The Guardian of the Gorillas

About the Book

This book recounts the life of Adrien Deschryver, Belgian born, who grew up in the Belgian Congo and was one of the few colonials to stay on when post-independence violence erupted throughout the country. Deschryver was at times a planter, elephant hunter, bush pilot, and one-time government military officer who gradually moved into conservation and established the first site on the continent where tourists could visit and view wild gorillas in their habitat. He was close to various prominent African conservationists of that era: Bernhard Grzimek, Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton, Dian Fossey, James Chapin, and Jacques Verschuren. Deschryver asked Robert Whitehead to act as his penman for this book while Whitehead taught in the city of Bukavu on Lake Kivu in the Albertine Rift, the branch of the Great Rift Valley of Africa. Impromptu sessions took place in the author’s living room, or Deschryver’s, during which he recalled stories, told vignettes, and expounded on whatever topic came to mind. While he was sometimes more interested in recounting conquests (romantic and otherwise), military feats, and topics beyond gorillas, the account of a remarkable life slowly emerged.

About the Author

Robert E. Whitehead retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2020 after more than thirty years of service to South and Central America, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. He served as U.S. ambassador or chief of mission in Sudan, Togo, and Gabon. He headed other embassies for shorter stints, such as serving as the charge d’affaires in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, and opened the first U.S. diplomatic office in Juba, South Sudan in 2006. He subsequently oversaw the U.S. role in the peaceful 2011 separation of South Sudan from the North. He lives with his wife, Agathe, in Fort Pierce, Florida.