RADIO CHATTER
I've got less than ten days now.
Time's ticking.
As soon as we arrived,
we heard a roar.
So, he's definitely around.
SCREECHING
I have two minds fighting each other.
One is to see the gorillas
being habituated,
so they get used to humans.
BARKING AND SCREECHING
But one is to have Mpungwe remaining wild.
I just wish I knew a little bit more about what I was getting into.
SCREECHING
As a wildlife cameraman, I've been lucky enough
to film the most iconic animals on the planet.
But gorillas hold so much significance to me.
You find these creatures only right in the middle of Africa.
This... This is where I come from.
Now, I'm heading to document the mission to save the last remaining
eastern lowland gorillas.
NEWS FOOTAGE: - Mobutu could do nothing to stop the panic
and lawlessness in Kinshasa. - Pressure from war, deforestation,
and poaching has pushed these creatures to the
verge of extinction.
- During the war, half the population of these gorillas
were killed and eaten for bushmeat.
- To combat this, the government has turned to eco-tourism.
- Oh, wow! Fantastic!
- Tourist income will pay to ensure the gorillas are protected
and their habitat is secured.
The goal is to habituate a family of gorillas,
a process designed to gradually get them used to humans.
This is... This is our group.
But will the gorillas' highly protective alpha male be
willing to accept us?
In the end, it's all down to him.
We are in Democratic Republic of Congo,
invited by the Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
What is at stake here is the survival of this creature.
So, what we are going to be doing is following habituation,
essentially a process of getting a group of wild gorillas used
to a human presence, so tourists can safely enter their territory.
What we are going to be doing, no-one has filmed before.
Every day, for the next three months, we're going to try to
get closer, gradually becoming part of the gorilla family.
But with primates, it's never easy.
The last thing they want to do is hang around humans.
To them, you are a threat.
Gorillas usually live in a family of between five and ten,
led by an alpha male, which is the silverback.
99% of gorilla films are with habituated gorillas.
The habituated group is not dangerous to film.
But to film a non-habituated group,
you're putting your life in danger
because the silverback is there to protect every single
member of his family.
The silverback is about three times my size. He weighs 250kg.
And their strength is unprecedented.
Him attacking me would be lethal.
With that said, as a wildlife cameraman,
I like to film really wild animals.
Then, you get to see the behaviour that you've never seen before.
That's what does it for me.
However, with a truly wild silverback, will three months
be enough for him to essentially accept me into his family?
- OK, let's go now.
- OK.
To habituate a gorilla family,
essentially, you are trying to show them that you are a friend,
and you do this by acting like them.
BEATS LOUDLY
CLAPPING
RUSTLING
For them to see us acting the same is to reassure them,
to make them feel comfortable around us.
PATTING CHEEKS
Filming gorillas always feels magical to me.
I can't get enough of them.
PATTING STOMACH
Yes!
The thing that I love the most about filming gorillas
is observing how similar they are to us.
Their expression...
..mannerism...
..the dexterity of their hands, just...just like us.
In fact, gorillas are so similar to us,
they can catch human diseases.
That's why, when they are in close proximity to us,
we have to wear masks.
I mean, they are one of our closest cousins, behind chimps and bonobos.
The baby's playing, that means the silverback is not very far away.
Gorillas are just constantly on the move,
looking for bamboo shoots, or other foliage to eat.
They can quite easily cover up to 5km a day...
..so to keep up with them is really exhausting.
The silverback is about 20 metres from us,
through this very thick foliage.
No way I can film it because it's really dense.
SCREECHING
This is a completely different story to what I normally do
when I film gorillas. The habituated group is already used to humans.
These gorillas are wild. They don't know us, they can't trust us,
especially the silverback, you know, he's very serious.
He's got a job to do.
Look after his family, look after his females.
BARKING
SCREECHING
SCREECHING AND BARKING
When the habituation starts, a silverback will charge.
That charge is a way of saying,
"Look, I've got a family here, so back off."
But if you stand your ground, it stops him moving forward.
SCREECHING
I didn't quite realise how heavy habituating gorillas was.
You really have to keep following them.
If people disagree with this method, I can totally understand.
But you have to be cruel to be kind
and this is the pure example of it.
Back in the '80s,
habituation also helped mountain gorillas.
