Jul 07 2008
Last night, CBS re-broadcast the 60 Minutes about the Virunga gorillas. In case you missed it, you can watch in online here.
You may remember that Anderson Cooper came to Virunga last October to interview us for the show.
Jul 05 2008
Emmanuel and Godefroid were interviewed last week by NPR about the problems facing Virunga National Park.
Jul 01 2008
As most of you know, the long-awaited National Geographic documentary “Gorilla Murders” is on TV tonight at 10 PM.
Over here we won’t be able to watch it, so we are very interested in hearing all about it. Please send us your reviews and comments!
R.I.P. Senkweke
Jun 19 2008
This is Pierre. We have received news from our sources that tourists are once again crossing the border into the Congo to visit the gorillas in the Mikeno sector. Nkunda’s rebels are charging tourists to take them to see the Mapuwa and Lulengo groups of habituated gorillas.
Kanepo, Dunia, and Sebagabo from the Mapuwa Family
We are worried that the rebel “rangers” are not following the proper guidelines, such as observing a minimum distance of 7 meters to avoid disease transmission. We hear that last Friday a group of 20 tourists came, and the week before it was 22. Again, that is above the maximum limits allowed in legal tourism.
Bikenke
We assume that the people choosing to visit the gorillas this way either could not reserve a place to visit the gorillas in Rwanda, or decided they would prefer to pay less. We urge tourists to think twice before visiting the Congo gorillas at the moment, as their dollars will be going straight into the pocket of the rebels. Remember that these are the very same rebels who killed and ate two silverbacks last year.
Mambo and Dunia
As several of our regular readers have pointed out, the July edition of National Geographic magazine features a front cover story about the gorilla killings last year. You may remember that Mark and Brent from NatGeo came to visit us in February. The article is also on their website, along with an interview with Diddy and Innocent that I recorded with them last month. There will also be a documentary called “Gorilla Murders” on the National Geographic Channel on the 1st July.
Everyone here hopes that all this coverage will renew international concern and interest in the preservation of Virunga National Park.
Oct 30 2007
I just got back in from spending the day with Director Mushenzi, Diddy, Innocent, Augustin Kambale (from Bukima patrol post) and… CBS 60 Minutes.
Anderson Cooper and his team have come for a few days to Goma to cover the plight of the Mountain Gorillas following the July massacre and the current fighting that is preventing the Rangers from protecting this imperiled species.
Filming was done up at Kibati, at the foot of the Nyragongo volcano just outside of Goma.
Because of fighting we were not able to take the crew to Rumangabo. But the setting was beautiful. Diddy looks on…
Emmanuel from WildlifeDirect interviewed first. He has been working here since 1993.
Director Norbert Mushenzi was also asked for his perspective on what is happening at the moment.
Innocent, Augustin and Diddy spoke at length about their experiences with the gorillas, and what it was like on that terrible day in July when the Rugendo family was massacred.
Other Rangers were also filmed.
I have no idea when this program will air, but I will let you know when I do. Anderson Cooper is interviewing Rob Muir from FZS tomorrow and Paulin if he can make it here from Kinshasa. He was also in Rwanda yesterday, and met with the Gorilla Doctors and DFGF(I).
It is a significant opportunity for the Rangers to make their voices heard. This blog is excellent for that - but CBS 60 Minutes is quite frankly huge for them. These brave men have worked in total isolation for so many years, and it is them that we must support if we are to prevent the Mountain Gorillas of DR Congo from disappearing forever.
I just dropped Diddy off at the clinic and met his wife. She was up and about and looking well so that is excellent news.
Fighting is still going on. Yesterday it was 5 miles from Rumangabo park station. Today I think it is a little calmer. But tomorrow it will probably start again. Who knows.
Samantha
Technorati : anderson cooper, cbs, congo, drc, iccn, wildlifedirect
May 08 2007
Look at this link on Discovery Channel (just click it and you will get the whole picture). They have done a feature on the most dangerous jobs in the world, including being an aid worker, cowboy, fisherman, gold miner, logger, tunneler and… JUNGLE RANGER.
They have used my blog as an example of being a Jungle Ranger. This sort of work is just amazing to us here in Congo. We have been so used to working in isolation - and now for people to hear about us is incredibly fulfilling. Thank you Discovery Channel and Vanessa. Kwa Heri, Paulin
Technorati : congo, discovery channel, drc, ranger
Apr 27 2007
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUC, has an article on their website saying that UNESCO has called for urgent measures to end the poaching and killing of endangered species in world heritage sites in Congo.
“The initiative comes amid reports that several hundred hippopotamus and two mountain gorillas have been killed in the past few months in the Virunga National Park, which was registered in the world heritage list in 1979, and in the list of endangered heritages in 1994.
… In his letters, the UNESCO director general is asking for the expansion of the United Nations’ mission in the DRC (MONUC) in order for it to cover the protection of world heritage sites in that country, as well as in other protected zones.
The DRC’s world heritage sites have an exceptional importance in the preservation of biodiversity, as they constitute the natural habitat for several rare and remarkable species of the world, among them the bonobo pygmy chimpanzee, considered as the human being’s closest living cousin, the mountain gorilla and the very rare okapi species.”
This could mean good news for us and additional support. Check out the article for more information.
Technorati : monuc, mountain gorilla, unesco, virunga, wildlifedirect
Apr 24 2007
Check out the link below to a story in Times Online (just click on the picture) about the Mountain Gorilla population in Uganda - it says there are 12 percent more Mountain Gorillas in Uganda now compared to 10 years ago. This is very positive news. The article also talks about the problems in Congo and the killings of the Gorillas in January this year.
Marc Languy of World Wildlife Fund is also quoted. He co-authored an amazing book on Virunga National Park with Dr Emmanuel de Merode, the Director of WildlifeDirect. All the proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Virunga Widows Fund, a fund for the widows of the Congo Rangers who have died in active service in Virunga.
I would also like to point you all to another interesting blog called primatology.org. It talks about primates in general around the globe and has some very interesting information not only about Mountain Gorillas but also Chimps etc. Take a look!
Technorati : mountain gorilla, pension fund, primatology, virunga, wildlifedirect, wwf
Mar 21 2007
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.
Mar 05 2007
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
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
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