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 IN REVIEWThor Hanson: The Impenetrable Forest Mountain Gorilla Memoir by cathy nist There is a saying about the Peace Corps that goes something like. “It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love.” Peace Corps volunteers are usually assigned tasks like teaching English, or helping village residents dig a well, or building a fish farm or sawmill. Several memoirs of such experiences have been published and make enjoyable reading. Dr.Thor Hanson’s story of his Peace Corps experience, The Impenetrable Forest My Gorilla Years in Uganda is a cut above the rest. A Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, The Impenetrable Forest is a treat for armchair travelers who had a staycation this summer. When Hansen was given his Peace Corps assignment in Uganda, he realized that he had hit the jackpot. In 1993, he was sent to work for two years with Uganda National Parks and the International Gorilla Conservation Program to develop tourism in the newly formed Bwindi Impenatrable Forest National Park. As supervisor of in-forest activities, he helped to habituate wild gorilla families to tolerate visitation by tourists, trained local park guides, and constructed trails. Hanson spent two years hanging out in the jungle, observing and becoming acquainted with the gorillas and the people who lived in the surrounding areas. The entire wild population of mountain gorillas is present in only two preserves in Uganda. The idea behind the ecotourism program at the Biwindi Impenetrable Forest was to protect the remaining gorillas and preserve their habitat from the increasing encroachment of human development. In order for such a program to work, it had to offer an economic incentive to local residents to induce them to relinquish their consumptive use of rainforest land and products. The ecotourism program offers tracking, ranger, and supportive jobs to locals in addition to opportunities for employment in the service and retail industries needed to support the visiting tourists. For the most part, this program has been successful as the mountain gorilla population has increased by about 6% in the past 15 years. Gorillas are, of course, the sexy issue in this book. But just as a Peace Corps job assignment is only a portion of a volunteer’s duties (cultural exchange being of primary importance), The Impenetrable Forest approaches other issues besides gorillas and ecotourism. Much of the book deals with the development of interpersonal relationships between Thor and the Ugandans (human and gorilla) that he lived and worked with on a daily basis. Many Peace Corps and travel memoirs address culture shock as a central issue. Hanson approaches cultural differences in a sympathetic and openminded manner; heavily salted with a strong dose of humor. This and his narrative style combine with the uniqueness of his job assignment to nudge his book from the level of a good read to that of a great one. Hanson’s most recent work has been studying the effects of habitat fragmentation on rainforest trees in Central America, looking at the interface between the natural world and the human world, and trying to determine how to maintain biodiversity in an increasingly fragmented rainforest landscape. This reader can only hope that another book will be forthcoming. When asked during a recent interview what issue we really need to focus on, Thor replied that he would like us “to make the realization that the decisions that we make as individuals … really do matter and do affect what measure of biodiversity… we will leave for those that follow. I always encourage people that their decisions in how they shop and live and drive and heat their homes may appear [insignificant]. …It is the collection of all of those individual actions that will lead to significant change.”
Dr. Thor Hanson will visit the Greater Hipfish Area this month during a Pacific Northwest tour of appearances. Be sure to catch him at one or more of the following venues.
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 Click on image for PDF See pg. 14 for Calendar of Events
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For two years Hanson lived in a remote village on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest where he worked with the local trackers to save one of the world’s most magnificent endangered species, the mountain gorilla. He survived the local moonshine, baboons stealing his vegetables and army ants attacking in his sleep with grace and good humor.