There were around 400 left
and then, Virunga, Bwindi National Park followed the same process.
Now, we have more than 1,000 individuals,
so it works.
CHUCKLES
Amazing!
Yes, they tend to move around, according to where they're going to
be eating at the end of the day, and then if they find around that
area, everything is perfect, they will start building their nests.
That is genius!
She just pulled the curtain down
to cover herself and her baby.
Who told you that gorillas don't know what privacy is all about?
That was a successful day, I would say.
I can see how the habituation has progressed quite far already,
in terms of how relaxed the juveniles are.
However, it feels like we still got a long way to
go before the silverback and other adults accept us.
And I can see it's a tough job for these eco-guards,
who've devoted their lives to gorillas.
It's really tough.
There are certain things about this very country that
I'll react straight away.
Although they seem really happy, from my point of view,
I feel like... Come on, they deserve better than that, big time.
These guys work really hard and what do they get in return?
I am quite ashamed that the majority of the people
in this country live on less than $1 a day.
Literally nothing.
Let's face it, I am one of them. It's just that I was lucky.
I was born with parents that had different opportunities.
I was born in a very large family,
if you see it from a Western point of view.
A family of eight and I'm right in the middle, number four.
My mother was a headteacher and my dad was a medical doctor.
We lived in the Republic of Congo, in the capital, Brazzaville.
We weren't poor. I never struggled for anything, really.
It was a strong family, really strong together.
But sadly, I've got like two photos of my childhood.
One of me and my sister and brothers
and maybe one of my grandad, as well.
But, yeah, most of our stuff was completely destroyed.
Back in 1997,
when the country was going through a huge upheaval,
we were living outside the country at the time.
Therefore, the house was left alone.
We were amongst those who weren't lucky.
The house was looted and burnt.
So, we lost all our belongings.
That very region in the '90s was completely
affected by political instabilities.
The Democratic Republic of Congo
also went through consecutive wars...
..and that also affected the numbers of the gorillas,
so the population plummeted.
And the eastern part of the DRC, where I currently am,
hasn't fully recovered and it's possible that unrest
can break out again and that's the reason
why I'm making this film,
to give the park visibility, to make sure that the
gorillas are protected and their home is protected.
So, today will be focusing on the silverback,
because he is the one that will open the gates for us.
For the last two weeks,
I haven't been able to fully see the silverback.
He's always been hiding behind the foliage.
But today, I really would like to see him face-to-face.
That's the only way I can start building trust with him.
I can see how difficult it is to actually habituate
a group of gorillas because they just want to make sure that
there's the distance between you and them.
As soon as you cross that little boundary, the male charges.
SCREECHING AND BARKING
OK.
This is...
..so challenging.
OK.
Which female is this one?
- Tuliya.
- She's extremely confident, huh?
This female we're filming here,
she's slightly different to the rest of the group.
She's fully habituated. That's why she's quite relaxed,
being only seven metres away
and that's why she's got the name Tuliya.
When you have a name, that is
the last stage of the habituation process.
This is how relaxed we are hoping Mpungwe
and the rest of his family will become.
- Hello. - Yeah?
- Is it possible to follow the silverback? - Ah, oui, yeah.
Yes.
Look at that!
It amazes me how a two and a half hundred kilogram creature
can climb a tree like that.
OK.
No, I wasn't hiding at all. I was just, you know...
It's just, I started to feel a connection with the group.
And I think about these poor creatures being persecuted.
And all they do is look after their families like any creature
should do on Planet Earth, you know?
And beyond that, I'm also trying to connect to this silverback,
you know?
This...patriarch.
Gorillas are very much like humans.
We share more than 98% of our genetic codes with them.
And whenever I spend time with these cousins of ours...
..I can't help drawing similarities between their world
and my world.
It's bizarre I think that way, but every time I film the silverback...
..I always think of loads of resemblances
to my grandad, Bonifas.
This sort of sense of family protection,
there's a sense of, you know, gentleness,
the mannerism, how he holds himself,
how he talk, how he looked at people.
Everything a proud and confident man would want to be,
he had it all.
People in the community
and within the family really looked up to my grandad.
He was the pillar in the family.
The patriarch, you know.
And I always wanted to be like him.
The protecting figure, the leading figure...
..the silverback.
