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Patrol post still smoldering from the fire of an attack.

Last weekend, Sept 24th and 25th, a Virunga patrol post at the fishing village of Vitshumbi on Lake Edward was attacked. Fortunately the rangers received an order to withdraw from this position well before the attack and so received no injury. Unfortunately, the damage to property was severe. The patrol station, a stone building, was set on fire, and a paillotte, a natural wood and thatch building, burned to the ground. Boats and engines were seriously damaged or completely destroyed and rangers’ houses looted.

The attack appeared to be retaliation following an incident between our rangers and armed poachers the previous day where one poacher was killed. ICCN (Congolese Wildlife Authority) has requested an investigation by the military court, which is on-going.

The charred ground where the paillotte used to stand.

One of several damaged motors from the patrol boats.

Main Lodge Entry

There’s a whirlwind of frenzied activity right now to finish Mikeno Lodge in the next few weeks, which feels oh-so-close to completion, but not quite there yet. Cai, the project manager, would love to tell you all the wild and crazy tales of building this lodge, but as you can imagine, it’s the last thing he has time for at the moment.

There are trenches and water towers and electric lines and water pipes and landscaping and fixtures and window glass…all in some stage of near-completion. And there are unfinished sections simply waiting on materials to arrive, long past their scheduled delivery date, causing much dismay for those in charge.

And the rains have come, often in a wild torrential downpour that includes hail, creating paths of slimy mud and a slowdown of work.

But it’s clearly moving fast now, and the progress each week is phenomenal.

It will be a beautiful place. Here are some photos from the last two weeks, minus all the mud, mess, and mania.

Looking from the entry into one section of the main lodge and the bar.

Beautiful natural wood and thatch roof in the main lodge.

One section of the main lodge.

Exterior of main lodge where the large terrace will extend (one of those materials that hasn’t arrived yet).

Kitchen in the main lodge.

One of the 12 private bungalows where guests will stay.

Interior of a bungalow.

The path leading to one of the bungalows.

Workers put the finishing touches on a chimney.

It’s been a rough week where security is concerned in the central and northern sectors. On the positive side, the program for rangers’ widows, the lodge construction, and the anti-poaching bloodhound program are all successfully moving forward.

Ranger Michel’s widow Valeri (back row right), with 3 of her 6 children.

Rangers

• After years of planning and effort, most of the key pieces are finally coming together for our program to support the widows and orphans of rangers who have died while protecting the park. This involves setting up the Fallen Rangers Fund (which we have previously called the Widows Fund), raising monthly support for the widows from individuals like you, and getting support from larger donors to fund other important long-term parts of the program. Probably the most important piece before anything can be implemented properly is to register all the widows so we can set up bank accounts and monitor everything efficiently. Our new Human Resources manager, Fantassin, has just completed the first step of registering all but three of the widows from 2005 to now, from all sections of this large park. This is the first step in setting up bank accounts and regular payments. Keep in mind that none of these widows have email and most don’t have mobile phones, or can’t afford to buy credit for them. Communication in Congo is a bit more complicated, so this is a big step.
• Thanks to an extremely generous grant from the Swiss organization Zurich Animal Protection, our anti-poaching bloodhounds will get a new kennel. Construction began this week, and is moving swiftly. The dogs and all of us who live in the nearby camp will be happy when it’s completed. Hopefully the early morning wake-up call of barking bloodhounds will subside a bit when they are fed in their kennel in the morning. Thank you Zürcher Tierschutz!

The new dog kennel under-construction. You can see the small wooden houses in the background where the dogs are currently living.

Security

• Although the southern sector has been quiet and safe, it has been a week of immense tension around Lake Edward with some serious security incidents in the north and central part of the park. One incident involved a shootout between our rangers and poachers on the shores of Lake Edward in which one poacher was killed. This of course has led to an inquiry because of the loss of life.
• Thirteen Mai Mai militia were reported near the area of Muramba, all armed with AK 47s. We have received intelligence that suggests this group may target our rangers.
• Some poachers with bushmeat were arrested near Mutsora. The recovered meat was primarily from Thomas’ Kob and waterbuck. One of the three poachers was Ugandan and so handed over to the Ugandan Wildlife Authorities at Queen Elizabeth National Park across the border.
• We had two serious attacks on two different patrol posts, one in the central sector and one in the north. In the second attack near Vitshumbi, one attacker was accidentally killed by his own men.
• The insecurity has hit the local population as well. Sixteen fishermen were kidnapped by FDLR militia who are asking $3000 in ransom. There is a report that the men are buried up to their waist to prevent escape.

A beautiful bungalow interior of Mikeno Lodge - just waiting to be furnished. A small lounge area will circle the fireplace.

