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The last two weeks have been incredibly busy, filled with travel, dogs, gorillas, tourists, journalists, elections, and an unusual security incident. It’s been difficult to find time to write. Here are the highlights from the last two weeks:

Tourism & Elections:

• Yesterday the Congolese people voted in the presidential elections. It is almost a tradition that tourists and expats vacate the country during election time. This month has been radically different for the park. The middle of November we added a new tourist attraction, the Volcanic Eruption Trek, plus opened Mikeno Lodge to a few tour operators and guests, bringing the number of attractions to four. Although we hoped people would come during this low-season month, we were completely taken by surprise at the number of visitors. Over 350 people came to the park in November, an absolute record, and closer to what we expect in the high season.

Visitors watch the eruption from just 500 meters away.

• On election day all the Congolese nationals left the park headquarters because they had important civic responsibilities , including the chefs and servers for Mikeno Lodge.  We had guests, so we all had to retrain as waiters, cooks, cleaning staff etc.  I was sous-chef and made soufflé.

• The elections have been relatively peaceful so far, and we are hoping the same will be true when the results are announced in about two weeks.

Bloodhounds

• About 2 weeks ago when Marlene and Swen were at Virunga to train the rangers and bloodhounds, Carla, our much liked but fragile bloodhound, nearly died from gastric torsion. If Marlene had not been here, she would have died. For several reasons, we made the decision that Carla was not up to the kind of work expected of her. Very friendly but does not have any natural inclination for work (reminds me of my school reports).  Since she needed to have an operation to prevent another life-threatening incident, she came with me to Nairobi when I flew the plane back for maintenance and repair of a leaking fuel tank.  She will now be living with a very nice family near Naivasha in Kenya.  They have a large garden and four other dogs.

Retired bloodhound Carla with her handler Foster who was terribly sad to see her leave for Nairobi.

Security

• We had a very violent contact with FDLR, after they attacked a public transport vehicle in the centre of the park.  Fortunately no-one was injured during the attack, but a platoon of our rangers pursued the militias for about 10 kms after the location of the attack.  I managed to locate them with the aircraft and guided them in.  There was an armed confrontation that lasted about 20 minutes.  No one was hurt but they lost all their belongings, including the materials that they had looted from the vehicle.
• Yesterday, 429 detainees escaped from a prison in the city of Beni, killing all of the prison guards. This is of great concern as Beni lies just a few kilometers from the park border so it would be an easy place to hide and carry out criminal activities or attacks on park staff.

Kaboko has lost a lot of weight in the past 6 weeks from a cycle of diarrhea.

Gorillas

• The orphan gorillas went through their annual physical exams from the gorilla doctors (MGVP). The greatest concern was for Kaboko who for 6 weeks had gone through a cycle of severe diarrhea  – recovering and relapsing – and losing too much weight. He’s slowly improving, but the vets are keeping a close eye on him.
• The Rugendo gorilla family is on the move. “Rugendo” means “traveler” and this family certainly lives up to its name. They have moved from Bukima across to another section of the park, then down near the Rwandan border, then over near the Ugandan border. Although they are often within easy reach from Bukima, they now are about a day and a half trek away from the nearest patrol post. This is the family that suffered a severe massacre in 2007, killing seven of their members.

Kongomani, one of the Rugendo family, is “traveling” with his family to the far corners of the park.

Community:

• We’re just starting a water project for the community around Rumangabo.  Drinking water is in short supply because of the volcanic soil which absorbs all the surface water.  We’re just beginning a small pipeline project over about 5 km to bring water from a source to the village.  This is being done partly with money that was given to us by donors and partly with tourism revenues.

Rangers

• This past week, the last officer training of the year was completed. The year began with the new ranger training, then a summer of mid-level officer training, and finally our high-officer training. All of this is vitally important to the function and security of the park.

Tim Noonan, an Australian award-winning cameraman, interviews Innocent Mburanumwe in a room full of snares, spears, and metal traps.

Media

• The media interest in the park has been overwhelming and entirely positive for the park. The BBC, AFP, CNN, and many more have visited the park this month. An Australian team from the highly-rated current event show “Sunday Night” came for a longer visit to tell about the park progress since the 2007 gorilla massacre.

