Gorillas in the Mist by Farley Mowat Page B

children of Alyette’s sister, on a plantation in the Congolese province of Kivu. As the troubles in the Congo had begun to grow serious, the young people had been sent off to finish their schooling in Belgium. When Kivu sank deeper into lawlessness, the de Muncks sold their Congo farmand bought another in nearby Rwanda, just a mile or two down the trail from Rosamond Carr’s cottage.
    “Unhappily,” Mrs. Carr continued, “Adrian died suddenly in Paris only a week ago. Alyette will be desolate. It will do her good to have a new involvement, and you and your gorillas might be just the thing.”
    August 12, 1967, found Dian pacing the dusty, fly-infested lounge of the Nairobi airport, impatiently awaiting an incoming Air France flight from Paris. When the plane finally arrived and its passengers disembarked, she anxiously scanned the crowd. Finally she spotted a slight and pretty woman about ten years her senior who was being greeted by three very young men. Dian held back for a few moments, not wanting to intrude upon what was clearly an intensely emotional reunion.
    She herself had reached Nairobi a week earlier, nervous and worried. As if having to abandon the gorilla study in the Congo and her harrowing experiences thereafter had not been enough, she was unemployed and virtually penniless. Nor was she confident of the reception she could expect from Dr. Leakey, who prided himself on always having been able to carry on his scientific work in Africa and the Middle East under the most trying political conditions. Would he think she had exaggerated the danger that had forced her to abandon the Kabara camp? Even if he did understand the difficulties, would funds be available to establish a new camp elsewhere?
    Her fears had evaporated when she was greeted on arrival at the airport by a beaming and affectionate Leakey, who gave her a bear hug and was effusive in his praise of her courage and ingenuity in escaping from the Congo. He took her to a hotel then out for an intimate dinner, after which they discussed the options open to her. Leakey spoke enthusiastically of the need for someone to start a long term study of orangutans in Borneo or of lowland gorillas in West Africa.
    Dian was not enthused. She was resolutely committed to the mountain gorilla, and she told him so.
    “I’m going to stay with them, Dr. Leakey. Nothing will stop me from doing that. They interest me more than anything on earth! Will you help me get started in Rwanda?”
    Leakey was charmed by her spirit and determination.
    “I wouldn’t dare stand in your way,” he told her, laughing. “Just promise me you’ll stay away from the Congolese border. And that you’ll come back to Nairobi at once if you ever again find yourself threatened by the military.”
    A week later he called her to his office in the museum to give her the splendid news that the Wilkie Foundation had agreed by cable to provide the funds for her to begin again in Rwanda. Soon thereafter, the National Geographic Society also agreed to the enforced change of venue for the gorilla study.
    The three young men who had been awaiting Alyette de Munck at Nairobi airport were her son, her nephew, and a close friend of theirs. All three had recently graduated from Louvain University, for which achievement they were being given a six-week safari in East Africa by Alyette and her husband. They had been on passage from Belgium when they heard of Adrian de Munck’s death and had only just reached Nairobi themselves. Now they were prepared to abandon their great adventure, but Alyette would not hear of it.
    “Nonsense!” she told them firmly. “Adrian would not wish it! You must carry on!”
    Invited to dine at their hotel that evening, Dian had at first tried not to intrude herself and her difficulties into this sad reunion. But her companions were fascinated by her gorilla stories and showered her with questions. The three young men were particularly admiring, and she responded with