Gorilla Protection

Category: Gorilla tourism, Mountain Gorillas, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Sep 17 2009 | By: paula

We have just learned that the Uganda Wildlife Authority plans to introduce online gorilla tracking as a new initiative aimed at the global demand for conservation tourism.

For a minimum donation of $1, subscribers will be able track the movements of individual gorillas through a custom-made Web site. Strategically placed cameras in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest will stream video footage of gorillas to audiences worldwide.

The service – scheduled to begin this month – will also allow users to “befriend a gorilla” on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

“The project aims to bring attention to the plight of gorillas,” said Lillian Nsubuga, a spokeswoman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, “and any money raised will be put towards conservation efforts.”

For more on this story go here

Tags: , endangered species, gorilla, Mountain Gorillas, Uganda, wildlife, wildlifedirect

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Category: Community, DRC, Gorilla Range States, Gorilla tourism, Mountain Gorillas, Outreach & Awareness, Press, Successes, Threats, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Sep 02 2009 | By: Daniel

August 26th – The 5.30am bus to Kisoro was again more Matatu than Express, so it was mid-morning when we pulled into Kisoro, the nearest town to the DRC border. A throng of motorcycle taxis vied for my custom, and I squeezed past them and chose one on the edge of the pack. Mounting it with my rucksack on my back and placing my camera-bag on the petrol tank, we lurched off to the Mgahinga National Park office.

The man behind the desk seemed a bit bemused when I pulled out a video camera (but there was a YoG poster behind him, so I had to get the shot). He called for a colleague from the back office whose face split into a broad grin when he saw me. We had met eight years before, when I brought the first Discovery Initiatives (a partner of the UNEP Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) ) gorilla safari, and left a copy of Eyewitness Gorilla at the park education centre. He gave a smiling YoG interview and I said goodbye, apologising for the brevity of my visit, and crossed the road to the Kisoro Gorilla Organization Resource Centre.

The staff couldn’t have been more helpful, letting me send some urgent emails and offering much-needed tea and biscuits. They told me (and the YoG video) of their respective activities and I was pleased to pass on a copy of the BBC Natural World documentary ‘Titus the Gorilla King’ kindly provided by Tigress Films for such purposes. As a final favour, they told me to pay off my motor-cycle taxi and drove me to the Bunagana border in the elderly but much more comfortable GO vehicle.

Entering the DRC is often a lengthy procedure, and the border officials couldn’t quite understand why, given my interest in gorillas, I was not going to see the gorillas in the Virunga NP (now that tourism has resumed, that is what most white people cross here for on day trips). I explained about the YoG and my mission, and one officer invited me into his office. Here we go, I thought, I wonder how much this is going to cost me… but once he had me seated, he explained he was concerned about the smuggling of endangered species across the border around here, and was there someone who could help him stop it? Wow! “Mais oui, bien sur!” I said, and promised to pass on his name to various colleagues.

Not so Easy Rider

Outside, the driver of the only four-wheeled vehicle in sight said he’d take me to Goma for $200, but a young motorcyclist with wrap-around shades agreed to do it for $20 plus my last few Uganda shillings and Rwandan Francs. “D’accord” I said, and climbed aboard, again with my rucksack on my back but with my camera-bag wedged between us, there being not enough room on the tank. I immediately noticed an important difference between Ugandan and Congolese motorbike taxis. In Uganda, there is usually a large rack or padded seat behind the pillion passenger – very practical. The Congolese love of style, however, means that every bike I saw between Bunagana and Goma (and Goma is now Motorbike City!) had the same swish design with all lines sweeping up to a small curved handle for the pillion passenger to hold.

Never mind that everyone in Africa wants to carry more than a vehicle can cope with – looking cool is more important. I struggled to perch the base of my rucksack on the handle and hang on every time my driver accelerated, but had to shift positions every few minutes as muscles complained at the ridiculous workload they were being asked to do – whilst looking cool and waving at incredulous pedestrians, of course, as we zoomed downhill.

