Dr Mark Hayes produces calendar for Gorilla Organisation (From York Press)

Dr Mark Hayes produces calendar for Gorilla Organisation

9:35am Thursday 26th November 2009 in Features By Nicola Fifield , Senior reporter

THESE are just some of the incredible shots taken by a North Yorkshire GP when he got up close and personal with wildlife during a recent trip to Africa.

Dr Mark Hayes, a doctor at Tadcaster Medical Centre, has used the photographs to put together a 2010 calendar to raise funds for the Gorilla Organisation.

The 52-year-old, who lives in Appleton Roebuck, took the photos during a two-week holiday in Rwanda and Kenya last month.

He said he had longed to visit Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas ever since the famous occasion in 1979 when Sir David Attenborough astonished viewers of the Life On Earth series by sitting with the animals in their natural habitat.

“I had to trek through very dense jungle to get there and it was an awesome, absolutely unbelievable experience,” he said.

“The gorillas are just incredible, and the power and majesty of them is awe-inspiring.”

Dr Hayes, who has been a GP in Tadcaster for 23 years, said he was so pleased with his photos he decided to get in touch with the Gorilla Organisation and see if he could use them to raise some money for the cause.

The calendar he has published is the official Gorilla Organisation calendar for 2010 and every penny from every sale will go to the charity.

He said: “One of the problems in the national parks is that most of the farmers are pretty poor and they need to cut down the trees for charcoal to cook.

“The Gorilla Organisation is looking at alternative ways of creating the charcoal or cooking so the habitat is not threatened.

“One of the lessons of conservation is that we have to help the animals by helping the local people and making them appreciate that the animals are important to them.

“If the gorillas disappear they will lose the tourists and the money they bring with them.”

The calendars, which also include photos of big cats taken during his trip to Kenya, cost £12 each and are available from his surgery or by logging on to www.gorillas.org