Gorilla Protection

This is Innocent, I just wanted to report on the charcoal campaign efforts around Mikeno.  We still can’t get back into the sector, because the rebels have said that they will execute any rangers who go to Bukima or to Jomba.  We don’t have enough support to face up to the rebels, who number in their thousands.  We are only a little more than 100.

That said, the reports that we have been receiving informally are that there have not been any gorilla killings, and that two baby mountain gorillas were born during the war, which is really encouraging for us.

The other important thing is that we are finally making real headway in our efforts to stop the charcoal trade.  A section of the Advance Force (the elite Rangers who are based in the north of the park) have come to join us, and in many ways, we have never been stronger.  We have now seized over 100 tons of charcoal, which is being redistributed in the Internally Displaced Camps.

We reckon that the flow of charcoal is now less than a third of what it had a couple of months ago.  The problem is that we are making many enemies, especially among the military.  Some of them have been making a lot of money from the charcoal and they are not happy with our efforts to stop the illegal trade.

Seizing Charcoal at Kibati.

Because we have been successful in stopping people transporting charcoal, the military have started to use military trucks.  Last week we had several incidents of military trucks smashing through our road blocks to get the charcoal through.  We brought the Advance force in, as well as 5 military police officers, and managed to seize two military trucks.  The soldiers couldn’t believe it and were really mad at us.  They followed us all the way back to Goma.  We offloaded the charcoal, and handed over the trucks to the military tribunal, who had them seized.

Morning Parade, preparing for operations

So the rangers won the day, but we have a load of really annoyed soldiers and we have to be quite careful.  Fortunately, the local politicians have decided to support our cause, and we have a letter of support from the Governor, instructing us to seize all illegal charcoal.  Slowly slowly attitudes are changing, and maybe, just maybe, we will be able to stop the forest destruction for charcoal before the gorilla’s habitat is permanently destroyed.

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We were very caught up by what we call the Makala Campaign - the campaign to stop the charcoal trade that is destroying the forest of the park, and poses a very real threat to our mountain gorillas, so I am sorry for the delay in updating you.  It has been an extremely difficult time since September last year, with some of the darkest moments that we have know.  But there have also been some real successess, and although we have not been able to return to Bukima and Jomba, we have launched a number of major initiatives that will help us to protect the park for years to come.  So I wanted to summarise some of that, just to remind ourselves of the challenges, but also of the fact that it is worth continuing the struggle.

The Bad
1. Nkunda’s Militias still occupying the gorilla sector:  This, of course, is our biggest challenge.  They are very aggressive against the rangers of ICCN, our organisation, and have threatened to execute any of us who return to the gorilla sector.

2. Parallel administration:  the rebels have established their own system of tour leaders and trackers.  They are not qualified and have received no training to work with the gorillas.  They have to go.

3. Illegal Tourism in the park:  The rebels have started to take tourists coming from Uganda to see the gorillas as a way of making money.  At the moment we reckon they are taking about two groups per week, which generates money for their militias.  Unfortunately, they are not, as far as we can tell, respecting the basic regulations to ensure that the gorillas are kept safe from disease and disturbance.  They send in more than one group of tourists per day, and the groups are bigger than the maximum allowed.

4.  Bukima mined:  Anti-personnel land-mines have been set on the road to Bukima, making it impossible for us to get there for a long time, until it has be demined.
The Good

Checking for Illegal Charcoal at Kibati

1. Ending Charcoal:  As you know, a major long-term threat to the gorillas is the clearing of their habitat for charcoal. This increased massively with the outbreak of armed conflict, much of it going to Rwanda.  Since December, we have launched what we call the  makala campaign, which is an unprecedented effort to block the charcoal that has been illegally obtained from the park and handing it over to the internally displaced people for free.  This discourages the illegal loggers from cutting down the forest.  So far we have seized over 60 tons of charcoal and delivered it to the internally displaced camps through UNHCR, the UN refugee organisation.

2. Little equipment loss:  We managed to secure all the equipment that would otherwise have been looted by the rebel militias, which means that we are ready to hit the ground running as soon as we can get back into the gorilla sector.  This includes the Bukima Camp and the vehicle that was bought through WildlifeDirect.

3.  Rumangabo re-launched.  Rumangabo, the main park station for the Gorilla sector has been at the centre of much of the fighting, and so had to be evacuated.   Now the station has been re-launched and is the centre of operations for the Makala Campaign, with office equipment, radios, wireless internet and so on has been re-established.  It is, we hope, a first step towards re-establishing control of the Gorilla sector

4. The Force Avancee, with new leadership, is with us in full force to help manage the Makala campaign.  This put a lot of weight behind our efforts.