The road was end-stage degraded tarmac - bumpy, with loose gravel, pot-holes and - every time we passed another vehicle or (rarely) were overtaken by one - clouds of dust. To save fuel my driver, Jean-de Dieu, would switch off the engine on the downhill stretches and so sometimes we were almost silently coasting downhill – zero carbon motorcycling – which felt fantastic until jolted by the next pot-hole or lump of volcanic rock! I’d forgotten just how far it is from Bunagana to Goma, and after two hours or so, I felt as if I’d had a serious workout.

Never mind, I thought, it is good cross-training for the Great Gorilla Run I have signed up to do on 26th September. I’d learned about cross-training during my somewhat inept preparations for my one and only marathon five years ago . The GGR is only 7km, but involved hundreds of people running through London in gorilla suits! Please be among the first to sponsor me a ‘Darwin’ or two (note: a £10 note has a portrait of Charles Darwin on it, and in honour of his bicentenary I propose to run inspired by the Victorian cartoon which showed Darwin’s head on an ape body). I plan to knuckle-walk/run for as long as possible, but if that is too much of a Slog4YoG and my back protests, I’ll evolve a bi-pedal stance and Jog4YoG like the other runners – maybe you can place bets on how many km I manage quadrupedally?

The road took us across the now empty green plains of Kibumba.  In the mid-1990s there had been a refugee city of several hundred thousand people here and I could hardly believe how it had changed since my last visit during that time.   The exodus of so many families fleeing the Rwandan civil war and genocide made this spot an epicentre of human misery in 1994.   I was there a few days later with Dieter Steklis of DFGFI and a BBC film crew, looking for friends and colleagues to help them return home; none of us will ever forget the sight of thousands of blue UNHCR canvas shelters in pouring rain, each one housing a family. 

On two subsequent visits to bring clothing bundles from kind donors, I was amazed by how industrious people had used jagged volcanic rocks to build semi-permanent homes, weddings were taking place, babies being born - communities making the best of a terrible situation until their repatriation.   Now, the land has been reclaimed by ICCN for the Virunga World Heritage Site, and there is little sign of the refugee city - but there is hardly a tree standing either!   It will take decades for the forest to re-grow, but it is already green; vegetation here is quick to colonise newly cooled lava flows, so there are lots of pioneer plant species to take root in the cleared ground.

Clinging on with my left hand, I fumbled my video camera out of my jacket pocket and tried to grab a few images to compare with my 1994 photos; unfortunately the jarring was so extreme at this point the camera kept turning itself off to protect the hard-drive (where’s my trusty OM1 when I need it?).

No MOP, no flight

We finally pulled up at the entrance to Goma Airport, guarded by men in blue helmets behind sandbags. Easing my wobbly legs off the bike I paid Jean de Dieu, picked up my kit and tried to walk normally into the busy MONUC departure area. There was a flight to Kinshasa scheduled for 1500 hours and it seemed as though my timing was perfect, except I soon learned I couldn’t board without a MOP, whatever that stands for, and none of the military check-in staff with clip-boards had my name on their list. People were complaining about the flight being over-booked, and I saw army top brass being turned away, so I realised I wasn’t going to Kinshasa that day.

Eventually I was directed to an office behind rolls of razor-wire where a delightful young lady called, appropriately, Santa, found the email from UNEP-CMS, who together with UNEP/GRASP and WAZA is behind the whole Year of the Gorilla campaign, with my flight request, called up someone on high and smiled saying, “You are on the flight first thing tomorrow morning.” Who says that Santa only gives gifts at Christmas?

She printed out my MOP (effectively a MONUC ticket) and I registered it in another office at the airport. I called Tuver (from Gorilla Org.) and he kindly agreed to drive out to the airport and bring me into town (another motorbike ride – aagh!). It was frustrating to lose half a day but pleasant, while waiting for Tuver, to sit quietly on a lump of volcanic rock by the side of the road watching other people bouncing along on motorbikes.

