It might have been the study on the evolution of human behaviour through gorillas, the interest in teaching biology lessons or even the passion to understand life and things like that, but from an early age, Dr Alan Goodall knew he wanted to work with mountain gorillas.

The 82-year old, who is also a wildlife conservationist by training would go on to spend five decades helping to safeguard Rwanda’s mountain gorillas, one of the world’s rarest primates.

Under his tenure as Director of Karisoke Research Centre, Goodall helped improve healthcare and said he created economic opportunities, attracting various partners in conservation.

The New Times’ Edwin Ashimwe recently caught up with him in Kigali in what turned out to be an insightful conversation, just a few hours before he flew back to the Mountains of the Southern Alps in France, where he currently resides.

Alan, who hopes to permanently relocate to Rwanda next year, shared insights around starting his career in the country of a thousand hills, the impact of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi on then conservation gains, current threats to the species as well as possible solutions.

Excerpts:

Briefly tell us who Dr Alan Goodall is.

I started my life as a teacher, and I have taught in all levels of education from primary to tertiary. But I went back to University where I studied life sciences, and then I wanted to do research.

Your research into the behavioural ecology and conservation of the rare Mountain Gorillas is known internationally. How did you get here?

It all boils down to an article written by Dian Fossey for national geographic in January 1970. It was very important because no one had heard of Rwanda.

In that era, it was a tiny country in the middle of nowhere but Fossey’s article brought the attention of the whole world to the country because of the gorillas.

In the same year I wrote to Professor Robert Hinde at Cambridge (University) about research studentship in his department and my letter was passed on to Dian Fossey, who was then visiting Cambridge.

She was looking for a research student to help her with field work on the rare species. And my letters went well.

Your license is accepted and now you have to live your dream in a country far from home. How was the experience like?

After Fossey offered me the position to come and work with the gorillas, my wife (Margaret) and I came and brought our baby (Fiona) who was only four months at the time.

We immediately fell in love with Rwanda. And the people were so fantastic. But then I had to leave again and complete my research.

In 1987, following the untimely death of Diane Fossey, I became the Director of Karisoke.

What would you say was your main agenda as you took over the centre’s leadership?

I brought in the whole research firm. There was too much focus on the gorillas, but we extended into a centre where students could learn about Buffalos, where they can learn about soils, among others.

And during that time, I got a lot of sponsorship for real but my greatest claim to fame is the Land rover I received from the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

I also renovated the whole camp and renewed the management.

You talked about coming back to Rwanda in July 1994. Was this not a hard decision?

When I came back, of course my Land Rover had disappeared, and so had the rest.  This place was empty.

There were no cars, no people and not even any buildings because in the 24 years before, the previous government had done very little development.

All buildings were full of bullet holes and windows, all smashed, nothing worked.

Fortunately, I found all my Karisoke staff as refugees. And I was told that it was safe for them to return. 

Right now, if we come back to today, what you (Rwanda) have achieved in twenty seven years is incredible.

When we started from scratch, it was terrible. It was chaos, total chaos. People just rolled up. But now, you have a very well organized industry. It's brilliant. And also the protection is super.

Looking at those gains, do you see any possible threats that would hinder this development?

Absolutely, you are having a problem, which many people do not realize. But as a scientist, it is easy to see the problem.

You have the volcano national park, but it's contiguous with the Congo. The gorillas don't have visas, they have no passports. There's no barrier. The same situation you have with Uganda.

Each area of habitat for any animal whether the elephants or antelopes have what we call a carrying capacity.

So it's wonderful. You have many, many young babies now, but when that capacity gets beyond a certain number, it is going to be terrific. This needs enough research.

And besides the current expansion of the forest, what are some of the other possible solutions?

The other solution is to work in cooperation with the DR Congo. When I did my survey, I travelled all the way up to the Rwenzori mountains,

There are chimpanzees, but no Gorillas. There's plenty of food. The World Wildlife Fund should help to move some of those here in a family and move them and translocate them to Rwenzori.

So you need to be within an equilibrium balance.

The country is banking on the tourism sector for its recovery from adverse impacts by the pandemic. How can gorilla conservation be incorporated in this campaign?

Obviously you are earning millions now. It’s the foundation of your economy, and that's wonderful. And you're having tourists coming in and paying a lot of money.

But also I would suggest that the time is increased to two hours. This would give the tourists a better experience.

A lot of people I know actually think it is expensive for one hour and they also have to pay the hotels, they have flights and other things.

 So I would say, in order to enhance, their experience increasing to two hours, when possible, is better.

We have to understand that the most important thing about this industry is the client’s experience.

Throughout your career, you are well known for associating with young people. How can they contribute to this cause?

The challenge for these young people is learning to live in a world dominated by Artificial intelligence and Machine learning.

They should look at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and look at the threats.

For instance, Covid-19 has been a perfect example, we saw gorilla tourism coming to a halt. And nobody could do anything about it, even around the world.

It is just not about furry charismatic gorillas, young people should understand the idea of ‘sustainable use’, in conservation management using digital tools.