I feel like we have taken a big step forward.
Now that me and Mpungwe have looked at each other in the eye,
I hope we have started to build some trust between us.
Now, I would love to see if he can let me get a bit closer,
to meet some of his family that he's been protecting so well.
I know it must not be easy for him to let his guard down
because gorillas and humans still don't have the best relationship.
A fact that these rangers are trying to change.
HE CLAPS
- First, I was a park ranger.
The gorilla habituation officer.
Now, I'm a consultant to the park.
When they need something related to the gorillas,
training rangers and so on, they always come to me.
- OK.
- Until 1937, this was a free forest,
where everyone had access.
The Belgian colony era discovered that this forest is threatened,
so they created a reserve,
which became the Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
So, the national park is fully protected
to prevent the human pressure of the gorillas and their habitat.
But life is very difficult here for all inhabitants.
- The families are completely scattered around,
each of them's got a tree.
So, then, you can see the silverback's got the biggest tree.
I think he's relaxing a little bit,
with our presence because he's letting me see his family.
- Why are the community members living around the park
harming the gorillas and their habitat?
Empty stomachs have no ears.
They have no choice.
We reached two million people living around the park.
When people are concentrated, dominated by poverty,
they have no other means, so they go and rely on the park resources.
- So, when they're trapped by this, they will struggle to get
out of it and then struggle to death by not being able to escape it.
- Secondly, deforestation here is enormous.
In 2020, more than 1,000 hectares of the habitat
of the eastern lowland gorillas has been cleared out.
The local people need more land where they can grow crops.
People need more space where they can create villages to live in.
So, what can we do now to help the gorillas?
Invest into the community.
This money will go to the public treasure
to help the communities, in terms of development.
When the humans are benefitting from the park,
that's a security for the gorillas.
In that way, the gorillas must pay for their own survival.
- There's a paradox here for the silverback.
To protect his family, he has to go against his natural instinct.
And I can completely understand why it's so challenging for him,
because Mpungwe has to learn to trust the very species that
threaten him and his family the most.
I feel like we are making progress.
I've started to build a connection with Mpungwe,
but he's still keeping us at a bit of distance.
So, for the next week, we are going to try to get a bit closer
and see whether he will tolerate our presence
from around 20 metres or so.
This is risky, though, because he's likely to charge.
There are actually two methods of habituating gorillas.
The first is a very submissive approach used by a female
conservationist called Dian Fossey to get close to
mountain gorillas for research purposes.
But in Kahuzi-Biega, they've used a more assertive approach -
standing tall, facing the gorillas.
The park's founders had a theory - because they were male, they have
to behave in a dominant fashion to win the respect of the silverback.
Obviously, I don't want him to attack me.
But it's vital for him to get used to humans.
SCREECHING, ROARING
BARKING
SCREECHING, ROARING
There's a really big part of me that feels like we are harassing them.
Their droppings are diarrhoea-like -
that means they are slightly stressed.
This is what worries me.
HE CHUCKLES
It's a very, very risky job,
but he keeps doing it to protect these gorillas.
Mpungwe's clearly not comfortable with us just yet,
but I have respect for that because he's doing what any
silverback should do - protecting his family.
- Do you think you're a silverback? - Oh!
Let's put it this way - every family man on this planet, or dad,
are silverbacks.
And you're one of them!
HE CHUCKLES
I'm married to a beautiful English rose.
HE CHUCKLES
And I have two beautiful kids that also support me.
I'm a lucky man.
But it's been really hard for them - this is a time when they need me.
- How much time do you spend away from home? - Mm...
This year, I've been away for almost, um...
..like, pretty much, um...
..all the time.
What scares me, though, is that what goes around comes around.
I have a fear that, one day, my kids will leave me.
HE CHUCKLES
Oh!
God, I'm so weak, I'm so weak!
OK, look, I'll be strong. Hang on.
Um...
The reason I have that fear is because, for me,
family means everything.
They need me so much that, when I leave, you know,
it's so...it's so painful.
But I don't do this job for just a pleasure.
I do it now because I want to get people engaged into what
needs to be done to make sure that the gorillas are protected.
For me in particular, that feeling is an addiction.
The last week has been quite intense for the gorillas,
but I'm wondering now whether our constant presence has had an
impact in terms of Mpungwe allowing us closer to him and his family.
