Journo adventurer Richard Bangs and actrevist Daryl Hannah recently took a trip to Rwanda to visit the lair of the mountain gorillas. Living in a volcano range in the center of a water-deprived, overpopulated region – Rwanda has the biggest population problem in all of Africa – the small community of gorillas is in a fragile, threatened ecosystem that could easily push them to extinction. Their lives are so threatened, they were approached by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and they said their one wish was to meet Ms. Hannah (known as “Pretty Mermaid Who Dated John John” in gorilla tongue.)

Also in attendance was Greg Cummings, executive director of the Gorilla Organization, who works to engage the impoverished locals in gorilla conservation for the prosperity it could bring to their communities. In other words, the gorillas are the superstars of the region, bringing in $26 million in 2005, and so the locals would sort of be the gorillas’ agents.

His theory is that if the lives of the 2.5 million people who live in the shadow of the Virungas are improved because of the presence of great apes, they will learn to say to the more short-sighted, “Hell, no! You're not coming into the gorilla habitat. The gorillas are our bread and butter here.”

Sure, it sounds like a great idea. But unfortunately, now that the gorillas have met a real Hollywood movie star, it’s only time before their agents will be demanding a mobile gym, personal trainer, pilates instructor, staff of full-time masseuses and the same sugar cane/bananas/pet kitten package that “that bitch Koko gets.”

Expedition: Rwanda (Yahoo)