Softly, Softly Catchy Monkey (gorillas.org (formerly dianfossey.org))

Member Name: jaggynettles

Product:	gorillas.org (formerly dianfossey.org)
Date:	19/02/06 (809 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fantastic, fun educational tool

Disadvantages: navigation is a bit of a minefield, lots of pop-up windows

The reason I decided to review this charity site is because I feel that it's important for children to be made aware of conservation issues from an early age. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (DFGF) website is a great place to start and I hope that by reading this review, you'll be encouraged to get your kids (if applicable, obviously) to check the site out.


INTRODUCTION TO THE CHARITY

Founded by Dr Dian Fossey some 30 years ago, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (DFGF) is dedicated to the conservation of African gorillas and their natural habitats - primarily through anti-poaching, monitoring, education and support for local communities.

Despite the fact that Fossey was murdered 20 years ago, the charity continues to successfully uphold her beliefs to this day.


ABOUT DIAN

While Fossey studied as a veterinary student in Louisville, she developed an interest in mountain gorillas and longed to see them in the wild. Her first visit to Africa came 1963 when she went on a seven-week safari, but it wasn't until 1966 that she found herself with enough funds to take-up a full-time residency in Zaire, dedicating her time to working alongside and earning the trust of the native gorillas.

In the early 1970s she finally settled in Rwanda where the majority of her life's work took place.

Accepted as an observer by a group of Rwandan mountain gorillas, Fossey revealed to the World the peaceful nature of these great apes and their nurturing family qualities. When one of the gorillas (who she named 'Digit') was killed, she started a very public campaign against poachers. On the back of this, she published "Gorillas in the Mist"; a user-friendly version of her studies, and spent the rest of her life promoting the conservation of the gorillas.

On Boxing Day 1985, Fossey was murdered in her cabin at the Karisoke Research Centre in the Virunga Mountains, Rwanda. To this day, her assailant(s) have never been caught.

The epitaph on her gravestone reads - "No one loved gorillas more."



THE WEB SITE

The homepage is cleanly laid out but it doesn't do justice to the depth of content within. You could spend hours on this site and still not find the video of Adam Ant singing an updated version of "Stand and Deliver"… appropriately titled "Save the Gorilla"!

The navigation relies heavily on pop-up windows so if you have a pop-up blocker on your browser, temporarily switch it off.

Another bug bear of mine is that once you are within a key section, you have to navigate back to the home page in order to view other sections of the site.

The site is divided into seven key areas:
• About the DFGF
• News
• Pictures
• Events
• Projects
• How you can help


• ABOUT THE DFGF

Rather than the usual one pager you find on most web sites, this section of DFGF's site is incredibly comprehensive. It's laid out in a way that will makes it easy for adults to gain a better insight into gorilla conservation, whilst at the same time making the educational aspect a fun way for children to learn more too. About DFGF is divided into 5 sub-sections:

* Saving Gorillas* - Focuses on the work of the fund, scientific research, conservation as well as community and public awareness

* The Virunga Volcanoes * - Photographs and details about this beautiful area of Rwanda

* Mountain Gorillas * All about these wonderful apes, their history and some great photographs

* Demographics * - The geography and demographics of the regions of Uganda, Rwanda and The Congo

* Dian Fossey * - A brief biography of Dr Dian Fossey, information on her book, Gorillas in the Mist, and photographs from her personal album


• NEWS

Updated sporadically, this page lists new releases covering key areas of the DFGF's work - from current operations in Africa, to work by up-and-coming raising money through art, and the promotion of International Gorilla Week, which takes place annually each September.

For a very active charity, you're left with the impression that not a lot is going on. The last release is dated July 2005, but having been through the rest of the site, it's pretty clear there is a lot more to report on, and the charity are not making full use of this section.


• PICTURES

The site has a great gallery of images and videos but the navigation is poorly laid out and nothing is in chronological order. If you have the time to plough through these pages you will find some hidden gems e.g. recent footage includes a beautiful silverback gorilla having her lunch.

The gallery also hosts a section for QuickTime movie clips made by patrons of the charity, including Douglas Adams, Michael Kamen, Arthur C Clarke and Leonardo DiCaprio.


• EVENTS

This is my favourite section of the site as it give details of fund-raising events that the public can partake in, including fun runs, lectures, walks and sky-diving.

The Great Gorilla Run takes place in London every September. Last year’s took place on September 25th and it was their most successful one to date. 750 participants (all dressed in Gorilla suits) ran 7Km around The City to raise a grand total of £500,000 for the charity. My husband and I were two of the 750 and raised £500 for the charity. It's the only Sunday in the year were I can get him out of bed at 7am (oh joy!) but I highly recommend it - a great morning out for all the family.

If you like your sport a bit closer to the edge, the charity also offers Parachute jumps - in tandem, solo and free-fall. You have to raise at least £280 to £525 in sponsorship, depending on the type of jump you want to do, and the DFGF will receive and minimum of £140 from your sponsorship total. I'm too much of a "girl's blouse" to ever try this but if "danger" is your middle name then full details of how to sign up are on the site.


• PROJECTS

This is where the charity explain exactly were all the money goes. Each project is run by a local organisation and backed-up by the Fund's staff in Rwanda, Congo and Uganda. The main areas of activity are: Conservation and Research, Education Projects and Socio-economic Development Projects. These are all covered in great detail on the site so I won't repeat it here.


• HOW YOU CAN HELP

Well, if you aren't into energetic fund-raising appeals, there are several other ways you can support the charity from your sofa.

DFGF provide a safe and secure form for you to donate straight to the charity via your credit card. They use a company called "aitsafe.com". I have used this system before and the transaction was seamless. It works in a similar way to PayPal.

This section also hosts an online shop which offers your usual charity merchandise: T-shirts, wrist bands, books, DVDs, badges, hats, and novelty ties. Having visited the DFGF's international site, I have to say I was surprised at the limited range of goods on offer on the UK site. The International site offers hand made goods whose sale directly benefits the Kigali Women's Sewing Project and Ecosystem Health Program in Rwanda, however, there was nothing like this on the UK site. I found this peculiar considering part of the charity's work is to support and promote the local communities in which their projects are based.

If you have any birthdays coming up and T-shirts don't float your boat, the site offers some novel ideas for presents. For as little as £25, you can adopt a gorilla for a year. For this sum, you receive a DFGF T-shirt, a picture of your gorilla, an annual subscription to the charity's newsletter and an official adoption certificate.

Charity membership is also offered, with 4 types to choose from depending on your wallet size - Junior, Individual, Family and Silverback. Targeted at the under 14s, the Junior membership is a great way to encourage kids to learn more about conservation. For just £10, they receive regular news and stories about the mountain gorillas, a membership card, badge, poster, intro booklet and a cool gorilla handprint.

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SUMMARY

Like many charity sites, www.dianfossey.org could do with a spring clean to make navigation much easier. There is some well-written content within the site - it's just finding it that's the problem.

The charity does some marvellous work promoting continued research on gorillas' threatened ecosystems and in education about their relevance to the world in which we live today.

The last entry in Fossey's diary read - "When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future". I couldn't agree more.

Summary: The website is a great way to teach kids about the importance of conservation