January 9th, 2008
Published by Ben Beck

The beautiful garden in the Gisozi Genocide Memorial and Education Center in Kigali.

Editor’s note: Today, Great Ape Trust of Iowa Director of Conservation Dr. Benjamin Beck continues his 10-part blog on his recent trip to Rwanda. Beck, along with Great Ape Trust Founder and Chairman Ted Townsend, Communications Director Al Setka and Peter Clay, a senior orangutan caretaker, were in Rwanda from Nov. 28-Dec. 6 to begin the process to establish the Rwanda National Conservation Project with Earthpark and the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, two other Iowa-based projects supported by Townsend.

When we arrived on the 28th, we were picked up by our hosts and taken to the genocide memorial museum in the capital of Kigali. We placed flowers on the mass grave (one of many in the country) of thousand of victims, and had a guided tour of the museum and its gardens. The exhibits are impactful and informative, and compare very favorably to the exhibits of the very best museums in the world. The unspeakable violence (almost 1 million were killed) is wrenching. The goal of the museum is to make sure that the events are never forgotten and never repeated, and to ensure that Rwandans will make any sacrifice to avoid a repetition. One leaves with a sense of optimism and hope.

Ours hosts treated us to a subdued welcoming supper that evening. During supper, I sat next to Patricia Hajabakiga, Cabinet Minister of Lands and Environment. We found that we shared many ideas about conservation, and often had to be “brought back to the table” by our dining companions. It was Patricia’s idea to ban plastic bags in Rwanda, and they did. Plastic bags are taken away from those arriving at the airport, and there are none visible anywhere in the country. What a simple way to enrich and beautify a world; why can’t we do that? After supper, Ted, Al, Peter and I collapsed in our beds in fatigue, emotional turmoil and excitement for the days to come.

During supper, our hosts confirmed that the Gishwati National Forest would be the site of the new national conservation park. Gishwati had been 634 square kilometers of primary Afromontane forest in 1960, but had declined to only 6 square kilometers of forest in 2003. Agricultural development and resettlement caused the decline. Flooding and landslides are common, and its two rivers are polluted and silted. Tiny fields of corn and sweet potatoes, and vast tea plantations, creep to the tops of tall, majestic hills. Most of the trees are plantations of pine and eucalyptus. But there are now 9 square kilometers of native forest, thanks to government-initiated reforestation efforts. There is reportedly a small group of chimpanzees living there.

Next: Gorillas in their midst