Several people helpfully told me how filthy my face was from the dusty ride and two separate immigration officials just had to come over to check my papers – it being almost unheard of for a lone mzungu to sit on a rock beside the road. The second was more curious than officious, and it turned out he knew many of the conservationists in town, which is how I ended up having supper with Urbain Ngobobo, who works for the Frankfurt Zoological Society project, assisting ICCN in training park guards and trying to control the illegal charcoal trade.

All the way to Goma I’d been passing vehicles – from the ingenious, home-made wooden scooters pushed by boys to huge trucks piled with sacks and topped by passengers – all bringing fuel for the city’s cooking fires. Some of it may be legal, but much of it is illegal and destroying the forests of the Virunga National Park. The trade is estimated to be worth $30 million per year, and unsurprisingly, the organised crime ring behind it is resisting with lethal force attempts to enforce the law– even killing several gorillas in 2007 . To find out more about a project aiming to tackle the threats of charcoal trade and deforestation, click here.

Read Ian’s previous post here!

Tags: conservation, DRC, gorillas, Ian Redmond, MONUC, public transport, range states, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla

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Category: Diseases, Gorilla tourism, Political situation, Press, Threats, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Sep 02 2009 | By: Daniel

Posted on behalf of Ian Redmond.

August 25^th – Have you ever tried packing while a curious young mind wants to know what each of your belongings is for?  Gladys’ son Ndhego was fascinated by the contents of my rucksack and camera-bag, and I was happy to explain but simultaneously had to convert myself into some semblance of an Ambassador for a Ministerial meeting.

My (ever so slightly crumpled..) suit and safari boots had to replace my usual shorts and sandals, but Ndhego was stomping around in my boots. We achieved a truce when I presented him with a YoG sticker and my old gilet (now replaced by the one from Park National Kahuzi Biega, courtesy of the warden).  And to further lighten my load, I gave Gladys the page proofs of Planet Ape for her conservation education work and accepted a lift to the British High Commission.  

The British High Commission had fixed up a meeting with Hon Serapio Rukundo MP, Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, and he was his usual ebullient self, giving a great YoG interview on Uganda’s forest policy and plans for reforestation projects as well as the central role that gorillas play in the nation’s economy thanks to tourism.

After shopping for an external hard drive on which to back-up all these interviews, I was dropped at the bustling bus station.  Seeking the fastest bus to Kisoro, there was some discussion and I climbed aboard an earlier bus to Kabale rather than wait three hours for a late bus direct to Kisoro which wouldn’t arrive until 2.00am.  Crowds of people carrying all manner of luggage were jostling between the colourful buses; every so often a bus would shunt back and forth, belching black fumes in an umpteen-point turn, and yet amazingly no-one was squashed (and there were no fist-fights today!).  

Some time later than promised, our bus began the delicate manoeuvring towards the totally crowded exit and – inches at a time – we slowly escaped into the equally crowded street.  The conductor had placed me near the front, and just before we left, a young man sat next to me.  As we picked up speed leaving the traffic jams of Kampala behind, we introduced each other and I asked if he knew this was the UN Year of the Gorilla. He did! 

Brian explained he had heard it on the radio (in fact in a report from my press briefing the night before the Great Ape Health Workshop, which I attended for UNEP/GRASP, the Great Apes Survival Partnership) and at first had found it difficult to believe, “It was as if someone had woken up one day and announced that this is the International Day of the Hen!” he grinned.  I asked if he’d say that again on camera, and he gave a great YoG interview, going on to say how on reflection he saw that it was a good idea, and that gorillas need the attention such campaigns bring.  

Over the next few hours, we got to know each other quite well and bit by bit he revealed his story. He had just finished high school and won a place at University to train as a social worker. His father had died when he was two weeks old, and his mother died a few years later.  He had been brought up by first one aunt then another, but none of his relatives could afford the fees (about £1,000 per year for three years).  His ambition is to work with children orphaned by disease, because he knows what they are going through – and something about his quietly determined manner makes me think that somehow, he will succeed….

