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A glimpse of the Congolese Alps… the Rwenzori Mountain Range located on the border between DR Congo and Uganda.

This is a post by Thierry and Catherine, of World Wildlife Fund. They completed the ascent of the Rwenzori Mountains in Virunga last month - a stunning 5-day trek that takes you through rainforest, waterfalls, lakes, glaciers and rich alpine forest. This is certainly one of Africa’s most beautiful areas. Read the full story »

The Munyaga family as you know is made up of 3 males and one female, Bilali. Well a few weeks ago the males succeeded in luring another female into the fold – a non-habituated female that we have named Nyabigoro, after a Ranger who recently passed away.

At first Nyabigoro rushed to hide behind the bamboo as soon as we appeared in the forest – but now she is becoming curious as to who we are, and we now have the first photos that I would like to share.

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Ndeze & Ndakasi, our baby mountain orphan gorillas, continue to thrive in Goma under the watchful eye of their carers, headed by Andre Bauma, and the veterinarians at MGVP, Dr Eddy and Dr Jacques.

Ndeze goes wild!

Here are the latest photos taken last week which I could not resist sharing with you.

Ndakasi with carer Richard Ndakasi

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Tourism in the Gorilla Sector of Virunga National Park officially started in May this year. This was a major breakthrough and a moment of great anticipation after over a year of fighting between the army and rebel factions had prevented myself and my Ranger colleagues from patrolling the sector and monitoring the gorillas.

Since May we have had over 500 visitors, of various nationalities including English, American, Australian, French and Belgian. It is so wonderful to be able to show off our gorillas again! Here are the actual numbers of tourists:

May – 5
June – 13
July – 144
August – 284
September – 60
October to date – 11

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You absolutely must watch this video. If it makes you chuckle half as much as I did, it will brighten up your day.

Now that briquette production is well underway with 490 presses distributed around the periphery of Virunga, and over 3,000 local people employed in making briquettes – we now need to boost our marketing effort in Goma.

That is what this video is all about.

So if you want to see a bunch of gorillas, atop a moving truck, with music blaring and driving the local people nuts – click on the video below.

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We now have 70 Virunga Guardians in the Gorilla Sector – all contributing toward protecting Virunga and keeping the gorillas’ fiefdom free from snares. Each Guardian has set up a recurring donation of $25 per month – so each month we get $1,750 that goes toward Ranger patrols in the Gorilla Sector, exclusively. It makes a huge difference and I should like to thank all of you for helping us with this critical task.

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I am now back in Virunga, with baby Alexander in tow. I got back last week - after a few months away that simply flew by. I shan’t overload you with photos of Alexander (Alexandre for you francophones!) but here is one I thought you may chuckle at.

Adele is his new nanny - and she seems to be adapting as swiftly as Alexander.

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The killing of elephants in Virunga over recent years, by both the green-clad soldiers and poachers, had led to a catastrophic decline in numbers throughout the park. You may remember in May last year Emmanuel blogged about the increase in the demand for ivory – which was menacing these majestic creatures.

Now you will be pleased to hear that a very large herd of about 130 elephants is at Kabaraza – in the central sector of the park just south of Lake Edward. Read the full story »