My grandfather was a tribal chief and was very involved in the early efforts to protect the wildlife of Virunga. He was called Kanzeguhera, which means “he who cannot get lost”. When I first started as ranger, my goal was to honor my grandfather’s memory.

My grandfather

I am very interested in chimpanzees and had a lot of experience with them when I was first posted at Tongo, which has a vibrant population of chimps. I soon understood that they are a very intelligent species, more so than even gorillas. For example, one day in Tongo, a group of women who were peeling bananas in a field were chased out by a group of chimps. One of the women mistakenly left her baby behind. Although we arrived immediately, we were unable to shoo the chimps away. One of the female chimps actually took the human baby hostage so that we wouldn’t approach, and more importantly, so we wouldn’t stop them from eating the villagers’ bananas. All we could do was watch and wait. When they were done eating, they let the baby go and disappeared back into the forest. From that moment on, I have been fascinated by chimpanzees.

Working with Innocent and Diddy in the field. I was taking the GPS coordinates.

I feel very strongly about the community work we do. We must educate the local people about the importance of protecting the wildlife around them. In order to be successful, though, we must do it in a way that also improves their lives.