Who she was
Dian Fossey first travelled to Africa in 1963 and founded the Karisoke Research Center in the saddle between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke in September 1967. For the next two decades she lived with and studied the mountain gorilla groups in these mountains. Her work changed how the animals were understood — from dangerous beasts to something recognisably close to us. The photographs of gorillas reaching out to touch her hand were the first record of peaceful contact between the two species.
Her research came second to protecting the animals from poaching, which put her in permanent conflict with poachers and with parts of the local establishment. She published Gorillas in the Mist in 1983; the film followed in 1988. She was murdered in her cabin at Karisoke in December 1985, and the case has never been resolved.
The hike
Three to four hours return, moderate rather than hard, through Hagenia forest and open ground. Very little of the original camp survives — it was destroyed during the war years — so what you are walking to is a site and a graveyard rather than a museum. Fossey is buried beside Digit, her favourite gorilla, in the gorilla cemetery she dug herself. The research centre itself now operates from Musanze rather than the mountain.
Where it fits
This works best on the day after a gorilla trek, when you already know the terrain and the story has context. Pair it with the conservation background if you want to understand what her work turned into.