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We have just suffered another deadly attack by rebels – this time from a newly created group which calls itself the Mai Mai Mayangose.

The militias attacked the patrol post of Nyaleke (10km east of Beni) at around midnight a few days ago.  The 9 Rangers defending the patrol post held off the attack for two hours.  We believe that there were about 40 militiamen.  During the attack, Ranger Anangana was killed.  He was 55, due to retire this year, and had served the park for 30 years.   Another Ranger, Levico, was very severely wounded with two bullet wounds in the abdomen and a machete wound across the side of his face that broke his lower jaw.  He remains in a coma at Beni hospital.

Ranger Anangana, aged 55, killed two weeks before he was due to retire.

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Baby Ndarundenga, the 6-month old son of Maheshe and Kabirizi, has been found dead on the forest floor. We have no idea yet how the baby died, as there are no signs of external injury and the Rangers who monitor the gorillas every day had not noticed anything wrong.

Maheshe with Ndarundenga, just after his birth on 14 November 2009

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Ndakasi - one of Congo’s two orphan mountain gorillas - turned three on 15 April 2010 despite a traumatic and difficult start to life when her mother was killed in June 2007.

Rangers found little Ndakasi clinging to her mother’s breast, in shock and very frightened, and suffering from pneumonia. Today Ndakasi climbs trees, explores her surroundings at the Senkwekwe Centre, and has a very healthy appetite. Read the full story »

During the past 6 months we have been facing difficult challenges with the sale of fuel briquettes in and around Goma.  The most recurrent complaint from our customers with regards to briquettes has been smoke and efficiency. So we have just completed a re-training of our 600 pressing machine groups around Virunga, we have restructured the number of people working with the presses on the ground, and we have changed the ingredients of the fuel briquettes slightly. We have also reviewed the packaging, and cut the selling price. So we have been busy!

Fuel efficient stoves, donated by Mercy Corps, burn briquettes provided by WWF.

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Most of you know Katya - he does all of the video editing for this website and has been working with us for over a year. Well, in his spare time he also makes music. He wrote for example a song called Makala Ya Sasa (”The New Charcoal” in Swahili) which you have heard being played on this blog (with the guys in the gorilla costumes) - and indeed most people in and around Goma now know this tune, that aims to bring awareness to using briquettes instead of charcoal. Read the full story »

Mapendo - a 21-year old adult female in the Kabirizi family - has just given birth! This is her fourth known child, after Kanamaharagi, Kamoso and Bageni. We are extremely happy with this news - and somehow it seems to alleviate the sadness of Buhanga’s passing last week.

This photo was taken yesterday. You can just see the baby, kept very close to Mapendo. Kabirizi was right around the corner! Read the full story »

Five endangered chimpanzees and two monkeys, that were dehydrated, malnourished and kept in filthy conditions, have been seized by the Congolese Wildlife Authority in the city of Goma in eastern DR Congo and re-homed in two separate sanctuaries after 3 months of complex legal, political and logistical procedures.

These 2 male chimps - Padda and Athanga - were neglected in Goma, along with 3 other chimps and 2 monkeys.

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Buhanga, the 23 year old solitary Silverback of Congo’s Gorilla Sector, has died. He was found yesterday near Gatovu patrol post, his favorite haunt, lying face down in a stream struggling to breath. Innocent, Dr Magda and the Rangers were with him when he took his last breaths some 30 minutes later. Today Dr Jan will perform the necropsy to determine the cause of death, which we believe to be natural. He will then be buried in the Gorilla Cemetary at Rumangabo.

(See Update with new photos at the end of this entry, posted 6 hours later).

Buhanga had been a solitary gorilla for many years, and did not have any offspring that we knew of. His father was killed in crossfire in 1997. Read the full story »