Gorilla Protection

This is my mother, Marie Louise Shauliyabo Kitambala. She was born in 1945 in Kasika, with is in the South Kivu province in the east of Congo near where I live now.

She has 11 children - 6 boys and 5 girls, all still alive (many people lose their children here to illness and disease). I am the oldest.

She has 47 grandchildren, and now lives in Bukavu, a large town just south of Goma.

She taught herself how to read and write so that she could better communicate with her children and her younger brother. All her children, including myself, were educated up to and including university level.

Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, wildlifedirect

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I wanted to share a few thoughts on the effects of the recent Mountain Gorilla deaths on the remaining Gorillas in Virunga National Park in Congo.

Both Silverbacks killed in January were solitary males. This provokes less social trauma on the remaining Gorillas in the area, but it has a negative effect on the growth of the population as a whole. New Gorilla groups must form, and this nearly always happens when a solitary Silverback displaces the alpha male from a group (often when he gets old). Sometimes, as we saw with Mapuwa and Pilipili recently, two new groups are formed and so the population grows. This is natural and it’s a good thing. The populations at Bikenge, where the two Silverbacks were killed, will suffer from a lack of strong solitary males.

The overall state of a group is very much determined by the dominant Silverback. He affects the temperament of the group. If he’s agitated, the group will be nervous. If he’s calm, the group follows suit. If the Silverback is killed by poachers, it has a catastrophic effect on the rest of the group.

Some colleagues of mine at ICCN (Kajuga, Mbula and Sikubwabo) wrote a paper on the effects of the killing of a dominant Silverback, Rugabo, of the Lulengo group, by poachers in 1995. The Lulengo group lived in the Bikenge area in Virunga, and was at the origin of many of the groups who are there today. The Mapuwa group (which has now split) was formed from the Lulengo group. Karema, killed by rebels in January, also originated from this group. You will see from this article that I mention how important it is that we protect the individuals in these groups. When a Gorilla is killed, the group itself is usually destroyed, and the trauma is felt for years afterwards.

Technorati : congo, mikeno, mountain gorilla, poacher, virunga, wildlifedirect

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I have been asked many questions about the four missing Mountain Gorillas by concerned friends around the world. As you’ll remember, during the rebellion in December and January, two Gorillas were killed. Subsequently, my Rangers carried out extensive searches to establish the safety of the remaining Gorillas. Back on February 12, I reported on the status of the Gorillas: The impact of the rebellion had been 2 confirmed killed and 4 missing (3 Silverbacks and 1 female).

Rangers have been searching since then, but have not been able to find them. I am fearing the worst for those Gorillas, although I would not like to come to any conclusion before we have exhausted the search. For that reason, I and my Rangers are going to carry out one last intensive search, using five extra trackers hired through the WildlifeDirect donations, and come to a conclusion after that. I will post this information as soon as it is done.

This monitoring work is important for other reasons as well. It allows us to focus our Gorilla Protection activities to the most important areas, and acts as an early warning surveillance exercise. We need to keep a permanent presence of wildlife protection officers in the park to demonstrate our commitment to saving these Gorillas. Camp Karema is a very important part of this work, and has been developed thanks to the support we’ve received through WildlifeDirect. Many thanks, again, for your support in helping us to make this possible.

Technorati : congo, drc, gorilla, ranger, virunga, wildlifedirect

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I just received this link to Richard Leakey’s interview on the National Geographic website on the birth of our baby gorilla.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070316-free-podcasts.html

You will remember our post on 1st March this year, when we published the first photos of the baby gorilla. It was a big moment for us - a sign of hope after weeks of hardship and struggle. Richard Leakey is the Chairman of WildlifeDirect, and the patron of the Great Ape Survival Project. His enthusiasm for the good news is very encouraging. His family’s history is closely tied to Virunga - his father, Louis, studied the gorillas, and brought Diane Fossey to the Virungas almost forty years ago.

National Geographic has also had a long history with Virunga. Bob Campbell spent many years taking fantastic photos of the gorillas, and in a couple of weeks, Stefan Lovgren, a photographer / journalist from National Geographic, will be coming out to continue this tradition.

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We are making progress on setting up Camp Karema at the Bukima patrol post. It takes about 3 hours to get there from Goma, on a pretty rough road, and then a very rough road. Some would call it a track. It is not uncommon to have more than one puncture on any one journey, and if you have shakey bones I would not even attempt it!

This was when the tents and beds were being taken up to Camp Karema from Goma. This was done with Rob Muir, from Frankfurt Zoological Society. At this point the truck is stuck and the white FZS vehicle is trying to squeeze past.

Then the truck got completely stuck and tried turning round.

At least it managed that… and then we had to carry everything that last stretch!

