midst of which the old gorilla died. Of course, it is regrettable that we had no painter with us at the time. To get one there means another long journey from New York to Central Africa, yet it will be worth it if the thousands who visit the Museum get even a faint degree of the satisfaction from the setting of the group that we got from this view in the gorilla country.

I felt then, and even more so now, that that morning represented the high spot in my African experiences. In the midst of a forest, a land of beauty, we overlooked a scene incomparable, a scene of a world in the making, while our great primitive cousin, whose sanctuary we had invaded, lay dead at our feet. That was the sad note. To me the source of greatest joy was the fact that here, at the culmination of a dream of thirty years, I was not alone. There were three friends who keenly appreciated all that it meant.

We had made good in our boasted undertaking of taking ladies on a real gorilla hunt, presumably the last word of danger and adventure in the popular mind. Another popular illusion gone to smash! It was adventure full of beauty and charm and hard work, but absolutely without danger.