It looks very open here.
It might give me a chance to see individuals quite clearly,
get some nice portraits, as well.
When gorillas see you every day,
that's when the trust starts to kick in.
And then, all of a sudden, through the habituation,
you become part of the group.
And then, they start doing things naturally,
and that's the moment, that's the moment
when you start getting the best out of their behaviour.
HE CHUCKLES
Most females are sort of, you know, quite chilled by now.
But Mpungwe's a wild animal.
He's not going to give you 100% trust.
He's got every instinct a man has to protect his family.
Mpungwe, it's only me!
He's being very, very cautious of me with the camera.
And I keep trying to say, you know, well, look,
I just want to be your friend.
SCREECHING
Mpungwe! Come on.
He's not charging forward.
Mpungwe's starting to allow us to come. It is a milestone.
He's even standing and staring at me. He never used to do that before.
Usually, direct eye contact with a silverback is considered to
be a threat from a gorilla's point of view.
The fact that Mpungwe doesn't charge when I'm looking directly at him is
potentially a good sign
because it means that he might be getting used to me.
HE CLEARS THROAT
Hey!
HE SIGHS
I am literally ten metres from the baby and the mother.
They're just sitting there, looking at us.
Females become sexually mature around seven or eight.
Once a female begins to breed,
she will give birth to one baby every 4-6 years.
That is a cutie!
This low rate of reproduction is what partly makes it
difficult for the gorillas to recover from population decline.
And knowing that really emphasises the importance
of what we're doing here.
Oh! She's feeding, she's feeding!
Oh! She was feeding! Look, look! Ha-ha!
Look at her face! Just...just look at that!
I've never seen a mother gorilla feeding her baby.
Wow!
HE CHUCKLES
Mpungwe is not very far from here.
He's keeping an eye on the family.
He's there to look after the family, he's there to solve problems.
You know, the confidence, the power - it takes me back
to my grandfather, Bonifas, you know, just like that!
Because...
HE CHUCKLES
Oh!
HE CHUCKLES
Oh, jeez!
Being a strong male figure was one of the most
important values instilled in me.
When I was growing up, I was left-handed.
Back then, if you were left-handed,
it's not a good sign for a boy.
Being left-handed was seen as being less masculine, basically.
That's just one of the traditions in our culture.
So, my grandad would use a bandage to cover my left hand
so I can't use it, and that made me very slow at school.
I almost believed that I wasn't good enough, in a way.
When you are the last one to finish everything,
you always get a little bit marginalised.
For a powerful creature like Mpungwe,
if you're going to be his friend, you've got to be strong.
You have to prove to him that you are man enough.
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Throughout the year, gorillas will move through different
areas in their territory to find the food that they are looking for.
I'm well over halfway of my trip now,
and the gorillas have moved from the bamboo forest and they're
now in an area where they can eat bark, fruits and flowers.
And this place is nuts - not only the density of the forest,
the hills are really, really high.
We're talking about 500-metres' drop.
And this is the type of terrain where Mpungwe
will just ambush the team.
So, safety-wise, we just have to be extremely careful.
BARKING
Before, he would charge from distance,
but now he's starting to come really close and, yeah, size me up a bit.
But I have to stand tall, and that is... That is key.
SCREECHING
Despite how aggressive he looks...
SCREECHING
..now that Mpungwe's getting close to us
without charging is actually a sign that he's getting used to us.
I'm certain that Mpungwe knows that I want to be a part of his group,
but whether he will eventually allow me in, that is the big question.
SCREECHING, BARKING
Mpungwe, it's me!
SCREECHING
SCREECHING, ROARING
The previous terrain, he was able to gauge
the distance between his family and us, so he would be more relaxed.
SCREECHING, ROARING
Mpungwe!
He cannot see where we are, so we're moving forward.
The team doesn't realise that they're crossing the boundary,
so that's the reason why he's coming and then he's charging.
This is very dangerous.
SCREECHING, ROARING
SCREECHING
BARKING
SCREECHING, ROARING
Oh, my God!
Mpungwe has tried to pull my left foot.
It's absolutely remarkable that he decided not to hurt me
because he could...
..if he wanted to.
I think that moment was very meaningful.
I have proven to Mpungwe that I'm man enough to be his friend.
