"As males reach adulthood, the fur on their backs pales to gray.
Watching a 450-pound silverback eat bamboo and hold court over his
family is such an extraordinary—many say moving—experience that it’s
only a slight exaggeration to say Rwanda is staking the national
economy on it."
So says Alex Halperin, who writes on African matters for The American online magazine, where he's written a currently featured story about the Rwandan gorilla tourism industry. We wrote about the Virunga gorillas a number of times last summer (for example, here, here and here) when we spent two days on gorilla treks on the slopes of Mt. Sabyinyo in Rwanda.
Halperin's article, seems to me, is a dispassionate survey of the state of gorilla tourism in Rwanda, and where it might - and won't - lead Rwanda's people.
(Photo of silverback from the EarthPhotos.com Mountain Gorillas Gallery. See also the EarthPhotos.com Rwanda Gallery.)
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