The Bristol filmmaker fighting to protect the last silverback gorillas 

A new film by a Bristol-based cameraman documents efforts to protect the eastern lowland gorilla in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Award-winning wildlife cameraman Vianet Djenguet spent three months in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park on the invitation of a team of conservationists who were working to protect one of the most critically endangered species and the largest primate on earth.

After three consecutive wars in the DRC, silverback gorillas were one of the first victims, and conservationists at Kahuzi-Biega National Park struggled to maintain the UNESCO-designated site after levels of tourism dwindled.

Now, a programme of habituation is being undertaken to adjust the primates to the presence of humans in the hope that more tourists will come to the park, bringing in more money to protect the gorillas.

Rangers spend anywhere between two and ten years interacting with the gorillas, starting at 500m away before eventually getting nearly 20m close to them.

It’s not an easy process, requiring huge amounts of patience and a lack of fear when the gorillas charge at rangers in a fierce sign of territoriality over their tribe.

 

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It’s a paradoxical situation, and one Vianet struggled with massively when he was first filming the process.

“Halfway through filming I thought ‘this is horrible’. I can’t make a film about this,” he said. “The silverbacks would charge at you. From a welfare perspective I struggled with this.

“The process is controversial because people always think ‘leave the animals alone’ but the sad reality is that if they leave those gorillas alone they will be killed by poachers.

“As they say in England: ‘you have to be cruel to be kind’. As soon as I understood this dynamic, I realised I could help.”

Vianet grew up in the neighbouring republic of Congo, before leaving for Paris when he was a teenager. He studied film and moving image at Leeds Metropolitan University before taking a job as a cameraman on Casualty.

He then found his way to Bristol in the BBC’s Natural History unit, where he has worked for eight years, filming and researching multiple films and series for the Bristol unit.

“Wildlife is my passion but I’m a very people person, and I want to give them a voice.

“The rangers are my heroes,” he said. “I went there without parachuting, and was behind them, and have learned from them. My access was from one of the ex-guides who has now become a conservator of the park.”

Vianet has started a Gofundme to raise money for an ecolodge, sleeping bags, equipment and a stove for rangers so they can have somewhere warm and comfortable to put their head down after a long day.

“Bristol has given me the best opportunities I ever thought I would get,” he reflects.

Silverback aired on BBC Two on January 19 and is currently available on BBC iPlayer.

Main photo: Mia Vines Booth

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