Gorilla Protection

I have been reading the discussion between Francis and Nicholai with considerable interest, as it has dominated our thoughts for some time now. Incase you haven’t read them, they exchange comments on the last post on how appropriate it is to visit the gorillas under the current circumstances.

I don’t want to sound judgemental, everyone has their own reasons for taking a strong position in this conflict and it is indeed a complex situation. The politics of North Kivu are not straight forward, and no side in the conflict comes out entirely clean.

However, at WildlifeDirect, we have made the decision not to engage with CNDP (Laurent Nkunda’s rebel movement) under the current circumstances. In this respect, our position is 100% in line with that of ICCN, as the legitimate Government institution.

Let’s start with some simple facts:
- According to the International Rescue Committee, an average of 45,000 people are dying every month in CNDP held territory since the rebellion was started by Laurent Nkunda. His rebellion has all but derailed a peace process that was Congo’s best chance of ending an 8-year civil war that provoked over 4 million deaths.

- Many of the schools and other essential infrastructure around the Gorilla Sector have been destroyed. The International Criminal Court currently has a file that lists the evidence that Nkunda forces have been forcefully recruiting large numbers of child soldiers, some as young as 9.

- Over half a million rural people, the poorest on earth, have be forced out of the homes by the CNDP rebellion, and into displaced peoples’ camps around Goma. They are living in atrocious conditions.

- Senior CNDP officers have declared that they will execute any of the Virunga rangers who enter the territory that they hold.

We are desperate to get back to the Gorilla sector, and indeed, have been invited to do so by the parallel rebel administration (in exchange for funds). However, we cannot under any circumstances play a part in the atrocities of North Kivu by helping to fund the rebels.

Unfortunately, tourism revenues at Jomba are used to fund the rebel troops. While we can’t stop anyone from paying $300 to the visit the gorillas, I would urge you to think very carefully about the consequences of funding the rebel administration before doing so.

Emmanuel at WildlifeDirect

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This is Innocent. Last week I was invited to Rwanda with fellow Rangers to visit the Kwitonda Mountain Gorilla family. Kwitonda emigrated to Rwanda in October 2004 from DR Congo. As you know Mountain Gorillas do not know international borders like us! Remember Ruzirabwoba who came back from Rwanda in September? Diddy & I also blogged about Kwitonda when we posted about the 4 sons of Rugabo.

I had not seen Kwitonda and his family since 2004, and it was wonderful to see how the family had evolved since that time. His family has grown from 14 to 16 members.

We and the Rwandans still consider Kwitonda Congolese, even though he is no longer in DRC. This is why we were invited and why we share the knowledge of deaths, births and interactions of this family. In 2004 I was of course not in charge of Gorilla Monitoring as I am now, but I was in charge of Gorilla Identification. And do I knew Kwitonda and his clan well.

I went with Director Norbert Mushenzi (who runs the southern sector of Virunga, including the Gorilla Sector), the Director of the whole of Virunga, Mr Wathaut, and also Joel, who works with Wathaut as his right hand man. The man in the beige fleece, Justin, is the Rwandan Director of ORTPN, the Rwandan equivalent of ICCN.

Here is the Silverback Kwitonda. It means “He who is calm” in KinyaBwisha. There are 16 members in his family - up from 14 in 2004.

Karevuro is 1 of the 2 blackbacks in the family.

This is Chiri, named after my uncle who was a Ranger in Kinshasa.

Marambo, a sub-adult male, looks out suspiciously at me.

Chiri again - who was very playful.

Kwitonda was still calm, much like Humba. He did not charge or show aggression at any time.

Karevuro seems like he will become a Silverback soon. It will be interesting to see what happens to him. He may be forced to leave the family and become a solitary.

Here I am with Kigoma, the other of the 2 blackbacks of the family.

The family is visited by tourists who come to Rwanda for gorilla-watching tourism and pay $500 to spend 1 hour with them.

Of course since 2004 the family had changed. Babies had become juveniles, and juveniles had become sub-adults and so on. Gorillas grow up, just like my own family.

Innocent

Technorati : congo, drc, gorilla, iccn, wildlifedirect

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The armed conflict is still right next to the Gorillas - literally bullets are flying, army and rebel positions are constantly moving, and if there are any civilians left, they are fleeing.

Yesterday Innocent and Director Nestor, who has replaced Director Mushenzi while he has taken some well-deserved R&R, got caught in the crossfire at Rugari (directly west of Bukima on the road south of Rumangabo). The bullets were literally flying around the car - and they were not sure whether to stop and take shelter, or keep driving. So Innocent sped up.

Diddy was also just in front of them, on a motorbike, on his way to Goma from Kiwanja. He could hear the bullets too. So, in his words, “I drove like a madman.”

Director Nestor, Innocent, Balemba and other Rangers have gone back up to Rumangabo HQ today for meetings about patrols. Rangers are desperate to continue and intensify anti-charcoal burning patrols. Not only do you have the problem of the IDPs (basically the refugees from the fighting) who desperately need fuel wood, but it seems that with increased lawlessness Virunga National Park has become a free-for-all for anyone wanting to make charcoal.

The Mikeno volcano rises up. Mountain Gorillas live on the flanks of this mountain. Not far away are the charcoal-burners.

