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Here is a short video of the first day that Dr. Jan Ramer from Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, and Debby Cox from the Jane Goodall Institute supervised the integration of the four orphan gorillas in February. You can read about that HERE. We’ve come a long way in the last month from the constant screaming of little 4-year-old gorillas the first few weeks.

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You might not think of an electric fence as a conflict-resolution tool, but it is. It’s a beautiful thing - not in the literal sense with its wires and posts - but for how it works and what it can do.

Last year, Virunga National Park built an electric fence in the northern sector along a stretch of forest that ran parallel to farmland. Although the population of elephant and buffalo in the forest isn’t huge - perhaps only 100 elephants - these animals had discovered the new flavors of agricultural crops, liked them, came out of the forest for their meals far too often, and even killed some villagers. The relationship between farmers and animals tends to go downhill fast when one starts eating the others’ food and killing. Read the full story »

For the hydro-electric dam being constructed in the north, a custom designed wooden frame is used to represent the concrete part of the canal and measure the canal’s width and depth to make sure it is cut correctly.

We had another fairly quiet week with some significant community and security successes.

Community:

• Engineer Michel Verleyen accompanied me on an inspection of the hydro-electric project near Mutsora Station in the north of the park. The canal is nearly complete and the contractor is ready to lay the concrete base for the dam and canal.
• At the fishing settlement of Kyanvinyonge on the northern shore of Lake Edward, several hundred people from the community attended a meeting to resolve a dispute over land invasions.  With the help of Norbert Mushenzi (Deputy Director of Virunga), a local politician, and members of a local association, we succeeded in establishing a dialogue committee and some constructive solutions to resolve a long-standing conflict between the park and certain members of local communities. The conflicts have often led to violence in the past, including the killing of ranger Safari in 2009 and Mayani two weeks ago. Read the full story »

In two previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2), we told you about the plan to integrate our four orphan gorillas in the hopes that they will become a family. Ndeze and Ndakasi, the two 4-year olds who were orphaned at a few months old, have lived together like sisters from the beginning. Seven-year-old male Kaboko, and nine-year-old female Maisha have lived together for years. The process of bringing all four together has taken some twists and turns, not always going quite as planned, and taking longer than originally expected. Following is the story of another stage of the process. To see a photo album with more pictures, click HERE.

For an hour, gorilla screams could be heard at the park headquarters office a few minutes walk from the Senkwekwe Center where the orphan gorilla integration was taking place. Gorilla screams can sound quite dramatic, but with our two four-year-old gorillas (as with human children), it’s usually more melodrama than trauma.

After three weeks of giving the gorillas time to see each other daily across an isle, the door between the cages was opened for the first time on March 12th making it possible for all four gorillas to be together. There was no way to predict the outcome, so Dr. Jan Ramer from Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) came to supervise this stage in case of injuries…and there were a few minor ones.

One of the young gorillas clutches a caretakers leg for security during the integration. (Photo by Molly Feltner)

In Dr. Jan’s report, she described the first hour: “When Kaboko approached Ndakasi she screamed, which brought Ndeze to her assistance, and from that moment on Ndeze was excited and hyper-vigilant.  Maisha displayed, but did not bother Ndeze or Ndakasi. Kaboko, however, became more aggressive and bit Ndeze several times on the head, back and leg.  This interaction was stopped with water (throwing water on the gorillas) and Kaboko was separated from the others.” Caretaker Andre entered the cage to check Ndeze and found one puncture wound on her head, several abrasions on her back, and a deep bruise on her left thigh, but all wounds were superficial.

Andre examines the wound on Ndeze’s head from Kaboko’s bite. (Photo by Molly Feltner)

Change of Plans
The decision was then made to keep the male out of the mix and give the three females a chance to adjust and hopefully bond. Since 9-year-old Maisha is the true leader among the four gorillas, Andre and Dr. Jan felt that Maisha needed to become the protector of the small ones so that she would keep Kaboko from hurting them when he was reintroduced into the mix.

Ndeze and Maisha are still working through their relationship. In the gorilla world, everyone needs to know their place and respect their elders, something that 4-year old Ndeze is having difficulty with.

“Ndeze and Ndakasi didn’t want to be with Maisha,” Andre explained. “Ndeze was every time screaming and trying to attack Maisha, but Maisha was very calm because she knows they are only children, and she can’t fight with them. But Ndeze didn’t accept to be led by Maisha. She wants to be the chief and lead Ndakasi. That is the problem.”

For the last two weeks, Andre and the other caretakers have been monitoring the three girls while the first week they spent the days together, and then later the nights as well. So far it has been going well. No more screaming, no more diarrhea, no more running from Maisha…except when food is involved.