Tourism

• The lodge is nearing completion. I know we’ve said this before, but we are clearly nearing the end with electric and water lines going in, water tanks installed, bathroom fixtures nearly finished, kitchen completed, and landscaping taking place. The final step will be furnishing and decorating, which is a couple of weeks away. This lodge is a milestone for the park, the first of this kind, and hopefully one that will bring income to help finance some projects and operating costs of the park.

Kitchen for Mikeno Lodge

by Gilbert Dillis, security officer for the park

Rangers on Patrol - ©Brent Stirton/Getty Images

I went on a patrol with the rangers on Tuesday. The mission of the patrol was to penetrate the forest to check up on forest destruction from charcoal.  I also wanted to assess the effectiveness of our patrols, which is an important part of my work.

The procedure is pretty standard.  The patrol leader gives a briefing. About fifteen men make their way into a green mass of vegetation. It’s critical that each ranger knows exactly what his place is within the patrol.
  Once the order to depart is given, the patrol moves into the thick forest.

On these kinds of patrols, we move along virtually invisible small tracks but the rangers are familiar with the terrain.  The forest is on volcanic ground covered with large rocks, making movement all the more difficult.

We have to move quietly, following pre-established instructions, and remaining constantly vigilant.   Too many rangers have been killed after falling into an ambush in this kind of terrain. Distances between rangers on patrol must be respected, not to close, not too far.

On reaching a clearing, the patrol leader orders the men to stop without saying a word, and sends a small team to inspect the way ahead.  This is a patch of forest known to shelter charcoal producers, poachers, and also armed groups. Vigilance is crucial. We stop, we listen.  This time we hear only the distant hooting of a group of chimpanzees.

We continue beyond the clearing, into a deep patch of forest. With the strong rains of these last few days, we wade knee deep through the mud.  We don’t allow for any complaining. Every one knows that silence is our most important defence.

Clearing out marijuana that is planted after the illegal charcoal is made.

Finally we reach the charcoal sites, and take note of the fact that the area remains intact since the last patrol a few weeks ago. The destruction of the forest in this area, at least, seems to have stopped. The patrol leader decides to follow another track, and we reach a small cleared area where the men note that extensive marijuana fields have been planted. The fields are destroyed and we move on.

The patrol continues to advance on other paths, but time passes quickly. After a small halt to recover, the patrol leader announces that it is time to return. The men, who are still always quiet, arrive back at the patrol station where the vehicles wait for them.

This was a short patrol, but useful both to show that the park is present in the area, but also enable our new to get used to operating in hostile terrain.  It’s very reassuring to see that they can navigate effectively through the forest.  Seven months’ training in Lulimbi has been put to good use.

A Virunga forest - ©Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Video by Katya

This video is for the Widows and Fallen Rangers Fund, a project to raise regular monthly support for the families of rangers killed while protecting the mountain gorillas and other wildlife of Virunga National Park.

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If you would like to join the team of people from around the world who are helping these widows survive, please see the “Donate Monthly” column to the right and choose an amount under “Support for Ranger Widows.”  If you would prefer to help with a one-time gift, scroll down to the section marked “Donate One-Time” and select “Widows and Rangers Fund.”

Our goal is for each of the 150+ widows to receive $30 per month. As of today, 22 people have committed enough to support 33 of these widows. Many thanks to all who have contributed, both monthly and one-time. We are deeply grateful.

By Gilbert Dilis, Security Officer for Virunga National Park

©The Forgotten Parks

Last Thursday, September 15, we arrived in Tongo under a beating rain, the site of the Virunga chimpanzee project, not open to the public yet. Alexis, the leader of the project, explains the rules to us for when we approach the chimpanzee family, which counts 36 individuals.

View across the valley of the Tongo Hills where the chimps live. The hills look deceptively small. Hiking through the thick old forest can be exhausting if the chimps are on the move. ©The Forgotten Parks

At 8 AM, we begin the trek and penetrate the forest on very accessible paths that the trackers and others in charge created in order to reach as easily as possible the place where the animals are.

It can be a long, hard hike through the thick old forest, but this time we are lucky…they are near. One hears their cries in answer to those of the tracker who announces his presence. However, the chimpanzees appear agitated a little. It is normal, Alexis tells me. With the rain they begin to take their meal later and they are always occupied at eating whereas they should be at rest. But the spectacle is splendid. The chimpanzees jump, climb the trees, and seem finally to be accustomed to our presence. But time is past and it is already time to set out again.

©The Forgotten Parks

My purpose in visiting Tongo was to assess the security situation on the site, which is greatly improved and very good at this moment.  I will be watching it carefully for the next two months, doing reconnaissance around the site and further north. If everything remains calm in the next 6 weeks, we will do test runs with our staff and other candidates. We’re hoping for an opening by mid-December.

The bloodhound dog handlers and guards - part of our new anti-poaching program.