Game on!
Today is a special day.
Kahuzi-Biega is hosting its largest group of tourists in years to
visit the park's only fully habituated gorilla family.
And I've been invited to join the group to see how a fully
habituated silverback would behave amongst the tourists.
- Are you excited about today or would you rather be filming Mpungwe?
- I must say, you know, truly, honestly, I'm half-half.
My head, at the moment's programmed just to get close to Mpungwe.
But I will equally be excited to be close to an habituated group.
HE CHUCKLES
- The tourism sector can make much money.
Virunga, Uganda, Rwanda - they have the same product, gorillas.
Tourism can help the gorilla
because this can help the Kahuzi to promote...to be promoted.
Don't rush, don't rush.
So, this is Mr Bonane with some of the children.
- Hello, Bonane!
- Oh, wow, fantastic!
- Obviously, wildlife filming and tourists doesn't quite go together!
- In the mid-'80s to early '90s, we had 7,000 tourists a year.
That was before the war. Today, 150 a month.
The park has only one gorilla group to visit,
but the small income from the Bonane group, it doesn't go far,
so it's very important to have a second group.
- Yeah, he's OK.
Yeah.
- There's a huge difference between Mpungwe's group and Bonane.
The contrast is enormous.
Mpungwe wouldn't tolerate this.
- We can say bye-bye to Bonane!
- Bye-bye! - Yeah, yeah!
- HE CHUCKLES
Bonane is so habituated to the human presence.
I have a bit of apprehension, you know.
As much as I really would love to be this close to Mpungwe...
..in a way, it makes them a bit vulnerable,
not being able to distinguish who's good, who's bad.
This journey started like a simple idea - following the habituation,
but it gets deeper than that, you know, as you're progressing with it.
GUNSHOT
NEWS REPORTER: - The United Nations' mission
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo says 130
civilians were killed by M23 in the villages of Kishishe and Bambu.
The M23 movement, a largely Tutsi former rebel group,
denied its role in the massacre.
- Oh, fucking hell!
No-one in this country wants to see these things again.
I know it's not far from where I am.
And I do not want this war to spread across the country again.
SHOUTING
HE ADDRESSES THEM
HE SHOUTS
- I knew each one...
..by name.
The habituated groups, they're used to seeing people every day -
they don't run, they don't hide at all.
But unhabituated groups, when they hear a little noise, you know,
they're ready to hide.
If, once again, fighting continues to be extended to this area,
the remaining population of gorillas will, like, go away.
Yes, absolutely.
I cannot reject the idea of habituating.
I support it 100% because, when the communities have income,
they prevent each other not to harm the gorillas in their habitat.
- The history of this place, you know, it was a hunting ground.
Mpungwe, from a very young age, maybe when he was a baby,
he's been witness to some of the upheavals in the past.
He's got that in his instinct, you know, to be cautious of humans.
GROWLING
As soon as we arrived, we heard a roar, so he's definitely around.
Time is ticking.
I've got less than ten days now,
and Mpungwe has obviously been close enough to touch me.
But the ultimate test is to see
whether I could be seven metres from him without him charging.
GROWLING
To be honest, though, I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable
seeing what habituation has done to the other silverback.
GROWLING
SCREECHING, ROARING
SCREECHING
He really doesn't want to be filmed today.
He's not tolerating any...
..any movement.
Despite his scary presence...
..he's still very vulnerable cos he's looking, you know,
he's not quite sure.
He just wants to care about his family.
SCREECHING
ROARING
SCREECHING
He's standing there - the babies, everybody else, is behind him.
I feel for him.
I really feel for him.
If I carry this camera like this, if you see it from a distance,
it looks like I'm carrying a gun.
That's perhaps what he is thinking.
And every time I'm pointing the camera, he always hides himself.
Maybe he's always going to stay like this, huh?
- I've sort of noticed that you seem a bit withdrawn,
a bit more sort of distant.
And I just wondered what, if anything,
is sort of going on for you emotionally?
- I just wish I knew a little bit more about what I was getting into.
Mentally, it's starting to feel a little bit exhausting because...
..I have two minds fighting each other.
One is to see the gorillas being habituated.
And one is to have Mpungwe remaining Mpungwe, like,
remaining wild for the sake of his family.
