I’m the author of Among the Orangutans – The Birute Galdikas Story. I was inspired to write my book after working as a volunteer with Dr. Galdikas on the Orangutan Project in Borneo. I made this video as a tribute to Dr. Galdikas on her 40th Anniversary of field research.

Little did Jane Goodall’s and Dian Fossey’s colleague, Birute Galdikas realize in 1971 after arriving in the Borneo rain forest that 40 years later she would still be conducting the longest term research about these illusive red apes Indonesians call “Person of the Forest.”

A few days ago my friend Mary Ann Mollenkamp sent me a link to a blog post written by Innocent Uwizeye  from the Art of Conservation. He described a hike to Karisoke Research Center, the former site of gorilla expert Dian Fossey’s 18-year research study of the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. Although our friendship with Dian spanned 2 short years before her death, it was a relationship that redefined our purpose and eventually led us to establish our own private nature reserves in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica and a life among its primates. What follows is our blog posts.

Dear Innocent,

When you got to the Karisoke site was there an engraved marker on Dian’s grave? It reads in part, “No one loved gorillas more. Rest in peace dear friend…” I wrote the inscription on the marker and sent it to Rwanda through the US Embassy to be installed in 1986. We later learned it had been removed during the war for safekeeping but we don’t know if it was ever reinstalled. Can you let us know?

Thank you, 
Evelyn Gallardo
David Root

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Picture a dead end job with the glass ceiling weighing heavy on my pride. I know I’m good at writing letters because I consistently get results from them for my firm. I wonder how I can turn this skill into a bullet train ride out of here. The book I’ve just read, Gorillas in the Mist, pops into my brain. I touch pen to paper and out flows, Dear Dian Fossey. She had a reputation for liking gorillas more than people and this is the longest shot I’ve ever taken. I don’t know it at the time but this letter is my bullet train. Even though this took place more than 25 years ago, the lessons learned are still relevant today.

My story begins at the Jewel Theatre in East L.A. before my feet can even reach the gooey ground. I’m sobbing like a kitten just got run over by a truck as King Kong lands with a nauseating thud in front of the Empire State Building. I rage at the injustice. Why did they have to kill him? Why didn’t they take him back to the rain forest? Couldn’t anyone see he was the good guy! I was sure no one understood King Kong the way I did. This left me with an unresolved ache I would someday heal.

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Howler Monkey

I can’t explain why primates fascinate me any better than explain why I love chocolate. My earliest childhood memory is empathizing with “King Kong” at the movies; I looked into his eyes and felt his pain. At the zoo I hung with the primates and studied their reactions to their human gawkers and asked my silent questions; “Do you hate it in there?” “Do you miss the rain forest? My fantasy was to hide in the bathroom until after closing and set them all free.

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