Technorati : bukima, congo, drc, iccn, mikeno, mountain gorilla, wildlifedirect

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I regret to tell you that my vehicle was broken into on Friday, yesterday. The thief forced the rear door of my car that I had parked in front of a food store where I was buying provisions in Goma. A briefcase with documents and a small bag that had my passport, my driving license and other vehicle documents were stolen. My camera, donated to me by WildlifeDirect, and other personal items were also taken. The matter has been reported to the police but I am not sure how much they can do. Paulin

Technorati : congo, congo ranger, drc, goma, wildlifedirect

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I should like to thank each and every one of you for your generous donations since I started this blog on 8th January 2007. It has indeed been a tumultuous time. Rebels invaded and looted patrol posts in the Mikeno Sector of the park in late December, forcing Rangers to flee. Two Silverbacks were killed in cold blood in January. We negotiated a truce with the rebels who agreed to stop killing the Gorillas. And now we are setting up Camp Karema (in honor of the second Silverback that was killed) in the very place that was occupied by rebels less than 2 months ago. Certainly a whirlwind by any standards. And throughout this I have felt supported by all your comments and words of encouragement.

I am very happy to report the following donations:

Open Donations to Gorilla Protection: $21, 234.40 (net of Paypal fees)

Community Liaison Officers: 13 months worth of officer

Fuel for Ranger Patrols: 4

Patrol Boots: 3 pairs

Patrol Rations: 54

Patrol Tents: 1

Truck Hire: 4

Uniform for Rangers: 1

Wall Maintenance for Gorilla sector of the park: 17 kilometers

As you know Chris A donated $12,000 for a vehicle (included in open donations). This has been purchased 2nd hand from Oxfam here in Goma and the engine and spare parts for its refurbishment are being brought from Kampala. It should be on the road very soon and I will let you know! Chris also donated $2,300 for two laptops for Camp Karema, the new gorilla monitoring station we are setting up in Bukima, in the Mikeno Sector of Virunga. These have also been purchased. Georgina O donated $1,000 for the tent for Camp Karema, which is up. Linda N from Gearing up for Gorillas continues to be an invaluable support, as does Vanessa R at the zoo in California and Libby, the teacher and her students in Colorado. This list can go on and on… and it will do in the section I post soon on the right of this blog.

The page I will post on the right in coming days will provide more in-depth detail on the donations and how they are spent, but I just wanted to get this up for now. In a relatively short time I really feel that I am building up a community of support from all of you and it is heart-warming and gives me great encouragement with my work. As you know Congo is quite isolated from the world in many ways, and this blog has allowed me to feel that what we are doing is appreciated around the world. All of us at the ICCN, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, thank you. I would also like to thank Frankfurt Zoological Society for their support, and WildlifeDirect that provides the medium for this blog.

Here is a photo of the Rangers at Bukima, Mikeno Sector. This is also the location of Camp Karema.

Please also take a look at the poem Death of a Gorilla, by Emma Montlake. It was written in the wake of Karema’s killing. It is posted on the right in the About section.

More coming soon.

Kwa Heri, Paulin

Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, mikeno, mountain gorilla, virunga, wildlifedirect

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I have just come back from the field and can report that the Humba Gorilla family of 9 individuals is doing well. Humba, which means placid or calm, is the Silverback of the family. He is 20 years old and is always very docile when we see him. He lets me and my Rangers approach without trying to intimidate us, unlike other Silverbacks. His group is currently located near the Bukima patrol post in the Mikeno Sector of Virunga National Park.

You should always stay between 6 to 7 meters away from Mountain Gorillas, and visitors never spend more than an hour with any one family on any one day. This reduces the chance of the Mountain Gorillas catching any human-transmitted disease as obviously they do not carry the same vaccinations as we do.

This is Augustin Kambale, head of the Patrol Post in Bukima, Mikeno Sector, yesterday. Humba is in the background.

Technorati : humba gorilla silverback wildlifedirect bukima mikeno

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I would just like to thank Mike Pflanz from The Daily Telegraph for his article in today’s Telegraph.

Mike, along with Georgina Cranston the photographer, both spent a couple of days with us in the Mikeno Sector with the Mountain Gorillas.

It was a great time, and I hope that Georgina doesn’t bruise too badly after being hit on the calf by an extremely playful gorilla.

Thanks again, and we hope that you all go and check out the article here and also read Mike’s blog.

Technorati : Daily Telegraph, Mikeno, Mountain Gorilla, WildlifeDirect

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Here are the FIRST PHOTOS of the newborn Mountain Gorilla that was born on Saturday 17th February in the Mikeno sector in Congo. The newborn has been named Ndeze (pronounced Deze), after a local tribal chief who died just two days before the birth. These photos were taken when Ndeze was just 4 days old.

Mother and baby are doing well, and are being protected by the Silverback Rugendo. The mother, Safari (which means Travel in Swahili), is closely guarded by Rugendo so we were very lucky to be able to take these photos and cause no disturbance whatsoever.

Here you can see Safari, Ndeze and Rugendo… he stays close at all times.

More great news on the horizon… the adult female Mburanumwe of the same family is also pregnant and due to give birth soon!

Technorati : congo, drc, mikeno, mountain gorilla, wildlifedirect

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