5. Monuc Support:  Monuc, the UN peace keepers are providing us with real support on the ground through joint patrols with members of their Indian Battallian.  This is a big impact on our security and effectiveness in protecting the forest.
So we remain very worried about the future of the park, of the gorillas, and of ourselves and our families, but in remaining active and determined, there is still a lot of work to do, and through that we may just get ourselves back to the Gorillas sector.  I will give you some more details on the operations tomorrow.
Diddy

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This is Samantha. I just wanted to provide you with an update on the fuel wood for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Kibati. I last posted on this on 18th January. For those of you who don’t know, we all raised $20,000 in December to supply fuel wood to the IDPs next to the Gorilla Sector to stop them from chopping down the forest. It was always an anticipatory measure - but one that we have needed. Despite the signing of the peace accord 2 weeks ago, no IDPs from the area have returned home. Mistrust still reigns.

The following information has been provided to me by Bruno at World Wildlife Fund with whom we are working closely on this. We are also working with Rob at Frankfurt Zoological Society.

So on 9th January, according to UNHCR (the United Nations High Commission for Refugees), 2,975 people were transfered to the Kibati site.

This means that 133 steres per week were needed. Now like me you are probably wondering what a stere is. Well technically it is a cubic metre of wood, but in this case, because the wood is not densely packed (ie not one solid piece), it is 0.7 cubic metres. 1 stere on average weighs 500 kilos. An adult consumes 2kg of fuel wood/day, and a child 1kg. So a family of 5 needs 7kg fuel wood per day.

Fuel wood was delivered to Kibati like this:

- on 23rd January, 15 steres

- on 25th January, 24 steres

- on 28th January, 35 steres

- on 29th January, 39 steres

- on 30th January, 37 steres

That is 150 steres, or 75,000 kilos - or enough fuel wood for just under 3 weeks for the 2,975 IDPs at the Kibati camp.

WWF started delivering fuel wood 1 day before UNHCR started distributing food. But they had to interrupt the delivery on 24th/25th January as there were problems with the food distribution. UNHCR spotted some irregularities, stopped the distribution, and then the IDPs became violent. It wasn’t sensible to go into the camp while the IDPs were in a state of unrest so WWF resumed on 28th January.

So the campaign has been a success. Distribution will continue til the money runs out. And by then I hope we are looking at a less violent future in eastern DRC that will enable the thousands upon thousands of IDPs to return to their homes.

The Kabirizi family will benefit from less pressure on the park.

I should also like to take this chance to say goodbye to you all. My last day is Thursday and this will be my final post. Today I saw Diddy & Innocent for the last time. Tomorrow I will go to Rumangabo and see Augustin, Norbert, Jean-Marie and others. Thank you for your support, comments & donations since all this took off in January 2007 - a web whirlwind if ever there was one, all made possible by you.

My replacement will be arriving soon (hopefully end March) - but until then Emmanuel will be taking over management of the blog with Diddy, Innocent & all the other Rangers. So nothing will change for you all - keep coming, keep supporting, keep donating, and we shall see each other right here. Kwa Heri!

Samantha

Technorati : congo, drc, fuel, iccn, idp, wildlifedirect

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Finally some good news everyone! We have just spoken to Ranger Patrice Tuyisenge. He told us that on 12th November the rebels who control our Gorilla Sector let him go in and see what he could find.

He saw 2 families that he said are the Humba and Kabirizi families. The Humba family was very near the Bukima patrol post.

Humba the Silverback and chief of his family, taken in August

Patrice does not know how to identify each Mountain Gorilla by the noseprint, and this also takes a lot of time, but we are confident by what he described to us that the Humba family and the Kabirizi family are doing well. Humba has 9 individuals, and Kabirizi 31. Patrice was not able to tell us exactly the number of gorillas he saw in each group, but for Humba it was roundabout the right number, and for Kabirizi too.

This is very very good news and we are very very happy to hear this.

Mahindure, a juvenile in the Humba family, taken in August

Patrice is a Ranger usually based at Jomba. He is one of the Rangers who for a couple of weeks tracked the Mapuwa and Rugendo families and the solitary Ruzirabwoba back in September. This was because the rebels let him and some others do this.

We do not know if Patrice or any other Rangers will be allowed back in to the Gorilla Sector to do any more tracking. Patrice had to go in from the Ugandan side via Bunagana. But we hope so.

We also need to get back in to complete a proper identification of these two families, and of course the other habituated Mountain Gorillas. But today this is most definitely a positive light in what has been a dark scenario for so long. We are happy to share this with you.

Diddy & Innocent

Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, ranger, wildlifedirect

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We received a donation of 10 sets of binoculars and 2 telescopes, all very high quality, from Matto Barfuss and his wife Kirstine. They are from Germany and have visited us 4 times before to show us support.

