DIAN FOSSEY'S TOMB
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In 1985, American primatologist Dian Fossey, who helped protect endangered mountain gorillas, was killed by two machete blows at the age of 53. She had spent eighteen years in the Karisoke (contraction of Karisimbi and Bisoke) research center she had built at an altitude of 3,000 m in the Virunga range. She is buried under a stone bearing the inscription Nyiramachabelli, which means "the loner of the forest". Her grave is set among those of the gorillas she studied. She lies beside Digit, a silver-backed gorilla she particularly cherished, who died eight years earlier. The circumstances of his murder have never been clarified, and the identity of his killer remains unknown. Perhaps poachers? We know she had a fierce hatred of poachers, even paying trackers to catch them and bring them to the police. Her life was chronicled in the hit film Gorillas in the Mist, by Michael Apted (USA, 1988), starring Sigourney Weaver. Today, six international associations carry on Dian Fossey's work, one of the best known being the Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Found International DFGFI, of which Sigourney Weaver is Honorary President. To get to her grave (only accompanied by an official guide), you have to climb a steep, muddy path for 7 km, a 2-hour ascent that's quickly forgotten as Karisoke is one of the most beautiful places in the world. No exaggeration!
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