It was getting dark as we sped along, and somehow this transformed the ‘Express’ bus into a giant Matatu (the shared taxis in East Africa that stop and pick up and drop off passengers anywhere).  It was nice of the driver to drop people off near their homes but as a result, it was nearly 11.30pm when we pulled into Kabale. My laptop battery was flat and my own batteries were flagging a bit, so I checked into the Skyline Hotel for a princely 15,000 USh (about $7) – with electricity, a clean bed, en suite shower and a loo that flushes – can’t be bad!

Read Ian’s previous post here!

Tags: conservation, Diseases, Gorilla tourism, gorillas, Ian Redmond, range states, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla

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Category: Diseases, Gorilla Range States, Gorilla tourism, Threats, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Sep 01 2009 | By: Daniel

Posted on behalf of Ian Redmond.

The risk of droplet infection with new viruses is of global concern with the spread of H1N1 swine ‘flu virus, so soon after the H5N1 bird ‘flu.  Measures already in place to minimise the risk of such transmission to habituated apes include refusing a visit to anyone showing symptoms, the ‘no closer than 7m rule’ and preventing tourists from leaving any foreign objects, litter or bodily fluids (unless buried deep) in the park.

Some sites have gone further and request that tourists wear surgical masks for the time spent near the apes.  We do not know the mortality rate that such viruses might cause if they were to spread through a gorilla group, and whilst any such loss would be a blow to a small population, it is likely that most infected animals would recover and there-after be immune to that strain of ‘flu. 

The ‘worst nightmare’ scenario for all involved with the Mountain Gorillas is the possibility of an Ebola outbreak in the Virungas or Bwindi; we know from Western Lowland Gorillas that Ebola kills ninety something per cent of those infected – approximately one third of the western gorilla population has been killed by Ebola in the past decade or so.  

The promising tourism site at Lossi in Congo Brazzaville suffered in this way when the habituated animals died of Ebola, and the evidence suggests that there is a front of outbreaks, moving northwards towards the region with the largest concentration of western gorillas (see animation by Peter Walsh, and YoG interview to follow). Ebola has not yet been reported in eastern gorilla populations, but during the Great Ape Health workshop in Uganda, August 21-23, I learned that there was a close call recently with the closely related Marburg virus.
 
A Dutch tourist fell ill a few days after returning from a holiday in Uganda last year, and sadly died. Tests in the Netherlands revealed that she had contracted Marburg, and when her itinerary was examined, virologists concluded that she had most likely picked up the virus whilst visiting the Python Cave in the Maramagambo Forest. 

This is a fantastic place for any naturalist – a collapsed lava tube with a roost of Rousette’s Tongue-clicking Fruit Bats and pythons that coil around the rocks on the cave wall to snatch bats out of the air as they pass. I have taken tours there myself, and then - just as this lady did - gone on to visit the gorillas in Bwindi.  The difference is that this poor unfortunate woman was unknowingly incubating Marburg haemorrhagic fever when she reportedly came within 5m of the gorillas (http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/15/8/1171.htm).  

Neither Marburg nor Ebola can survive long out of the body, and fortunately, neither the gorillas nor any of the 130 or so people she came into contact with were infected. But this tragic case should act as a warning, and simple measures such as introducing disinfected boot dips and asking tour companies that plan to visit the caves, to do so after seeing the gorillas would further minimise the risk.

Cheers, Ian

Read Ian’s previous post here!

Tags: conservation, Diseases, ebola, Gorilla tourism, gorillas, Ian Redmond, range states, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla, zoonoses

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Category: Diseases, Gorilla Range States, Gorilla tourism, Outreach & Awareness, Threats, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Aug 31 2009 | By: Daniel

Posted on behalf of Ian Redmond. Pictures will be added soon!

The idea of health care for wild gorillas might seem strange – especially in countries where human health care is so limited, and there are too few veterinarians for domestic livestock, let alone wildlife.  But ever since Dian Fossey asked the Morris Animal Foundation to help provide veterinary expertise for the mountain gorillas there has been a dedicated team of animal health professionals doing just that.

The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project has become a central part of the conservation efforts for the species, and since ebola became known as one of the major threats facing Western Lowland Gorillas and Central Chimpanzees, great ape health has risen up the agenda.