The equipment

We greeted Matto at Rumangabo

We are very thankful for this donation. The equipment will be used for the protection of Mountain Gorillas and other animals. It will mean that we can observe gorillas for example from a distance, and identify them by their noseprint without getting up close.

All the Rangers looked at the equipment

I chatted with Matto

We will keep the equipment at the station in Rumangabo until we can get back out into the field.

I am looking forward to using the equipment

Innocent

Technorati : binocular, congo, drc, iccn, telescope, 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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I have just spoken to Rwimo who told me that the Rangers have positively identified the 12 individuals in the Mapuwa family near the patrol post of Jomba. He said that all the individuals are fine and healthy and were seen today.

This is a picture of the Silverback Mapuwa taken at the end of August when Innocent and Diddy completed the census. You can tell it is Mapuwa because of the scar on his right nostril that he got during an interaction with another Silverback.

Rwimo also said that the Rugendo family - who are 5 - are out of the park and in the fields near Bikenge. But they have been seen by Rangers and are also doing well.

This is all the information I have right now but I hope to get more tomorrow about Mapuwa, Rugendo and the other families, and also what is going on with the security. Communication is still very bad.

Thank you everyone.

Norbert Mushenzi

Technorati : congo, drc, gorilla, iccn, mapuwa, ranger, virunga

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Thank you everyone for the support. So far the response to the crisis has kept us all here at WildlifeDirect very busy and, as followers of the blog have seen, the pressure is also on Paulin and the rangers. Due to the sensitive nature of his job it is only Paulin who can discuss his work on this blog, but we would like to start the ball rolling on ideas that some of you may have to keep the support coming in.

At the beginning of next week there will be figures released on how much money is still needed to provide full protection for the remaining gorilla families. These figures cannot be released as yet because the targets have to be absolutely accurate before being published, but this does not mean that we cannot start to think of other fundraising ideas.

So far we’ve had offers of help from Chefs, Ex-Military, Zoo Keepers, Artists, Film Directors, Teachers, Professors, Church Groups, Writers, Bloggers and many more, who are all wanting to do what they can to raise awareness of the crisis that we are facing here. We are working with as many of you as is humanly possible in providing information, images, posters, anything that you may need to help with the campaigning, but we also want you to know that we are open to any more ideas and suggestions that you may have.

Online, the Facebook campaign is turning out to be quite successful, although we have not yet had the time to see if the MySpace page will also take off, but if anyone has any other ideas of other online campaigning, the time is now to see if they will work.

You can send your ideas to gorillacampaign@wildlifedirect.org, although we do urge you as well to leave comments below as ideas are often triggered by the ideas of others.

As a side note, if you haven’t yet done so you can watch the video put together by National Geographic when they were here the other day, and you can also visit the Guardian Weekly for the online feature that they did on Paulin, which includes some of the challenges that he has faced throughout this year.

We also urge you to follow the progress of Ndasaki and Ndeze, the orphans of these two recent attacks, over on Dr Lucy Spelman’s blog who works for MGVP (hat-tip to Sheryl). Lucy has updated her blog today with news of Ndeze.

Thank you once again to everyone for your support. Lets hope that this is the beginning of a better future for the Virunga mountain gorillas.

The WildlifeDirect Team

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In 2003 I started an institute. Here we call it a Superior Institute, or Institut Superieur. In the area of Rutshuru, in the southern part of Virunga but outside of the park so there are populations, there is a lack of educational establishments for the local population. And we all need education.

So I started the Institut Superieur de l’Ingenierie de Developement et Gestion de l’Environment (Superior Institute for Development Engineering and Environmental Management). It is in a small town called Kiwandja, which is actually where Augustin is from. I obtained, off my own initiative, premises and computers and gradually recruited teachers. Now we are 19 teachers.

We teach in a modular format, so for example I may have to be there for a week teaching my part. Because I am busy with my job I cannot be there all the time.

Now I am proud to say we have awarded diplomas to 34 individuals since we started 4 years ago.
Below you will see pictures of some students, the library, and the computer area. Not much probably by most of your standards but it is better than nothing!

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Every 3 months we hold a meeting at Rumangabo with local leaders and authorities to talk about protecting Virunga National Park and working with the local populations.

This committee is called Concd which stands for Convergence pour la Conservation et le Developement, Convergence for Conservation and Development. So it is a forum if you like, and traditional chiefs, military heads, police chiefs and Rangers all come together to address the important issues. This is a very important aspect of protecting the park as communication is paramount to any success and diminishing threats from poachers and charcoal burners and others. We find solutions to conflict.

Here are photos from the most recent meeting. You can see me addressing the group (in the second photo), and also the military, police and local population representatives. At the end we all had a group photo. I am at the front next to the police chief.

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