A review by raineachreads
Walking With Gorillas: The Journey of an African Wildlife Vet by Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

You know if Jane Goodall has written an introduction to a book it’s going to be good. Having lived in Uganda and with nature writing being one of my favourite genres I also knew this would be a book I would enjoy. However despite that it completely went beyond expectations and turned out to be an inspiring, fantastic and educational read. Without a doubt my favourite book of 2023 so far. 

Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka not only defied the odds to become a vet in the first place but went onto become Uganda’s first wildlife veterinarian. She became especially interested in mountain gorillas and spent time monitoring, treating and researching them near the Congolese border. What became apparent was how interconnected both animals and people are and how a community of humans can impact the lives of gorillas and vice versa. Realising how diseases could pass from humans to gorillas and also how social issues could lead to poaching Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka set up multiple initiatives and eventually an NGO that looked at addressing issues in both animal and human lives so that outcomes improved for both.

Written in a conversational style, though with plenty of evidence, references and details, this is a very easy to read book. I sat down to start reading it this morning and finished it in the same day as I wanted to know what happened next and was completely enthralled.

Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka own life is fascinating. She is a remarkable person who has faced multiple challenges but not given up. The difficulties instead made her more determined. Reading about her was inspiring and makes you want to go out and make positive changes in your own community. What really stood out for me however was her use of research methods to understand issues and then using solutions that involved the participation of communities. She explains how this makes sustainable changes and also allows communities to take the lead and ownership too. Using examples of medication, health, technology to animal welfare time and time again she shows just how successful this is as a process. While not shying away from the hardships and challenges involved this book provides a really good example of research, development work and conservation done correctly.

A brilliant book, I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time to come!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.