Gorillas: From The Heart of Darkness takes a look at how the Rwandan war in the mid 90’s affected the Mountain Gorilla and their surrounding environment.
Before the war, Rwanda had an amazing variety of wildlife and lush forests to go with it.
Romain Baertsoen arrived there in 1966 and started to film two of Rwanda’s secrets, the Bahima tribe and the rare mountain gorillas.
Once the the Rwandan Civil War started however, their peaceful existence was shattered in 1994. Warring factions plundered the forests and created a scorched earth – burning villages and forests alike.
Remarkably, the gorillas survived. To fully tell the Mountain Gorillas’ stories, Baertsoen goes back to visit them once again.
Here, in the Viruga Mountains, we’ll witness young gorillas playing, resting, and feeding – along with some of the aggressive 400-pound adult Silverbacks.
In one extraordinary incident, we actually see gorillas trying to help a dog that is caught in a trap by using sign language.
Baertsoen also filmed spectacular footage of one of the Congo’s erupting volcanoes and we see how the cooled lava provides a fertile land for flora and fauna.