Dr. Jan, Dr. Noel, and Dr. Eddy examine Ndakasi as part of the annual medical exams they give to the orphan gorillas. Marlene Zähner assists.

Just like human children, our orphan gorillas must see the doctor for an annual exam to make sure they are healthy. Unlike human children who visit the doctor, our “children” must be knocked out as they are not very cooperative with the vets otherwise.

The vets from MGVP (Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project) started early in the morning. With four gorillas to dart and examine, they knew it could go smoothly and be finished in a few hours, but…they are working with gorillas so it can be unpredictable.

Dr. Eddy prepares to give Ndeze a shot to anesthetize her for the exam.

The gorillas were put in separate enclosures. Koboko, the 7-year-old male, was darted first because he had become sick in the last week with diarrhea, weight loss, and hair loss. He has not been able to absorb much food, and looks uncomfortably thin for a gorilla. The vets have had difficulty getting Koboko to take medication orally so they will start a short program of darting him and injecting the medicine.

Maisha watched something happening to Koboko, so she was quite suspicious and harder to dart. Ndakasi took a shot in the arm as if it was nothing, but Ndeze, the last, put up a fight. The exams went quickly and they finished all in less than 4 hours.

MGVP vets examine Ndakasi.

When Maisha came out of the anesthesia, she was unhappy. She is 9 years old and the leader of this small family, and as far as she was concerned, her family was being harmed. She coughed and made unhappy sounds when the vets approached the cage following the exams. Andre and Patrick went into the cages following the exams and held the gorillas as they came to. Maisha particularly didn’t want Andre to go.

Andrea holds Maisha who wouldn’t let him leave the enclosure for a long time.

An Australian film crew from a well-known TV news program called “Sunday Night” is here filming for a week and filmed the exams. Marlene Zähner, our Swiss bloodhound trainer and project leader helped out as well. The results of the exams should come back later this week.

Dr. Jan holds Ndeze’s hand after she wakes up from the exam.

Patrick watches over Ndakasi when she is coming out of the anesthesia.

The Australian television crew films the exams.

9-year-old Maisha holds Andrea’s hand following the exams. She was very unhappy thinking her family was being harmed. When the door opened into Koboko’s cage, she ran over and threw her arms around him.

Following the exam, Dr. Jan tries to comfort Ndakasi.

Koboko laid down on the floor, crossed his legs and fell asleep after the exam.

A newborn in the Kabirizi mountain gorilla family seems to not be the slightest bit affected by the erupting volcano, although this view can be seen clearly from the Mikeno Gorilla Sector.

I’d like to answer some questions that many have been asking about how the volcano is affecting the land and animals. From the ground here at the park, the answers are quite simple, but I’ve done a little research and collected some maps that I’ve labeled so you can get a better picture of where everything is.

Gorillas:
The gorillas are safe and far from the eruption site. There has been no noticeable change in their behavior according to the rangers who monitor them. They have lived around volcanoes for as long as anyone knows, so a small eruption about 13 km away seems not to disturb their world.

(Click to see larger) A satellite photo of the area with gorilla habitat and volcanoes marked. You can see that they are separated and the lava is flowing away from the gorilla sector.  The exact location of the eruption site, checked on satellite imagery: 29.3065° E / 1.3793°S.  Based on these coordinates, the Rumangabo headquarters is about 7.5 km from the eruption site.  From earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazard

Lava Flow & Tongo Chimps:

The lava flow, which has been heading north from the eruption site, seems to have stalled, but no one is certain why. Emmanuel flew over the site a couple days ago and said that the lava doesn’t appear to have moved north much in the last week. This is good news for two reasons: 1) it may not cross the Tongo road, which would cut off that community from the main road to Goma, and 2) the Tongo chimps appear to be quite safe.

(Click to see larger) This image shows the lava flow and the section of the road that would be threatened if it continues to move north. It is far from the chimp habitat. From the GORISK Scientific Network “After 6 days of eruption, the lava flow length reached 11.5 km long. At the date of the image acquisition, the lava flow front was 5 km far from the Kalengera-Tongo road. The red circle on the map highlights the threatened part of this road according to the lava flow simulations. (c) B. Smets, RMCA, 2011.”

