Mar 20 2008
New gorilla family moves in from Rwanda
Thank you all for your comments and concern. We are still waiting to find out who actually killed the gorillas last year. It is suspected that the lucrative trade in charcoal (some news papers are calling it Makala), which is an essential domestic fuel, was the motive. We have been writing much about ending the illigal charcoal trade. In the meantime we have some other news. On Tuesday March 18, Didi and Emmanuel and Balemba received information from a tourist operator in Jomba about another family of gorillas that had crossed over to the DR Congo part of Virunga National Park.
Initially, we thought it might be the Kwitonda family that had migrated to Rwanda in 2004. Of course we were very anxious to find more information and soon discovered that is was likely to be a new group! Whereas the Kwitdona group had sixteen individuals, this group has nine. The question remains as to whether this is a part of the Kwitonda group that has split off or an entirely new group that has crossed over from Rwanda.
We then checked with the Rwandese authorities who stated that it appears to be the 13th family from Rwanda who have crossed over to Congolese territory. The CNDP rebels have also confirmed this as they have control of trekking tours to see this particular family as well the Mapuwa family, and the Nyakagezi family (from Uganda).
Since September 2007, ICCN has completely lost control of the Mikeno gorilla sector which is in the hands of the CNDP rebels who had refused access to our Director, Mr Mushenzi in February this year.
We will continue to update you as news comes in. Diddy and Innocent.
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