This is not as esoteric as it may sound to some people. Humans and the other great apes have such similar biochemistry that many pathogens can easily flourish in both. Diseases that we catch from other animals are known as zoonoses, and the list of zoonotic diseases seems to be growing.

Not only can we catch diseases from other apes, but with the rising number of tourists coming within coughing distance of habituated gorillas and chimpanzees, we pose a risk to them too. And with sanctuaries filling up with confiscated animals and seeking suitable release sites, the risk of sending diseases from captive animals into a wild population also needs to be considered, as does the risk faced by immunologically naïve ex-captives being released into forests full of pathogens against which they have little resistance.

To discuss these issues from a conservation perspective, the Great Ape Health Workshop was convened in Entebbe, Uganda from 21st to 14th August.   Part scientific symposium, part practical workshop, this was probably the biggest gathering of ape health experts and fieldworkers to date.   I had been asked to chair the afternoon session of the first day, and having studied gorilla parasites in the 1970s, was delighted to do so.

When thinking about biodiversity conservation, we should remember that protecting large animals also protects the many fascinating species that live in or on them – if there were no gorillas, the species specific gorilla lice, mites and worms would have no-where to go!  For four days, there were a lively exchanges of ideas and new technological developments, and much renewing of old friendships and building new ones.  It was also a great place to grab YoG Blog video interviews (though please bear I mind it might be a while before they appear on the site).

Cheers, Ian

Read Ian’s previous post here!

Tags: conservation, ebola, Gorilla tourism, gorillas, Ian Redmond, MGVP, range states, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla, zoonoses

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Category: Gorilla Range States, Outreach & Awareness, Press, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Aug 29 2009 | By: Daniel

20th August– As dawn broke, I realised why so many people say this is one of the most spectacular lodges on the planet.   Built on a hilltop, it has a 360 degree view, with Mount Muhabura to the north and the rest of the Virunga chain of volcanoes stretching off to the west; far below to the south lie the twin lakes of Bulera and Ruhondo, surrounded by shambas – small plots of land, each of which supports a family or two.  The rooms are beautifully furnished, simple but stylish with luxurious touches here and there, and with eco-loos and solar powered lights, the carbon footprint is minimal. 

Volcanoes Safaris also run sustainable development projects with the local communities, and at breakfast I enjoyed Virunga Honey – harvested from bee-hives kept along the edge of the park so the bees can forage in gorilla habitat.   Recently a bee-keeper was smoking one such hive to extract honey when the fire got out of control and spread into the park, burning up the slopes of Muhabura.   Fortunately, it did not get near any known gorilla habitat, but it was a stark reminder of how fragile an island of forest this is.  

The border with Uganda opens at 7.00am, but Uganda is in the next time zone so walking a few yards cost me an hour.  A taxi met me as arranged and, after a tyre change in Kisoro, we were climbing northeastwards towards Kabale where I hoped to catch the express bus to Kampala.  The taxi for the first stage was necessary because I had to be there by 5.00pm for another press briefing/reception at 5.30 at Makerere University, organised by the British High Commission.  

We pulled into Kabale at 10.45 and no-one had seen the express bus pass.  Was I in luck?  Three colourful buses were revving their engines and honking their horns, vying for passengers, and I tried to establish which one would arrive in Kampala first while agents from each tried to lure or man-handle me onto theirs.  I went for the blue one, whose driver said he was leaving right now, then watched the yellow one pull away. Never mind, I thought, the chap on the back seat holding a rather fine brown hen would make an interesting interviewee once we got under way.

These thoughts were interrupted by a dramatic melée in front of the bus, where a fist fight had broken out.  Fortunately, even though the protagonists (two versus one) were squaring up to each other like bare-knuckle prize-fighters, they were better at dodging than landing blows and no serious damage was done, except to the under-dog’s shirt which was ripped right off.   Like any playground fight, the crowd comprised those trying to separate the fighters, those just curious and those who couldn’t resist throwing a gratuitous punch at the backs of any fighter coming their way (you see the same behaviour in several social species).   Entertaining though this was, the driver’s “right now” had lasted half an hour and so I picked up my bags, got off and stood in front of the bus, telling the driver I’d get on when “right now” happened, but until then, I’d try to flag down any kind of vehicle actually moving towards Kampala. 