Eruption Site
The eruption is ongoing. Volcanologist Dr. Dario Tedesco said that usually eruptions like this will slowly go out. So far, we haven’t seen signs of this. The lava fountain appears to be lower, but this is due partly to the spatter cone that is building up around the lava fountain. Here are two pictures taken from the same place on our office terrace, one from 7 November, just 15 hours after the eruption, and one from 16 November. The initial eruption took place on nearly flat ground. Now it looks like a real volcano, and it practically grows before your eyes.

7 November, 15 hours after the eruption began. The lava appeared to be coming out of a crack on flat ground.

16 November. The spatter cone has built up quite high and continues to grow as the eruption continues.

The Good News

The good news in general is that the eruption has not done serious damage to animals or humans, although it has been burning up the forest in the path of the lava. It also has provided many with a once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing an eruption up close. For all of this, we are grateful.

*Marc Languy works for ICCN (Congolese Wildlife Authority) in Kinshasa toward reforms to the organization and national parks. He also is a good friend of Emmanuel de Merode, and co-wrote the Virunga book. When Marc came to visit recently, he loved to take walks through the forest to connect with nature, birds and animals. It was great to see the forests through his eyes.*

Working in a city like Kinshasa is not always easy. I enjoy my work, as I contribute toward saving Virunga NP through supporting ICCN reform. But I am missing the field a lot. I always keep an eye on the map of Virunga on my wall and count the days left till my next trip to Rumangabo. The first thing I do when I get there is to walk in the nearby forest. This is where I get fresh air – quite a relief from hot and humid Kinshasa – but I mostly enjoy seeing a small piece of what I am working for.

So, I woke up early this morning but the sun beat me and was already up by 6 am. Today, I wanted to meet my cousins, the different monkeys we have around the camp. Within 2 minutes, I was among the Colobus monkey catching the first rays and warming up. These guys live in the tree tops and never go to the ground; they look a bit serious, like an old man with a beard, hence their name “magistrate” in French – actually, they remind me of someone I know in Kinshasa….

My next encounter was 200 meters further, inside the forest. The Blue Monkeys also live in the trees and come close to the camp. They are much smaller and always moving. I was lucky to find a young one playing with a stick. He was quickly joined by his mother, not sure whether staying close to an intruder was a good thing or not. They slowly disappeared in the canopy.

I continued my walk deeper in the forest. My target was the much more elusive and rare L’Hoest’s Monkey. This species is only found in the Albertine Rift. I kept quiet, watching birds and was ready to give up when I heard their calls. There were 5 of them, walking on a branch while eating breakfast. This species does not mind walking on the ground and indeed, they went down the trees and crossed a recently opened track leading to the lodge.

Talking about breakfast, I came back to the camp after 8 am and I missed all of it! Never mind, I was filled with nice views, sounds and odors that you can only find in our forests. But I didn’t like the look of the baboon went I walked back to the office: he obviously had eaten my breakfast and seemed to let me know!

Tomorrow, I’ll go back there and look for birds. You can’t imagine how rich this forest is!

Emmanuel and Stella watch the training exercises of the dogs.

Rangers

• The bloodhound experts, Marlene Zahner and Swen Busch, are back at Virunga and working with the dogs and trainers intensely for the next ten days. On Sunday, the dogs and handlers worked for nearly five hours straight in the field near the airstrip and a lake nearby. I spent this part of the day with them, watching and hanging out with “my” dog, Stella when she wasn’t working. It’s quite impressive what these bloodhounds can do.

• On a down side, Carla got sick and nearly died. If Marlene had not been here there’s no question that she would not have made it. Marlene is not only a bloodhound expert, she’s a vet and happened to bring exactly what she needed to save Carla. Today she is mostly recovered.

• The high level training with key staff finished its first week. I’ve been following the training off and on all week as best I can.

Marlene is taking special care of Carla since she got sick and nearly died. Carla is now in special training for her new career as a lapdog.