“Maisha gives the little ones no problems except when it comes to food,” Andre says. “Even in the forest, the Silverback must eat first. It’s like a competition for food. Maisha likes food so much and she doesn’t want to see the baby eating good food, so she wants to snatch it. But Ndeze runs away or attacks Maisha.” Still, most of the signs are good. Maisha even groomed Ndakasi for a few minutes one day.

Maisha tries to intimidate Ndeze into giving her the food, but Ndeze holds her ground, although won’t look in Maisha’s eyes. In this case, Maisha did not forcefully take it.

For Andre perhaps the most difficult part in this process is letting go of his baby gorillas.

“When I am there, the process cannot go well. So I have to stay away,” Andre says sadly. “Sometimes I need to play with Ndeze and Ndakasi, but our objective is to make these gorillas like other gorillas in the forest, to have a natural life. So I need to stay away so we can reach our goal. It’s OK for me to let go of the girls. It’s just not possible to be with them like before. When I’m with them and playing, I feel very well, but I can’t do it now.”

It’s a sacrifice Andre is willing to make for the greater good of giving his two little gorilla girls a real family, even if they don’t know they want it right now.

Ndakasi has a small scratch on her face from when Maisha took food from her.

**Sarah’s father has requested that in lieu of wedding gifts, donations be given to the Virunga Widows and Rangers Fund. To do this, look under “Donate One-Time” to the right of this blog, and the third item down is “Widows and Rangers Fund”.  If you would like to donate $20, place a 1 in the box and click the red “Donate Now” button at the bottom of the list. If you would like to donate more, type 2 or more to multiply by $20.  You will be taken to Paypal where you can pay with a Paypal account or any major credit card. Thank you for your support!**

Imagine you have been hired to manage a brand new luxury lodge. It’s a big job under any circumstances. In this case, it’s a bigger job than you might imagine.

It’s still under construction. The closest store of any kind is an hour and a half away on a bumpy dirt road. There’s no municipal electricity or running water, and no experienced staff to hire. You are starting from scratch in just about every way imaginable.

Sarah Bendalow, new manager of Mikeno Lodge.

This is Sarah Bendelow’s new job. She arrived on Sunday to begin from the beginning, to put together a staff, train them, and organize everything for an opening planned for July. It’s coming up fast and there’s a lot to do.

One of the first and highest priorities is hiring and training the kitchen staff in everything from hygiene to cooking completely unfamiliar Western foods.

“Most of the staff will have zero experience,” Sarah explained. “That can be a daunting task but can also work to your advantage because you can train them exactly as you want. Start with a blank canvas rather than having someone who may have developed bad work habits.” Read the full story »

We have a new photo album on our Facebook page of the first three weeks with our bloodhound puppies. Click here to go to the album.  If you aren’t one of our Facebook fans yet, please join!

These dogs will be trained for anti-poaching by world-renowned bloodhound trainer and vet, Dr. Marlene Zähner. It’s an important program and will take time with on-going expenses for care and training. If you would like to assist in this program, you can donate toward monthly expenses or with one-time gifts. Find the “bloodhound” item on the right of this blog to contribute. Thank you for your support!

Here are a few samples from the album from last week:

Read the full story »

This week was dominated by the whole question of oil exploration in the park, and culminated in the Minister of the Environment’s announcement on Thursday to suspend all oil exploration. Other then that, it was the quietest week we’ve had this year, which was extremely welcome.

Dr. Jan Ramer treats Stella with medications while dog handler, Christian, holds a line of oxygen to Stella’s nose to help her breathe.

Rangers:

• You may recall that our bloodhound puppy, Stella, became ill last week. Although she was on antibiotics, a fever persisted off and on through the week. On Friday Stella took a serious downturn, struggling to breathe with lungs apparently filling with liquid. Dr. Jan Ramer from MGVP rushed over from Rwanda and administered emergency treatment that worked to clear the lungs. Stella has improved radically over the last 3 days and Sunday evening played happily on the lawn with the other dogs. Our four dog handlers surrounded Stella with loving care through the whole crisis. Read the full story »

Simon Cowell from Wildlife SOS interviews Emmanuel de Merode for an episode of the Animal Planet show.

For four days this past week, Wildlife SOS, an Animal Planet series, filmed at Virunga National Park. It was the first time for the small crew of three (Simon Cowell, Jim Incledon, and Jason Giberti) to ever visit Congo or see gorillas in the wild, and they seemed quite impressed by the entire experience.

The trip was jointly organized by Virunga National Park and Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) in order to tell the story of our orphan gorillas and show the integration process of the four orphans, which MGVP is assisting with. The crew also wanted to tell the story of our rangers, the work they do to protect the mountain gorillas and other animals, and the dangers they often face.

Innocent shows host Simon Cowell a handmade snare of wood and spikes meant for an elephant. Read the full story »