On her first day of trekking, after only a 10-minute walk, Dian was rewarded with the sight of a lone male gorilla sunning himself. Soon, however, tracking the mountain gorillas would become her single focus, to the exclusion even of simple camp chores. It was only when he left, and after two days at Kabara, that Dian realized just how alone she was. Root also helped her set up camp and gave her a brief introduction to gorilla tracking. He helped her recruit two African men who would stay and work with her at camp, as well as porters to carry her belongings and gear to the Kabara meadow. Once Dian arrived back in Africa in 1966, Alan Root accompanied her from Kenya to the Congo and was instrumental in helping her obtain the permits she needed to work in the Virungas. She focused on a “Teach Yourself Swahili” grammar book and George Schaller’s books about his own field studies with the mountain gorillas. Dian used that time to finish paying off her initial trip to Africa and to study. It was eight months before Leakey was able to secure the funding for the study. Perhaps it was a sign of her strong will that she proceeded to do exactly that, only to later hear from Leakey that his suggestion was mainly his way of gauging her determination! Leakey informed Dian that if she were to follow through, she would first have to have her appendix removed. This got his attention and during the conversation that followed, Leakey spoke to Dian about heading a long-term field project to study the gorillas in Africa. When her turn came, she showed him some of her published articles. Dian joined the crowd and waited in line to speak with Leakey. These would serve her well in the spring of 1966, when a lecture tour brought Dr. Once back in Kentucky, Dian continued her work at Kosair Children’s Hospital and also found time to publish a number of articles and photographs from her Africa trip. She hired a driver by mail and prepared to set off to the land of her dreams. In 1963, Dian took out a bank loan and began planning her first trip to Africa. While in Kentucky she lived on a farm where the owners encouraged her to help work with the animals.ĭian often dreamed of experiencing more of the world and its abundant wildlife, and after seeing photos and hearing stories from a friend who had just traveled to Africa, Dian decided that she must travel there herself. She then moved to Louisville, Ky., serving as director of the occupational therapy department at Kosair Crippled Children Hospital. However, she found some of the courses quite challenging, and ultimately turned her focus to obtaining a degree in occupational therapy at San Jose State College, graduating in 1954.įollowing graduation, Dian interned at various hospitals in California, working with tuberculosis patients. At the ranch, she fell in love with and developed an attachment to the animals, and then returned to school as a pre-veterinary student at the University of California. On the summer break following her freshman year of college, she went to work on a ranch in Montana. However, when Dian enrolled in college courses at Marin Junior College, she chose to focus on business, following the encouragement of her stepfather. At age 6, she began horseback riding lessons and in high school earned a letter on the riding team. She was extremely interested in animals from a very young age. Dian Fossey was born in San Francisco, Calif., in 1932.
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