A few nights ago we received a call from the head of Bikenge patrol post, who told us a very young male gorilla was found alone in a cornfield two kilometers outside the park in the village of Kasura. Our rangers ended up spending the night in the cornfield protecting the baby because they needed
Buffalo Killing
A few days ago our deputy warden of the southern sector, Sekibibi, received a message that a buffalo had been slaughtered in Kahunga, a troublesome wildlife corridor where some of our elephants have been killed. Sekibibi took seven of our rangers to the site to collect the poachers and burn the meat, but they were
Search for Missing Mountain Gorillas to Begin in Virunga Park After 2 Months of War
Search for Missing Mountain Gorillas to Begin in Virunga Park After 2 Months of War
2012-07-19T13:19:43+00:00 NewsDespite of the ongoing civil war in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the government authorities and M23 rebel commanders have authorized the park’s rangers to search for the missing gorilla families in rebel-held territory in the Mountain Gorilla Sector of Congo’s Virunga National Park. On Tuesday 24 July, a team of 45 rangers will
Baby Mountain Gorilla in the Rugendo Family Killed
It is with sadness that I must report the death a Janja’s baby, Burungani. A week ago, we received news the Rugendo family was eating maize and sorghum crops outside the park near Sarambwe. Such behavior puts the mountain gorillas in grave danger of being injured or killed by angry villagers, so rangers from the
New Volcano Eruption Trek
On the evening of 6 November, Nyamulagira volcano erupted in a spectacular display of fire, ash, and lava, lighting up the sky in bright orange. By day five, warden Emmanuel de Merode, and Tourism Director Cai Tjeenk Willink had organized a new trek for tourists to the eruption site following a safety approval from volcanologist
Monitoring the Virunga Mountain Gorilla Families
In the last few weeks, the rangers and I have been working hard to do a complete assessment of our six habituated gorilla families. We included six new rangers in the survey process for training purposes as many will be deployed in the gorilla sector eventually. Some gorilla families are much easier to access than