The timing was right because a couple of minutes later a 4WD pulled up, driven by a well dressed businessman going to Kampala.   It turned out his business was carrying people and goods, so we agreed on a price and zoomed off at 11.17.   Within an hour we overtook the yellow bus (Yesss! I thought), and apart from stopping to buy some vegetables we were making good time.   I was getting worried calls from the British High Commission at intervals, so when he slowed down to pick up more passengers, I said, “How much to buy all four places?”.   His foot went down on the accelerator and we agreed terms – he knew the University and would take me straight there.  

We crossed the Equator at 4.15 and when the BHC rang next, they figured they’d have to serve drinks and canapés until I arrived, fully expecting me to be an hour or two late.   Luckily with schools on holiday the evening traffic was kind to us and I had the satisfaction of arriving precisely at 5.30pm to meet the diplomats, reporters, dignitaries and conservation colleagues assembling on the lawn by the refreshment tent.  

The Hon. David Ebong MP spoke first.  As Chairman of Uganda’s Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change, he was very aware of the forest issues behind the YoG campaign (see ‘More than Trees’ in YoG downloads and www.4apes.com/carbon).   It was dusk as I began my Powerpoint presentation, and just before I spoke about the role of gorillas as seed-dispersal agents, a fine pair of hornbills glided low over the audience to their evening roost, reminding us that they too are seed dispersal agents for smaller seeds.  

Gorillas, however, are second only to elephants in both the size and number of seeds dispersed each day, so if we want healthy, bio-diverse tropical forests in the future, we must protect the gardeners of the forest today.   The CEO of Uganda Wildlife Authority, Moses Mapesa, helped take some of the Uganda-specific questions from the press.   It was a lively discussion, partly because illegal settlers have recently been evicted from some of Uganda’s forests, and the struggle to balance forest conservation and the aspirations of communities in and around forests is neither easy nor simple.  

I pointed out the fact that in the UK, National Parks are full of farmers, but they have to follow rules designed to maintain the habitats on their land to maintain biodiversity and the beauty of the landscape.  The challenge in tropical forests is to find ways of allowing communities therein to develop, but in ways that are compatible with maintaining the health of the forest – and payment for the global eco-system services provided by these forests – such as carbon sequestration and storage - should be a part of it.  

The evening had been a great success, if a close run thing at the start, and as I rolled up the YoG banner the BHC kindly donated for future such events on the tour, I couldn’t help but wonder what time the blue bus finally arrived in Kampala…
 
Coming soon –

21-24th August Coughs and chills might kill gorills, but ebola wipes out populations – thoughts from the Great Ape Health Workshop, Entebbe

25th – 27th Journey to Kinshasa

Read Ian’s previous post here!

Tags: conservation, gorillas, Ian Redmond, media, public transport, range states, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla

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Category: Community, Gorilla Range States, Mountain Gorillas, Outreach & Awareness, Press, Rwanda, Year of the Gorilla | Date: Aug 28 2009 | By: Daniel

26^th August -  Hi Folks! 

I’m sitting typing on a Ugandan bus, crawling up winding dirt roads towards Kisoro in the dawn light (after only 5 hours kip) with low mist in the valleys, a pink tinge in the sky behind and a distraught hen clucking in the arms of the passenger in front – I do so love Africa.   I’m a bit behind in my blogs again, so although I’m now heading out of Uganda to fly across the great congo basin to Kinshasa, let me tell you about my arrival a few days ago. 

19^th August - The day after my visit to Group 13 , the British Embassy in Kigali kindly hosted a press conference on the Year of the Gorilla and why I was undertaking this journey across the ten gorilla range states.   Although called at rather short notice, it was well attended by print, radio and local TV journalists. 

