Max-Walter Baumgärtel Is Dead
With Walter Baumgärtel died a pioneer whose concern was the survival
of the mountain gorillas. When he saw them for the first time and recognized
the threat to their survival, he developed a concept for their conservation.
He realized that it was only possible to protect the gorillas effectively
by conserving their habitat. His idea was simply to promote tourism, which
would generate foreign exchange and which would then motivate the government
to protect the mountain gorillas and their habitat. He was not alone with
this idea; for example, at about the same time, Bernhard Grzimek was also
trying to achieve the same goal with the establishment and the extension
of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
The center of Baumgärtel's endeavours was a hotel called Travellers
Rest. Visitors included not only tourists, but also scientists who studied
the gorillas and who worked towards their conservation. The Travellers
Rest developed into a base that was used by George Schaller, Bernhard
Grzimek, Raymond Dart and Dian Fossey, among many others. The significance
of the place becomes clear in Dian Fossey's words:
His Travellers Rest Hotel had been an oasis to many scientists preceding
me ... I had met Walter on my first safari in 1963, and during the six-and-a-half-month
study in 1967 had grown to think of him as one of the kindest and most
endearing friends I had made in Africa.
Walter Baumgärtel was born in Delitzsch, December 22, 1902. After
school he started an apprenticeship as a bookbinder. His job as a bookseller
did not satisfy him, and so he took drama lessons. He had engagements
with reputable theaters in Germany. While studying the classics, his longing
grew to see the remote countries he had read about. His first big journey
led him through various Mediterranean countries and East Africa to Sri
Lanka and Malaysia. In 1927, he started a journey to Cape Town, where
he stayed until 1955. He earned his living in South Africa by running
a shop that sold photographs and musical instruments, and he also worked
as a free-lance photographer. In the Second World War he was a photographer
in reconnaissance planes for the British. After the war he stayed in Florence
for some time.
During a visit to London he learnt about a post in a hotel at the foot
of the Kilimanjaro in Arusha, Tanzania. Happily he seized the opportunity
to return to Africa at the beginning of the 1950s. However, discontentment
urged him to look for an opportunity to start his own business in 1955.
He got his chance in Uganda by taking over a hotel called Travellers Rest
in Kisoro at the foot of the Virunga Volcanoes. This was the beginning
of the most satisfying and probably happiest time of his life. During
that time he wrote his first book König in Gorillaland (King
in Gorilla Land) which was published in 1960.
Political insecurity towards the end of the 1960s forced him to sell his
beloved Travellers Rest in 1969 with a heavy heart, leaving the gorillas
to their uncertain fate. He had meant to provide for his old age with
the sale, but because others speculated unsuccessfully, this fell through.
On February 28, 1969, Walter Baumgärtel left Africa for good and
returned to Germany. His eyesight, which had already started to deteriorate
in Uganda, faded completely. In spite of this, he was able to report about
his experiences in the book Unter Gorillas (Among Gorillas). It
was published in 1977 and became a bestseller which was translated into
several languages – including, for example, Japanese. He also published
two radio plays for children.
Blind and poor, Walter Baumgärtel lived for almost 30 more years
in homes for the aged, first in Oberaudorf and later in Brannenburg (Germany).
Despite his blindness he derived strength from his interest in current
world affairs as well as from the recollections of his rich and satisfied
life.
On November 8, 1997, the gorillas lost one of their first protectors.
Paul-Hermann Bürgel and Manfred Hartwig
Paul-Hermann Bürgel is one of the founders of Berggorilla
Patenschaft and co-author of the book Bei den Berggorillas.
He had contact to Walter Baumgärtel for several years.
Manfred Hartwig is one of the founders of Berggorilla Patenschaft
and co-author of Bei den Berggorillas. He met Walter Baumgärtel
a few years before his death.
Photo: Paul-Hermann Bürgel
Walter Baumgärtel in 1988