The Freddys agree, and take it one step further, claiming to my smiling skepticism that the Nkuringo gorillas even shake hands. “It’s true”, they insist. “We have both seen it!”

In the afternoon, with the forest properly quenched from another of Nkuringo’s tempestuous storms, a walk through the village with Gary Segal, Clouds amiable South African manager – and mean hand in the kitchen – further details the project’s mission of “Island Life”, or complete self-sufficiency. Entirely surrounded by human habitation and intensive agriculture, Bwindi’s gorillas have already adapted to island life. The key is to help human communities also become self sufficient so they are able to feed themselves without destroying the forest through the raising of local staples such as sorghum, millet, matoke and potatoes. The hope is that new projects such as animal raising and craft production, which spring from Clouds’ conservation initiative, will make island life a sustainable reality. “The school here has a very high drop out rate,” explains Gary. “Primary 1 has 264 students, but by the time we reach Primary 7, there are only 27. Education is the key, and we want to turn
this around.”

As we hike up to what is surely one of the world’s highest soccer pitches at 2,300 meters (7,000 feet), the view of the surrounding countryside opens up dramatically, with the carpeted hills of Bwindi to the north, the seven volcanoes of the Virunga Massif forming a brooding but spectacular chain to the south, and the Great Rift Valley seemingly expanding into infinity in the West. On a clear day, Uganda’s famous Ruwenzoris, the “Mountains of the Moon” can be spotted to the Northwest. It is the type of breathtaking panorama that can inspire the romance of classic Africa – all big sky and rugged, untamed landscape. But Gary, a lodge veteran with Clouds’
parent company Wild Places Africa, is all business, rapid firing planned tourist projects which compliment gorilla visits that will further benefit the community: mountain biking, birding, primate viewing (there are chimpanzees and several species of monkey nearby), a Clouds spa, cultural walks. A quick study who prefers rural settings to the city, he is well-versed in local community history and culture, and an overflowing fountain of ideas. He can talk your ear off about the philosophy behind community-based conservation, and the need for progressive and respectful development. And that is exactly what Clouds and the NCDF need to ensure a future for Bwindi’s gorillas and their less hairy neighbors.

Later, as we hurdle past a new symphony of“Bottle-o!” in a Clouds van that has seen more than its share of Bwindi’s rock and rut byways, I wonder aloud if one luxury lodge can really produce the ripple effect it claims and benefit so many people. Twenty minutes down the mountain, Gary pulls over in the bustling ramshackle market town of Rubuguri. This is a community on the margins – the last faint ripple from Bwindi and its tourism industry. Clouds has not opened without controversy: gorilla viewing permits are limited, and its partner, the NCDF, has negotiated with the Uganda Wildlife Authority for a permanent set number to go to Clouds’ clients –
permits from which other area lodges or businesses could benefit. Clouds continues to support new avenues of income generation for these nascent businesses, however, and while a bright green threehorned rhinoceros chameleon escapes in a shady tree above the chatter below, we sit down with enterprising young local Fidelis Kanyamunya, who doesn’t mince words. “At first, I totally opposed these permits,” he begins, “but now I see the benefit even to our community with more and more tourists coming to the area.” The steep rugged valleys and emerald patchwork of farms surrounding Bwindi reveal wild, tumbling waterfalls, mysterious caves and tidy clusters of simple dwellings where traditional culture still holds strong. Fidelis sees the gorillas as only one of the area’s many charms, and walking safaris, mountain biking, birding, and cultural tours are all on the agenda for
his simple hut/campground complex. On the books is a plan for a cultural center, and a local vegetable growing project has already broken ground.

As we get up for a short sample hike in one of Bwindi’s gorgeously lush and serene river valleys, Gary supports
Fidelis’ entrepreneurial drive. “My father always said to me – ‘You are an Afri-CAN, not an Afri-can’t. We CAN do anything here’”. With local communities already reaping the rewards of Clouds novel luxury tourism model, and the Nkuringo gorilla family building their nightly sleeping nests safely in their verdant misty forest home, one can conjure up a not-too-distant future where all apes, the hairy and stout forest variety and the mostly hair-free and thin village variety, will live in symbiotic harmony, building a relationship that results in all staring up into the murky grey, recognizing that their tiny kingdom, perched in the mist in a tiny fragile corner of Africa’s vast wild heartlands, is indeed at peace.

BABY ALERT: Approximately two weeks after my visit, a very pregnant Kwitonda, a young female in the Nkuringo group, gave birth to twins, an extremely rare occurrence in mountain gorillas. The Nkuringo group is
now twenty strong. Though survival of both twins will be extremely difficult, they have so far made it through Nkuringo’s rainy season – an encouraging sign for their future and the future of this growing family.