How A Savage Fleshripper Became A Gentle LeafcruncherThey were the brave, the intrepid explorers who dared set foot where ordinary mortals dared not. Armed with the explosive and decisive might of gunpowder and wisdom gleaned from many an adventure story they set out to map the world and unfold her mysteries one by one! Such fearless souls returned with tales of massive man eating monsters dark as night and far more fearful than the horrors entombed in the fires of Hades. High society hung onto their every word and ladies swooned as the returned heroes regaled them with tales of near death and the unimaginable! One such explorer was Captain Robert von Beringe. Born on September 21, 1865 in Aschersleben, the future army captain had no way of knowing that his decision to follow in his father's footsteps by joining the army would forever intertwine his name with that of the Mountain Gorilla. The discovery of the mountain gorilla by Captain von Beringe was more coincidence than fate. As head of the Usumbura Military Post in 1902 (now known as Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi) Captain von Beringe had been assigned the task of quelling an insurrection led by local rebel chief, Muezi Kisabo, and force him into recognizing German rule. At the time German occupation of Africa extended across what was known as German East Africa which comprised modern day Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. On route to quashing the outlaw chief Kisabo as well as consolidate relations with other tribal chiefs in the neighbouring regions von Beringe stumbled across the mountain gorilla. Although lowland gorillas had previously been sighted by europeans, the discovery of the mountain gorilla is far better documented due to Dian Fossey's conservation efforts (note the term discovery is being very loosely utilized here because undoubtedly the local people had since discovered the gorilla).
|