Rangers

• Our bloodhound dogs, handlers, and guards have received quite a workout the last 10 days from Swiss trainer Marlene Zähner and German CSI detective Marcel Maierhofer. We now have a complete team of 6 handlers (one for each of the 6 bloodhounds), plus their guards, all being trained in defense, tactical moves, and crime scene investigation. The handlers have been working with their particular dog in man-trailing…or perhaps I should say that the dogs have been working with the handlers – the dogs seem to know exactly what they are doing. As Marlene says, they’re born with the instinct to do this. I’ve been getting a bit of training as well with Stella, which has been interesting and I can tell you that it takes skill to be a handler. See this blog post about the trip we made to the north of the park with two of the dogs last week.
• Our new Human Resources manager, Fantassin, has been working on getting all the rangers’ widows officially registered. This is the first step in setting up bank accounts and regular payments. Most of these widows will need to be trained in this type of thing as, typically, most have never had a bank account before.

The bar at Mikeno Lodge is finished, but we need a cool name.

Tourism

• I mentioned last week that we are planning a tourism promotion. All of you readers are the first to know. It will be for the month of November, and all permits will be half price, so start planning your trip.
• We also have some news that we’ve been waiting to announce, but I’ll drop you a hint right now. Ready? Visas can be purchased on the tourism website for $50. The first test visitor is arriving today using one of these visas. I’ll let you know how it goes.
• The bar in the lodge made from lava stone is completed. We’re looking for a creative name. If you have any ideas, post it in the comment section below.

Tongo Chimp

Security

• It has been a reasonably quiet week at Virunga for security – always something to be grateful for.
• Our security director, Gilbert, visited Tongo and the chimp project this week to assess the security situation in order to make an informed decision on when to open this up to tourism. He is pleased with what he found and will be watching it closely in the next two months. It seems likely that we will be able to open it up in December before the Christmas holidays.

New Congohound website - for the anti-poaching program that needs funding.

Fundraising and You

• We have a number of dedicated individuals (like many of you) and groups that give monthly, or do special fundraising events. Happy Hollow Zoo is one such group that has supported us for years, and will have a fundraiser on October 1 at their wonderful zoo in San Jose, California. If you live anywhere nearby please plan to go.
• We are beginning to set up individual websites for programs at the park that need funding in order to survive. The first one for our bloodhound anti-poaching, called Congohounds, is almost ready to launch. Look for this and others in the coming week.
• We asked for used cameras recently, and now have six donated cameras in our hands and already moving out to the field with rangers and other staff. Thank you so much! More are on the way in October and November.

And finally, a Facebook fan wrote this recently about his visit to the park. It’s great to hear this kind of praise:

From Michael Valigore: “My girlfriend and I were in the park for a week in the end of July to trek the volcano and visit the gorillas. We got our visa last minute from Greg at Amahoro Tours in Rwanda www.amahoro-tours.com. While the cost of the visa nearly kept us from going, the park was THE highlight of our 4.5 months in Africa.”

Visa issues will hopefully be a thing of the past.

It’s now been about six months since our bloodhounds joined the team here at Virunga National Park.  They’re still being trained, but doing remarkably well.  They’re always in a good mood which brings a lot of warmth to the park headquarters.  Marlene and Marcel are back and taking the training to the next stage with a team of very enthusiastic young rangers.  But the hounds have largely been confined to Rumangabo, with the occasional trip to the local football field and to the airstrip, so it’s important to show them around their national park, and make sure they’re healthy and comfortable when it comes to being included on law enforcement operations.

Dodie takes a long sniff of my headset before the flight.

Look Stella, Mai Mai, Grrrr, Poachers, Grrrr, FDLR, GRRRR….

Six almost full grown hounds don’t fit into our smallish aircraft, so we took Dodi, who’s quite mature and sure of herself, and Stella because she and I kind of adopted each other.  We all piled in, five in a plane built for four.  We wanted to see how comfortable they were moving around the park.  One day, they’ll be rushed in to deal with a poaching incident, or a search and rescue operation, so they need to feel comfortable both in the plane and in the different landscapes of the park.

Marlene with the dogs behind us in the plane. The dogs weren’t allowed in the front for obvious reasons.

Unloading the dogs from the plane at Rwindi.

First stop Rwindi.  This station is for the central sector of the park.  Dogs piled out and took a good look around.  Rwindi is a tough place for a young hound.  Hot, with lots of ticks, but not a problem for Dodi and Stella.  Still, we didn’t hang around for too long and headed off for our next stop, Mutsora, the station for the northern sector of the park.

Marlene introduces the dogs to the team in Rwindi.

Marcel (on the right), doing the CSI detective training, takes most of the photos, so he’s rarely in a picture.

