EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH DR JANE GOODALL, DBE Signature Luxury Travel & Style Travel Luxury Signature DR SYLVIA EARLE The Conservation signatureluxurytravel.com.au $11.95 (Aust & Issue NZ) GST inclusive 38 2 TIGER SAFARI THROUGH INDIA • PROTECTINGPROTECTING OUR OCEANS SSN 1837-600 I 771837 600008 9 SUSTAINABLE FASHION • RWANDA'SRWANDA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS 01 SANCTUARY IN THE CLOUDS Trekking deep into Volcanoes National Park in search of rare mountain gorillas, Kimberly Rosbe investigates Singita Kwitonda’s habitat restoration initiative to save Rwanda’s endangered primates. 02 03 DESTINATION / RWANDA enturing from the exclusive haven of Singita Kwitonda Lodge, gaiters guard my every Vstep from stinging nettles as I navigate primordial forest in the high- altitude mountain gorilla sanctuary of Volcanoes National Park. By sheer luck, I secured the last gorilla trek permitted before Rwanda closed its borders. Since disease could decimate the scarce species, rangers temporarily suspended all hikes the next day to safeguard the primates against human transmission of COVID-19. An agile tracker catches my falling backpack while I clamber up mud-slick Sabyinyo, the towering volcano where Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda converge. Ascending through a white wall of opaque mist, my mind wanders as I vanish into the cloud forest. Twenty-seven years ago, Rwanda plunged into chaos, enduring a 100-day genocide that claimed nearly one million lives. Guerrilla forces commanded by militia leader Paul Kagame ended the slaughter, ushering the country into an era of sustained peace. With visionary President Kagame at the helm, ethnic reconciliation and prosperous rebirth have overshadowed Rwanda’s dark past. Today, it’s one of the 04 safest countries in Africa, emerging as a model of economic and social recovery. 01 Sunset over Singita Kwitonda Lodge 02 Soaking up the views from the lodge 03 Rwanda’s mighty mountain gorillas 04 Cooling off at Singita’s pool 05 A team of gorilla trackers 06 A baby mountain gorilla. Birth of Kwitonda Images 05, 06 © Kate Webster Flying over ‘The Land of a Thousand Hills’ in President Kagame’s helicopter, Singita’s founder Luke Bailes zeroed in hand-fired terracotta brickwork and the Geographic detailing habitation of mountain on the site for his latest property. “It lavish four-bedroom Kataza House dot gorilla groups in Rwanda. Clippings was a five-year journey,” he says. One volcanic rock pathways along 72 hectares from Fossey’s handwritten notes adorn that began with Kagame asking Bailes to of the park’s perimeter. Free-flowing Singita Kwitonda’s Conservation Library build a high-end lodge on the edge of steel and glass designs capture the jaw- wall. By the 1980s, rampant poaching Volcanoes National Park, a region in the dropping peaks of Sabyinyo, Gahinga and dwindled numbers to 250 until Fossey’s Virunga massif sheltering rare mountain Muhabura volcanoes hovering in the mist. 1983 memoir Gorillas in the Mist brought gorillas endangered by deforestation. Surrounding Singita’s property, jungle- widespread awareness. The 1988 movie Given Singita’s renowned advocacy of covered terrain blankets a chain of eight adaptation starring Sigourney Weaver conserving Africa’s wild spaces for future ancient volcanoes home to more than 50 garnered further international attention to generations, Kagame and Bailes united to per cent of the world’s remaining mountain the gorilla’s plight after Fossey was brutally elevate Rwanda’s success story through gorillas. The animals find refuge hidden murdered, likely by poachers, in her responsible eco-tourism and wildlife among ferns, bamboo and lobelias, which research cabin in the Virunga Mountains. preservation. “From the beginning we felt for centuries cloaked poachers hunting the Singita conservationist and wildlife a spirit of partnership,” Bailes tells me. gentle giants to the brink of extinction. specialist Charles Nsabimana has also Opened in 2019, Singita Kwitonda Lodge dedicated his life to the survival of these is affectionately named after a legendary Gorilla guardians majestic animals, having grown up near local silverback known for his benevolent In the late 1960s, American primatologist the present location of Singita Kwitonda nature. Eight sustainably-built villas with Dian Fossey published diaries in National Lodge. “At six years old, I would climb 84 05 SCAN THIS CODE to read an interview with Luke Bailes about protecting mountain gorillas in Rwanda, or go to our website and search ‘Luke Bailes’. trees and wish I was a gorilla,” he tells has decreased in recent years allowing me. Fossey’s work inspired him to pursue populations to increase, a new threat has a career as a gorilla champion. In 2008, emerged. “Ensuring gorilla protection Nsabimana filmed a BBC documentary with requires habitat expansion,” Nsabimana Weaver about snares, revisiting locations explains. When the 20 groups of gorillas on from Gorillas in the Mist. After 35 years of the Rwanda side get too close to others, selfless commitment to patrolling, scientific they inevitably fight to kill. The only way to research and gorilla monitoring in Rwanda reduce conflict is to augment territory. and Uganda, silverback ‘Charles’ was Addressing this challenge, Singita named after him – the ultimate honour. established its on-site Akarabo Nursery. As part of a vast reforestation initiative A new threat to restore more than 2,800 hectares of Today, mountain gorillas in Rwanda, land to a protected park area, Singita has Uganda and the DRC total 1,063, heralding joined forces with Rwanda’s government a promising comeback. Although poaching to plant 250,000 indigenous saplings, broadening the gorillas’ natural ecosystem and supporting their future. Face to face A silverback’s unmistakable warning grunt 06 “Singita is a conservation shakes me back to the present. After brand and together with our four hours following my tracker, hacking partner funds and trusts on a machete path through impenetrable the ground, we have played a role in a huge turnaround of vegetation, we find ourselves a mere wildlife numbers in Africa,” few feet from Agashya, a 90-kilogram says founder Luke Bailes. silverback blocking his 25-member family. In addition, our model – an interdependent relationship I freeze. Behind the patriarch, youngsters between biodiversity, playfully tumble while a female calmly Conservation communities and sustainability cradles her month-old baby in a shaft of – has resulted in a significant improvement in the fortunes sunlight. Agashya’s penetrating gaze never of the communities around leaves me. Locking eyes with this human- our lodges. We now have the like creature, Singita’s vision to preserve privilege of playing a part in the conservation of mountain Rwanda’s captivating primates comes gorillas in Rwanda. We hope clearly into focus. that Singita’s presence in Rwanda will attract a new and influential market, thereby Travel file enhancing its vision for tourism Accommodation and conservation.” singita.com signatureluxurytravel.com.au 85.