Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Ellen DeGeneres Campus is situated in Kinigi, close to Volcanoes National Park’s administrative centre. The cutting-edge permanent building, complete with interactive displays, indoor and outdoor classrooms, and scientific living laboratories and libraries, was officially opened to the public in February 2022. All of that is an example of the scientific research advancements required to protect Africa’s mountain gorilla population. The old-fashioned Karisoke Research Centre, founded by Dian Fossey on September 24, 1967, has been powerfully impacted by this.
This multi-building project establishes the area as a focal point for African ecological preservation and education. Situated near the Volcanoes National Park, which separates Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the campus comprises three primary structures: the Rob and Melani Walton Education Centre, the Cindy Broder Conservation Gallery, and the Sandy and Harold Price Research Centre. Additionally, housing for visiting scholars and students is provided.
The largest and most established gorilla conservation organisation in the world was founded by the renowned Dian Fossey and is called the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Its work integrates people-centered programmes to train the next generation of African conservationists and to address the basic needs of the people who share the gorillas’ forest home through livelihood, education, and food and water security, with daily protection and study of individual gorillas. Mountain gorillas, whose numbers have increased from a low of 250 in the 1980s to over 600 now, are a rare example of a conservation success story. Dian Fossey had thought that the species would become extinct by the year 2000.
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is one of the primary organisations that teaches aspiring African scientists about conservation. The great bulk of research on African flora and biology is authored by Western scientists. The Fossey Fund’s annual welcome to hundreds of Rwandan university students and thousands of primary and secondary school kids derives from the desire to inspire the next wave of African scientists engaged in critical conservation work. The Sandy and Harold Price Research Centre provides five times the laboratory space needed for the scientific research and education conducted by the Fossey Fund. The Rob and Melani Walton Education Centre offers a variety of vital educational areas, including classrooms, a computer lab, and a library. Furthermore, the establishment
At Karisoke, the gorilla research centre she founded in 1967, Dian Fossey was discovered murdered in her cabin. There are several explanations regarding the reason behind her death, but the most popular one is that she was killed in retaliation for her vocal opposition to the illegal gorilla poaching. But she would not be silenced, not even in death. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, established over 40 years ago, carries on her life’s work by providing funds for the preservation, research, and study of gorillas and their habitats in Africa.
The 12-acre Ellen DeGeneres complex of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a brand-new multi-building complex made possible by the talk-show host and comedian’s charitable Ellen Fund, has made the organization’s efforts more successful than ever. The school, which is close to Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, the site of Fossey’s research, opened its doors in February 2022. The initiative, which is a partnership between the Fossey Fund and MASS Design Group, expands Fossey’s legacy for a new generation of environmental activists worldwide by fusing conservation with modern sustainability.
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund has been working for more than 55 years to empower the Rwandan people who reside close to the gorillas’ endangered forest homes, in addition to protecting and studying gorillas and their ecosystems. Visitors are now welcome to explore the campus’s cutting-edge public display and nature trails, as well as engage with the Fossey Fund staff members who have devoted their professional lives to gorilla conservation.
