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Protecting the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga
Life is Good for the Gorilla Orphans
Ndeze & Ndakasi continue to thrive in their new forest home, the Senkwekwe Centre. Here is some video footage shot by Andre on a Handycam and edited by Katya. Already it seems as if their life in noisy Goma never happened. It is all strangely serene and natural.
This may take some time...
When the orphans first moved to the Senkwekwe Centre we thought the baboons may be a problem as they can be so aggressive and there are lots of them here. But a few electric shocks from the wire fence has scared them off, fortunately. The Colobus monkeys have also been curious, but Ndeze has now started to try and chase them away, or shake the trees from which they are peering on down.
Interestingly Ndeze has started building gorilla nests in the tree tops, thus exhibiting normal gorilla behavior. Ndakasi’s hair - that was a reddy color - is becoming more and more black. And neither orphan has suffered any health problems since they arrived here on 1st December 2009.
There have been some glitches. We have had a couple of major storms here at Rumangabo that have blow the electrics of the entire park station. This means that for a time the electric fence has stopped working (this fence is more to keep animals out, rather than Ndeze and Ndakasi in). But we have now installed additional equipment, both at the Senkwekwe Centre and also where the main generator is for the station, so we hope that this will not happen again.
We have also had a huge amount of rain since early February, and some water has been entering under the door of the gorilla house. And there are also some signs of humidity in the clean room of the gorilla house. But both of these issues are also being dealt with right now. We need to dig channels (that will not wash away with the heavy rain) to divert the water, and also erect additional roofing on the gorilla house.
Today I gave the 4 gorilla carers new uniforms that I brought from the UK that I purchased last month with donations made on this website. You will see photos shortly but they look extremely smart in their new forest green outfits. I also bought up a bicycle today from Goma to make it a bit easier for the carers to fetch their drinking water. Water for cleaning, cooking and washing comes from the roof of the gorilla house (it goes into a tank) but we need source water for human and gorilla consumption.
Thanks again everyone for your support on this project. Construction for the next phase will be starting very soon!
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13 Responses to “Life is Good for the Gorilla Orphans”
Oh boy, do they look happy! Great video Andre & Katya.
Thanks for the relaxing and enjoyable view. Glad the girls are happy. Good job, Andre and Katya! Looking forward to seeing pics of new uniforms.
thank you so much for the vid. Lately it seems that all news for wild animals is bad. To see these two is so uplifting. I hope they live a long, long time in peace.
It’s really wonderful to see them wandering around. I think they really love each other. I also have the impression that they learn a lot but………not from mama or papa. Who is teaching them or do they all have it in them ?
Keep loving them !
They have the life now!
They love their bottles don’t they?
So good to see them happy and good to hear normal instinctive gorilla behaviour is kicking in.
Thank you Andre and Katya! The girls look so happy and it’s so nice to see them among natural vegetation shaking limbs and being gorillas. I am sure this move has taken lots of worry away from the caregivers who are taking such wonderful of them. They will be much healthier at the center.
Oh my goodness..these two get me so excited…. to see what they are up to! Thank you thank you Andre and Katya for the fun, peaceful video! You guys are so lucky to be close to these babies! So good to hear happy news from the front lines! I hope only blessings come their way!
Thanks for the video - and the great care you give these kids! They seem so very happy! I love to see them play and love each other.
Stay safe…
Thanks for all your comments. Roger - I do think that the gorillas quite simply have a lot of this behavior in them. The Rangers can try and teach/show the gorillas some things, but obviously they cannot climb into the tree tops and make nests! Undoubtedly by being in this natural habitat it just encourages the orphans to behave more like wild gorillas.
It sounds beautiful and restful there..they look contented and relaxed.
Thank you so much. You gave me the gift of seeing a real, contented, gorilla child “smile!”
If I ever forget what contentment is, I will watch this video, again and again.
These gorillas look so happy! If all gorillas and humans could be so happy it would be wonderful.