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Mapendo’s 4th child and Kabirizi’s 32nd (yes, you read correctly!) has been named Ntamuvulira, after Innocent’s father Silvestre who passed away in March. His 2 surnames were Mburanumwe and Ntamuvulira – and the Rangers chose Ntamuvulira. (There has already been a gorilla named Mburanumwe, and she was named after Innocent’s cousin. Sadly she was one of the gorillas killed during the 2007 massacre).

Ntamuvulira – soon after the birth. We have yet to know if this gorilla is a boy or a girl.

Silvestre was a Ranger for 42 years, including many stints in the Gorilla Sector. He was involved in habituation of gorillas when it first got underway in the mid 1980s.

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Kadogo – so-called because of his small stature (“kadogo” means small in Swahili) – lives in the Munyaga group, an unusual family composed of 3 Silverbacks, 2 adult females and baby Kakule, who turns 3 this month. Kadogo was born in August 2007 – a time when we did not have access to the Gorilla Sector because of the war. This is not quite a distant memory, but certainly seems a long time ago when I think of everything we have achieved since then.

In recent days the Rangers have been observing Kadogo develop a new bond with Kakule.

Kadogo bonding with Kakule in the forests of Virunga

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We have just produced this leaflet in English and in French with all the crucial information to plan your visit to Virunga’s Mountain Gorillas. Many thanks Philippa for a wonderful design. Please leave me a comment with any questions. Thanks.

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That most imposing and aloof of Silverbacks – Kabirizi - is continuing his personal campaign to guarantee the survival of his species.

The latest addition to the Kabirizi family of Mountain Gorillas

In contrast with his long-time rival Humba, who seems to enjoy being photographed, Kabirizi is reticent from human attention and aggressive towards people so it’s difficult for the Rangers to observe the Silverback and his family, and their life as a group remains somewhat opaque. But despite this we can report that one week ago there was another addition to the family’s baby-boom. Watchful and protective as always Kabirizi didn’t let us take pictures of the proud mother or her baby, whose arrival takes the number of individuals in the group to an astonishing 36.

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The survivors of the massacre of 2007 are yet to change their ways despite a change of leader. The once solitary Silverback Bukima has been in charge for two years but the family is yet to recover from the massacre or to find its equilibrium.

Bukima

There was the short period of co-direction with Pili-Pili, who was forced to leave the group and flee with the sub-adult female Bavukahe. And before that the Black back Mukunda led the group and, for a time, tried to defend it from the would-be kings Pili-Pili and Bukima. Sadly for Mukunda it wasn’t to be, and he left the group for the solitary life. The cloud of Mukunda’s departure had its silver lining: Bukima was free to impose himself upon the rest of the group, and life became a lot more peaceful.

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The last ten years have been hard for Virunga, not least because the park has served as a refuge for many of the protagonists in our protracted regional war, and so has been besieged from all points of the compass by armed groups. In order to re-establish control of the area and provide security for its inhabitants the government established its own military presence in the park, deploying around 800 FARDC soldiers to various places across Virunga. Now, after a great deal of debate, the ICCN has convinced the military authorities that it’s time to leave: they are evacuating their troops - some of whom are very cooperative and others a little disgruntled - and re-deploying outside the park. This is a small but very significant step on Virunga’s road to recovery.

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