Despite the fact I'm trying hard to get close to him
and just see if he will accept me as an individual,
I would like for Mpungwe to be cautious of humans.
Because, if a gorilla can't distinguish a good person
and a bad person, that is a huge concern for me.
But when they have a wild instinct...
..if there was to be an intruder then, from a distance,
Mpungwe would be able to protect the rest of his family and go away.
I feel like I have an...
..a really genuine connection with him and the rest of his family.
And I'm starting to see a lot of elements around Mpungwe
are connected to my own family.
The sad thing with my family is that,
when the patriarch left, that sort of role wasn't passed on to anyone.
Then we all sort of...
..scattered around.
I'm in England, my sister is in Paris,
my brother is in South Africa, some are back in the Congo - you name it.
That's why it's quite hard, you know,
for me cos I don't feel connected to my brothers and sisters any more.
No-one was there to maintain this very...
..important value in our family, in my culture.
And I would love for Mpungwe to have plenty of time to pass
that legacy on to his son...
..so that Mpungwe's family doesn't end up like my own
and then that legacy carries on.
I would have loved to be that sort of silverback who would
keep my brothers and my sisters, my cousins and my kids all together.
I kind of wanted to be like my grandad, you know,
having the entire...
..the entire tribe, you know, around.
But I've never quite achieved that.
COCK CROWS
Mm.
Mm-hm.
Conservation is not black and white. It's very complex.
John and Lambert,
they really are fighting hard for the gorillas to thrive.
And I think the symbiotic relationship is going the right way.
I've got less than a week to go.
I wanted to cement the whole thing around
this close proximity with Mpungwe.
Going home and not being able to accomplish that would feel
almost like a bit of a failure.
Simple as that.
It's not just a wildlife project.
To me, gorillas are exceptional.
We share so much.
So, if I can be known for anything, I'd love it to be for this.
Look at that!
Look at that.
That's Tuliya.
I've never come across a gorilla this distance, never.
Look!
We are surrounded of Mpungwe's family.
This whole place is peppered with gorillas.
HE CHUCKLES
We are fully accepted.
This is one of the sons. He must be around six. And he wants to play!
Your turn.
HE CHUCKLES
Oh!
Mpungwe's not far. The son always hangs around his dad.
When I got here, I had one thing on my mind -
learning about habituation.
Throughout the process, you start to learn about a lot of things,
you know.
This is how we sometimes find ourselves in circumstances
that you weren't planning or projecting.
You know, we live, we learn, we battle with stuff, you know.
Well, certainly me, battling with myself and watching Mpungwe,
reminding me of certain things.
When you grow up with a grandad who you've never seen crying
or anything like that...
..you know, in moments of sadness, he always was steady, you know.
I just wanted to copy my grandad, you know...
..to be like him.
Very dominating.
But watching Mpungwe being himself made me
realise that I'm not a silverback...
..that I've been putting on a facade of looking like one of those
but, within the family,
I'm definitely not a dominating or a controlling figure...
..which is one thing I have to face, you know.
Just face not being a silverback.
HE CHUCKLES
Today is my last day!
It would be really nice just to say a really good, peaceful goodbye...
..to finish this incredible journey I've had.
My only apprehension about that is that he might not be in a good mood.
To end it on a really brutal note would be really
heart-wrenching for me.
SCREECHING
Might be not a very smooth goodbye.
I think this is the best we're going to get from Mpungwe today.
Watching Mpungwe has taught me quite a lot.
I think the biggest lesson - put family first.
I've reached the point now where I started to feel it really
heavily, you know, going away for a long time.
I would love to spend...
..as much time as possible with my family.
Look! He's looking!
It's as if he knew today is my last day.
HE CHUCKLES
I know you, Mpungwe, now, I know you.
HE GASPS
Did you see that?
HE CHUCKLES
Oh, look at that!
LAMBERT CHUCKLES
I got what I wanted. I can go back now. Honestly, I'm a happy man.
That is a goodbye. It couldn't be better than that!
HE CHUCKLES
- Is there anything you would say to your grandfather now?
- I would just tell him that I looked up to him
and I wanted to make him proud, but we live in a different era now.
I wouldn't be like him.
If I'm who I am, it's because of a lot of support from my wife,
and from my kids, as well.