Here we were welcomed by a large group of trainees.  Our senior staff are doing leadership training for two months.  Marlene and Dodi gave a tracking demonstration and Dodi was quite brilliant.  I’m quite amazed at the progress she’s made, now that she can track over long distances, without making any mistakes.  It’s also a reflection on the progress that’s been made by our ranger dog-handlers, who have been working incredibly hard   It’s good to be able to share this kind of progress with our team of rangers and wardens because it brings a sense that we’re developing very high standards in a growing number of fields.

Introducing the dogs and anti-poaching program to the rangers in Mutsora.

The rangers in Mutsora get the close-up introductions of the dogs.

After dinner, I went to my tent.  Stella spent the night with me, because we didn’t want her to be too stressed in a strange environment.  I dreamt of a breeze and gentle rain drops falling on my face.  I woke up and lit the torch.  A wet nose, XXL ears, droopy cheeks and the drip drip drip of saliva on my face.

Mutsora, Rangers, me, Marlene, and the dogs…and the Rwenzori Mountains behind us.

The next day was quite beautiful with a clear view of the Rwenzoris, with the glaciers clearly visible at 17,000 feet.  We flew back with our amazing dogs, who are clearly quite comfortable traveling across the park and proving once again how they really are the perfect animals to help us protect Virunga.

**Thanks to Marcel Maierhofer for the great photos!**

Stella and me.

Returning to Rumangabo.

In searching through the week’s events and photos, I’ve come up with 4 things to tell you about. They are a bit random, but one of these might be of interest to some of you.

Down with the old, up with the new:
We hate to see the old Belgian buildings go, but sometimes there’s just no way to save them. Thus, a very small building, useful only for a little bit of storage, had to come down. A new, larger building will eventually go up in its place.

Going…

With an audience…

And gone…

Sierra Designs:
Any American who has participated in even the smallest bit of backpacking knows the name “Sierra Designs.” My first and favorite backpacking tent that traveled around the world with me was this brand. We recently received 45 Sierra Designs tents and 90 backpacks for our rangers, purchased at a discounted rate, which we are slowly distributing in the various stations. The lightweight and good construction will be excellent for the rangers who do overnight patrols, and guides for the Rwenzori mountain treks.

Rangers heading out on a patrol with the new backpacks.

Construction: Ranger Family Housing and New Ranger Housing
We have two buildings under construction at the moment.  One is housing for the group of new rangers stationed here at Rumangabo headquarters. The other is for rangers and their families. This building is long overdue and much-needed as the very old, grungy, run-down buildings were way past their expiration date.

New ranger housing, using the ever-present lava stone.

New ranger family housing.

Baboons take over:
The baboons are getting very cheeky, as the Brits would say. This past week it feels like they’ve been circling the office building, waiting for a chance to invade. One even came into our office through the window while we were at lunch. We found him lounging on the floor, and another trying to get in.

Baboons…If they would get organized, they could take over the place.

What do these photos have in common?

A few weeks ago, Dirck Byler, head of USFWS’s Great Apes Conservation program came to Virunga to meet with Emmanuel and other park staff. Dirck and his team have been true champions of the effort to save Virunga National Park. They understand the complex issues that make conservation in Congo so tough and have given their full support to some of Virunga’s most important programs.

Briquette Presses

USFWS was the first to step up and support our work in alternative fuels. They provided the necessary funding to carry out a briquette pilot project and went on to fund the full-scale effort along with other institutional donors, such as the Daey Ouwens Fund. In particular, USFWS funded the project’s truck, the construction of briquette presses, the purchase of hammer mills to process raw biomass, and later financed a fleet of fuel-efficient, 3-wheeled delivery vehicles to improve the programs operating efficiency and reduce its carbon footprint.

Three-wheel delivery vehicles.

Like many of you, USFWS has also given emergency support to the rangers. And, they were quick to understand the need for a surveillance aircraft and provided over a third of the necessary funding. As you’ve heard Emmanuel say in his posts, it’s now hard to imagine how the park ever functioned without the plane. It enables Emmanuel and others (bloodhound man-trailing dogs included…) to move quickly around the 7,800 square kilometers that make up Virunga National Park. The plane has also made it possible to rapidly medivac seriously wounded rangers to regional hospitals.

The park plane being used to evacuate an injured ranger following an attack.

As you might expect, USFWS has also stepped up to support the Fallen Rangers Project (Widows Fund). While in Virunga, Dirck met with ranger widows, so he knows firsthand about the sacrifices being made to save Virunga’s mountain gorillas and other wildlife. He and his staff are even working to raise awareness about the widows across other organizations that may be in a position to help.

Widow Valeri at the funeral of her husband Michel.

Just as it is with each and every one of you who support Virunga, it is hard to imagine how we would manage without organizations like USFWS. Getting Virunga back on its feet is truly a global effort and it’s very heartening to know that there are people and organizations half a world away determined to see Virunga prosper.

Dirck Byler visiting the Tongo Chimp habituation project in Virunga National Park, another project funded by USFWS.