The Impenetrable Forest: The murder of a silverback gorilla
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2020
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In June, the charismatic leader of the Nkuringo gorilla group was killed by a poacher. The incident shocked the conservation community and caused an international outcry. How has the death of Rafiki affected the human and gorilla communities in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest? And is the pandemic responsible for a rise in poaching?
This episode is in support of Tusk, one of three charities backed by The Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Guests:
Jane Flanagan, Africa correspondent for The Times.
Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, wildlife vet and founder and CEO of Conservation for Public Health.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips used: Tusk.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | A-Cast recommends. |
| 0:02.0 | History people knew each other and they're all either dead or missing. |
| 0:06.0 | There's something big about what's going on. |
| 0:08.0 | There's something crazy about this case. |
| 0:12.0 | Just somebody tell me where they are and we will go get them. |
| 0:15.5 | I will go dig, I will go dig and I will find them. |
| 0:18.5 | I gotta find her to hold her one last time, |
| 0:21.8 | even if it is just her bones. This is the story of the |
| 0:25.6 | Bakersfield Three, a case file presents podcast available now wherever you get |
| 0:31.0 | your podcasts. A-C-C-S is the home of podcasting, including such shows as, |
| 0:38.0 | the logbooks, the high-performance podcast, |
| 0:40.0 | and the one you're listening to right now. It is probably the greenest place I've ever been to in my entire life. |
| 1:05.0 | The only other color was the occasional red flame tree which really pops out at you |
| 1:12.0 | because it is just a madness of green. I've never seen anything like that. |
| 1:17.0 | Jane Flanagan, the Times Africa correspondent, was deep in the Bewindy |
| 1:27.9 | impenetrable forest, a forest whose name pretty much tells you all you need to know about the last place on earth |
| 1:36.2 | where you can still find mountain guerrillas. Undaunted, ventured into the dark impenetrable forest in search of one particular group of them. |
| 1:59.0 | We set off down the valley with our ranger and someone to help us carry our things. We were looking for a particular group of guerrillas called the nukeringo family and we passed |
| 2:07.0 | through the tea plantations and all around there are terraces of vegetables and crops. |
| 2:19.8 | As we approach the park, you can almost feel the temperature changing. |
| 2:25.8 | You're going into a very different environment. |
| 2:29.0 | The thick tree canopies, there are hundreds of types of trees in that forest. It's known locally as |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

