Gorillas – Living on the Edge – by Andy Rouse

As a professional wildlife photographer he has won eight category awards in the past six years in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition and is the current holder of the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species. As a conservationist he tries to raise awareness of the natural world and raise funds for vital conservation projects.

“For the vast majority of images in the book, I used the Nikon D3, D3s and D3x DSLRs. All images were shot in RAW. Lenses were usually a 70-200 f/2.8 VR with a 1.4x teleconverter and a 24-70mm lens. Compacts were either the Canon G10 or the Nikon P7000.” Andy Rouse

An Intimate Moment

Faces of Gorillas Spread in the book

In many ways the conservation success of mountain gorillas to date is a model for the future conservation of many species. Just like tigers, their continued survival depends on them being worth more alive than dead. It is Andy’s view that the future of the mountain gorilla depends very much on sustainable tourism. That view is also shared by his partner in this book, Will Bolsover, Managing Director of World Primate Safaris Ltd. With his help, Andy has taken many tourists to Rwanda to watch gorillas, so who better than Will to write the conservation and tourism sections of this book. He does not dwell on the past, but instead, is looking forward to a future where sustainable tourism is the key to mountain gorilla conservation.

“Bad Hair Day” series of young gorillas

A male shows Andy who’s boss!

What an outstanding, tender portrait of a family of gorillas – this is jaw-dropping. This one is my personal favourite – Lesley Smitheringale

“I have been charged by a lot of animals in my wild life, but this was completely different. When he got too close for my lens, I knew that it was time to press the ejector seat button. Luckily he came to a crashing halt a few feet short of me…” Andy Rouse

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