Expired 058 L3X Closing Luncheon: A Forest in the Clouds: My Year Among the Mountain Gorillas in the Remote Enclave of Dian Fossey

John Fowler holds a BS in Zoology from the University of Georgia and an MS in Technology and Science Policy from Georgia Tech. In the early 1980’s he spent a year at the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, the remote mountain gorilla camp of Dr. Dian Fossey. His memoir, A Forest in the Clouds, takes us into the world of Karisoke Research Center, a few years prior to Dr. Fossey’s murder. In the wake of the murder, Zoo Atlanta invited him to Africa to assist a television crew, WSB-Atlanta, filming a documentary about Fossey in Africa. In 2007, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International asked him to participate in their fortieth anniversary celebration by escorting a group of travelers to Rwanda to visit the mountain gorillas and the site of the original Karisoke Research Center. Fowler appeared in the pages of Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist as well as Farley Mowat’s Woman in the Mists. After twenty-one years working in zoological parks, he is now a research professional in Tallahassee, Florida.In this presentation with photos, Mr. Fowler will talk about the gorillas then and now, Rwanda, and the movie GORILLAS IN THE MIST, which starred Sigourney Weaver. Books will be available for purchase and signing.