After my presentation on how saving the gorillas (and other seed dispersal agents) will help to save the world (from dangerous climate change), I invited questions.  The first was typically direct, “How much of this money you are raising is coming to Rwanda?”  

Fortunately, I shared the platform with Rosette Rugamba of the Rwanda Development Board, who spoke eloquently of Rwanda’s plans for gorilla conservation, including the possibility being explored of developing a buffer zone of tree plantations around the park boundary, and even reclaiming some of the land excised in the 1970s by the notorious EC-backed pyrethrum scheme. 

All options were being explored, including leasing privately owned land in key areas to allow regeneration of gorilla habitat – which brought to mind the private conservancies in southern Africa, where income per square km from wildlife tourism can be greater than from farming.  The journalists took copious notes and indeed covered the issues well (see for example http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=13993&article=18988). 

After doing my own interview with Rosette for the YoG Blog videos (DVDs are now winging their way to Bonn so should begin to appear on-line before too long), I headed down to the bus depot and bought a ticket on the next bus to Ruhengeri, sorry, Musanze - recently renamed as part of the attempt to move away from the negative connotations of the events of 15 years ago.

Like Kigali, Musanze is changing fast, especially with the construction of new hotels as local entrepreneurs seek to cash in on the tourism boom.  I was pleased to see that the Hotel Muhabura (built in 1954, same as me) was still taking on the competition, and yesterday grabbed a quick YoG interview with the proprietor, Gogo.  Reminiscing with her, I said I was surprised there was no plaque or display noting that Dian Fossey used to stay here. 

I first stayed in the Muhabura in 1977 when Dian and I had come down the mountain for one of her occasional public lectures (yes, Dian did do outreach before the term was invented, though this is seldom remembered) and have stayed there many times since.  Dian always asked for Room 11, and I suggested this might be used to raise funds if guests who stayed there were asked to pay a premium rate which could include a donation to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the US-based NGO that continues the research and joint anti-poaching patrols (with the park guards) that Dian started.

It was dark by the time the bus pulled into Musanze, and as I stood beside my rucksack surrounded by curious faces, it took me right back to my first arrival in 1976.  Dian had written saying Ruhengeri was a small town and if I waited with my luggage, her porters would soon find me.  They didn’t, but the reason for that became clear when, as Dian had also requested, I picked up the post from the Post Office Box.  Among the letters was the telegram with the date of my arrival… so I ended up delivering my own telegram.  

This time, however, I was soon found by my good friend Francois Nkinziwikhe, conservationist, musician and choreographer, who strode out of the darkness wearing a comical gorilla woolly hat, made by women in the local community in another of his latest initiatives.  Francois is a big, energetic man and a compulsive organiser.  He trained the local dance troupe that my brother Chris and partners have twice brought to tour the UK (http://www.caribzones.com/balletinganzo.html), but there was never enough money in the shoestring budget for him to accompany them.   This evening he’d enlisted the help of local businessman Faustin Musanganya (also building a new hotel, the Gorilla Twin Lakes) to give me a lift to Virunga Lodge, where Volcanoes Safaris had kindly offered to put me up for the night.  

We had a useful meeting to discuss his various projects, one of which is eco-churches – which enlists the good environmental advice given in the Bible to raise awareness through religious communities of the need for conservation and sustainable development.  I put him in touch with a similar group in Cameroon called REAP – the Religious Environmental Awareness Programme, and would encourage any church groups able to help to get in touch. 

At the end of an affable and productive evening, I left him my single malt and he gave me one of his gorilla hats – maybe they could become the new fashion for winter sports?  Do get in touch if you can make this happen..

Read Ian’s previous post here!

Tags: Dian Fossey, ecochurches, Ian Redmond, outreach, Rwanda, tourism, Uganda, Year of the Gorilla

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 03 2009 | By: paula

Something very exciting is happening in the Virunga region. An ‘Inter-State agency’ is being created to coordinate conservation in the Virunga volcanoes called The ‘Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC)‘. The agency formalizes the ongoing collaboration between the three countries that share the Virungas, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda .

The GVTC’s will work to conserve, manage environmental resources and promote tourism in protected areas of the three countries especially the Virunga Park, which is home to hundreds of the only surviving mountain gorillas in the world. Administration of this agency will be vested in the Inter-Ministerial board, the Trans-boundary Core Secretariat and its affairs directly managed under an Executive Secretariat based in Rwanda.

With this new development, environmental management, law enforcement, gorilla census and tourism will be coordinated across the transboundary region.

We offer our heart felt congratulations to the ministers of the three countries and wish well in getting this initiative off the ground.

Tags: Congo, DR Congo, Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration, ICCN, Mountain Gorillas, ORTPN, Rwanda, Uganda, UWA, Virunga

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 26 2009 | By: paula

Uganda is celebrating that a new gorilla trekking site will be opened in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park this April.  This is Uganda’s fourth gorilla site. Managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Rushaga in Kisoro District, is being opened to allow more tourists to visit their 300 mountain gorillas in this tiny national park in southwest Uganda.

Meanwhile in England “A LOCAL Conservative councillor has been suspended by his party following a row over an internet blog.

Cllr Bob Allen is being investigated by Bolton’s Tory leader Cllr John Walsh after he posted a picture of a gorilla next to a story about a fellow councillor on his personal online blog”.

The guy should have been honored!

Tags: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Mountain Gorillas, Uganda, UWA, wildlifedirect

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 22 2009 | By: paula

 Just two years ago we were celebrating that mountain gorilla populations were increasing especially in Uganda. However, a recent study has just poured water on these findings and suggests that that nest counting methods overestimate the number of gorillas.

Some gorillas construct more than one nest per night

According to to research conducted in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, mountain gorilla populations may have actually declined. Researchers estimate gorilla numbers by counting the number of ‘nests’ which the animals build each night. This method suggests that there are 336 gorillas left in this population accounting for half of the worlds mountain gorillas. However, recent DNA tests from dung were conducted by Katerina Guschanski of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany, and reveal that there are actually far fewer mountain gorillas. She found evidence of 302 separate genetic codes or individual gorillas, suggesting that the nest counting method overestimates the population size because some gorillas create more than one nest. The study was reported in the New Scientist magazine. A previous genetic study put the population at 340 individuals. Dr. Guschanski’s work suggests that this population has declined by 10% and while some news reports are saying mountain gorillas are in dire sraits, scientists are more cautious and are not really sure if the populations are decreasing, or stable.

Many forget that mountain gorillas have always been restricted to montane forest habitats which are found in a very small part of Africa on the tops of mountains. Although it is unlikely that populations were ever much greater than they are today due to habitat restrictions, it is of concern that they are threatened by habitat exploitation, poaching and disease caused by greater contact with humans. Climate warming however may be one of the greatest threats which will accelerate all the other impacts. Temperature incraeses have already melted many of the glaciers on the East African mountains, and as this continues it will cause mountain gorilla habitat to recede up the mountains.

The Virunga population of mountain gorillas was estimated to number about 380 individuals in 2007 (up from 260 in 1978). These figures are  considered accuate because they are based actual sightings. We are awaiting for the outcome of an ongoing gorilla census in the Virunga National park, so far nothing alarming has been reported.

If it is true that the Bwindi population is shrinking, then this is bad news for mountain gorillas - it is estimated that there are only around 700 in existence, this work suggests at least a 5% decline of the global population.

Mountain gorilla deaths in the last 18 months have been reported on a number of blogs

10 were killed allegedly by rangers in 2007

7 died of natural causes in Rwanda

3 Eastern lowland gorillas in  Congo have also died

1 died in a tragic accident in Mt. Tshiaberimu

2 died of disease in Mt Tshiaberimu

Gorilla doctors in DR Congo, Uganda and Rwanda are working hard to monitor gorilla health and treat any injuiries or sicknesses. Read Dr.Lucy Spelmans blog for more details.

Tags: Bwindi, DNA, DR Congo, Gorilla numbers, mountain gorilla, population, Uganda

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