Forest at night – Gorilla Kingdom, London Zoo, Zoological Society of London
To the Zoological Society of London the Gorilla Kingdom offers the best environment for large primates in captivity and the enclosure is home to a colony of western lowland gorillas. Viewing areas, trails and exhibits allow visitors to engage in the story of these endangered animals and learn more about the forests they inhabit. Complexities of conservation are explored in a documentary on the work of ZSL at one of its projects, Mikongo Conservation Centre in Gabon. Mikongo is a model for low-impact ecotourism where revenue goes to both the park management and local community. A gorilla habituation programme was started in 2001 to try and develop tourism on a similar model to successful mountain gorilla based ecotourism in Rwanda. A scale model of the field station at Mikongo forms part of the Gorilla Kingdom trail. In addition to the film Bella provided photography for all areas of the exhibit including the capture of the field station in minutiae.