Rangers today were telling me that 3 months ago there were perhaps 50 people a day going into the southern sector of Virunga National Park to make charcoal illegally. That number is now estimated to be at around 500. So a 10-fold increase. A significant portion of the charcoal makers are from Rwanda. Again - charcoal is a great business over there. Except that Rwanda has very strict conservation policies - so you cannot chop down their forests. So the Rwandans who are trying to eek out a living at a very basic level see DR Congo’s forests as a soft target. And with all the mayhem going on, they are. As you can see this is an incredibly complex situation.

Aerial view of the DR Congo/Rwanda border near the Gorilla Sector. The Rwandan side is cultivated & the DR Congo side is part of Virunga National Park. This area of the park was destroyed by illegal settlers, allegedly paid by Rwandan speculators, in 2004. You can read a comprehensive National Geographic News story about this here.

Both the park and international borders are clearly demarcated. The contrast is stark.

The good news is that we have already raised $1,400 for the fuel wood for the refugees. We need to provide fuel wood to the refugees so they stop cutting down Virunga National Park for charcoal. They need wood to cook and boil water. There is absolutely no other alternative.

Gorillas like Semakuba from the Humba family live on the flanks of the Mikeno volcano.

Many, many thanks to those who donated specifically to the fuel wood campaign (I downloaded this info about 90mins ago from Paypal so if you have donated since then your name will appear tomorrow): christian d-$40.00 Mark S-$20.00 Michelle W-$40.00 Michelle A-$20.00 Jennifer R-$100.00 Erki L-$20.00 Jennifer A-$40.00 Kathy S-$20.00 Jennifer R-$40.00 katie l-$20.00 Nancy C-$20.00 Celeste L-$100.00 sidney g-$20.00 Oliver T-$40.00 Wendy S-$40.00 Cuneyt S-$100.00 Alexander H-$40.00 Wanda H-$20.00 Pamela R-$20.00 Joseph K-$20.00 Pirjo I-$40.00 Wine A S, LLC-$200.00 carmen e-$200.00 Christine C-$40.00 Leah W-$20.00 Sharon S-$20.00 THERESA S-$100.00.

I will (hopefully) write about more donations tomorrow.

Samantha

Technorati : congo, drc, fuel, iccn, wildlifedirect

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Rwimo just rang me from Jomba. The Rangers there have located a solitary Silverback called Ruziraewoda. He went missing in January, and we think he crossed over into Uganda. So this is exciting news. We can add one more gorilla to our census data.

Ruziraewoda was born into the Rugendo family, and became a solitary some years ago when he turned silver. He, like other gorillas, do not know international borders - so they cross as they please, and sometimes come back again.

Rwimo also told me that the Rangers continue to track the Mapuwa family every day, who are near Jomba, and the Rugendo family, who are near Bikenge. They still have the two weapons and two GPS’ that the rebels gave back, but nothing more. None of the equipment that was stolen by the rebels at Bikenge has been given back either - the guns, the radios, the cell phones, rations etc.

We suspect in fact that the rebels are allowing the Rangers to follow Mapuwa and his family because they want to try and bring in tourists from Rwanda. Jomba is right next to the Rwandan border, and in our neighboring country tourists pay $500 per day to see gorillas. I know it sounds strange, but this is what we believe. The good news is that the rebels will protect the gorillas if they see them as a source of revenue.

No other gorilla families have been located and identified in the Mikeno sector. So out of the 73 habituated gorillas, we have located 17, and of course Ruziraewoda is an added bonus.

We are still concerned. The Rugendo family is still very vulnerable, because they do not have a Silverback leader. I am also worried about the Munyaga family. They often have interactions between the 3 Silverbacks of the family, and it is important to keep track of these. Interactions make families move also - sometimes large distances. There could also have been interactions involving Humba or Kabirizi. We still know nothing of either of these 3 families.

And the orphan in the Kabirizi family Mutazimiza needs to be monitored by Dr Jacques, who of course has not been in for over 3 weeks now. Noel in the Rugendo family is still healing from her cut that she got in the July massacre and Dr Jacques needs to take a look at that.

Noel, born 24 December 2003. Photo taken in August during census.

Still so many questions. Rwimo will be back at Rumangabo tomorrow. We have no idea about the ceasefire that was meant to end this weekend between the rebels and the army. Bukima and Bikenge are still controlled by the army, who still won’t let our Rangers in. Jomba by the rebels. But it can’t go on like this forever so we are still waiting.

Diddy

Correction: The silverback is called Ruzirabwoba. Sorry, I made a typing error.

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

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The Humba Gorilla family of 9 members is heading towards Rwanda from Bukima. Trackers go out every day and follow the families, from the different patrol posts. This is Humba the Silverback below, last Tuesday.

Gorilla families move around quite a lot, and often cross international borders. They of course do not realize that this is what they are doing - they don’t have passports! So they come and go sometimes between Congo and Rwanda for example.

The family members all travel together - at the instruction of the Silverback, the leader. In the morning he beats his chest to wake the family and tell them they are on the move to forage for food. And he is also the instigator of making a nest at night where they all sleep together.

Of course we don’t know yet whether the Humba family will actually cross the border. Humba may well turn back… we shall have to wait and see.

Technorati : congo, drc, humba, iccn, mountain gorilla, rwanda, wildlifedirect

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