Security

• Twenty-two FDLR Rwandan militia attacked a village and a Virunga National Park patrol post over the weekend. Three of our rangers were captured for a few hours but managed to escape. We have sent ranger reinforcements into the area.

Community

• The legal fisherman’s union at Lake Edward have joined the effort of our rangers to stop illegal fishing on the lake which destroys fishing stocks and breeding areas. The park purchased two boats for the union to help with surveillance. We are hoping these efforts will help slow the illegal fishing on the lake.

Every good portrait needs an erupting volcano in the background, don’t you think?

Tourism

• Yes, I know, it might seem like we’ve been obsessed with our erupting volcano last week, but if you were here and could see it, especially up close, you would understand why. It’s truly extraordinary. It’s also been incredible how the news media has picked up on the story – perhaps the biggest coverage of any park event in the last couple of years. Our hope is that we will get a fresh influx of visitors to the park and the word will spread that we are the most spectacular park in Africa. Tourism is the key to our survival.

Misc.

• Country-wide presidential elections in the DRC are fast approaching, scheduled for the 28th and 29th of November. Although there have been some rallies in Goma, things seem relatively calm with a slight tension. We’ve decided to keep the park attractions open to visitors during this time.

Ranger Romeo on his 2nd trip to the eruption site. ©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park specializes in some pretty amazing experiences, including visits to the critically endangered mountain gorillas, and an active volcano with the largest lava lake in the world. It’s hard to top these attractions, but I think we actually have, and it’s for a limited time only. Starting now, we’ve opened up overnight treks to the site of our newly erupting volcano, Nyamulagira.

After checking out the site on Wednesday, it was decided that we could allow visitors into a safe area just south of the eruption, and set up a basic tented camp there. Since there are no guarantees for how long this eruption will last, we had to move quickly to get everything ready for our first group on Saturday.

On Friday around midday we set out on our trek with a group of men numbering about 100: a section of rangers, the park warden – Emmanuel de Merode, Dario Tedesco - a renowned volcanologist and his team, a couple of carpenters, and about 75 porters.  The trek took about 3 hours to get to a view of the erupting volcano.

Emmanuel stands in the closest area allowed by volcanologist Dario Tedesco. ©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

Dario felt we could safely get closer so we hiked a bit further until we came to a section where the vegetation ended and the ground was covered in small pebbles of weightless lava gravel. The thundering roar of the volcano was incredible and the heat of the 100 meter column of lava clearly tangible. Here Dario put the mark for “no further” (and believe me, I don’t think I wanted to get any closer…).

The eruption site is truly amazing. It’s located on a flat area, but the sides have been building up around the crack over the last week. Dario pointed out that it is not just one crater, but a crack in the earth about 500-1000 meters long, and what makes it different is that the crack has appeared perpendicular to the Albertine rift, which is highly unusual. The lava of Nyamulagira has a low silica content resulting in lava with a low viscosity (very fluid), which in turn results in the amazing lava fountain. Because the lava flowing north is mostly flat land, it is not moving fast.

Setting up camp near the volcano. ©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

While we stood there in complete awestruck exhilaration, the wind changed directions and the debris from the lava started turning toward us and slowly began raining down on us. It was cooled, highly aerated lava – scary, but the pebbles weigh close to nothing, so it would be comparable to a heavy hail-storm - a bit sharp on the edges but not dangerous. With darkness closing in, we decided to head back to a safe distance to establish the tented camp in an area of untouched vegetation.

The camp has a remarkable view of the eruption and actually stayed pleasantly warm throughout the night due to the proximity of the eruption. Trust me, no campfires are necessary. We spent hours watching the fountain change shape and size, from barely visible to massive columns of fire 200 meters high. Absolutely incredible.

©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

Following the trek, Dario wrote us saying, “This is definitely the best and most spectacular eruption of Nyamulagira I have ever seen. The 200-300 meter lava fountains, the closeness and the arrangement of the camping site, and finally the incredible show given by the lights of the incandescent lava made everything special… more than special.”

It was the most intense experience of the power of the earth I have ever witnessed. I would say it’s a once in a lifetime experience, but I would be lying. It’s a once in a century one.

The overnight treks to the eruption site officially opened on Saturday the 12th at Virunga National Park, with a camp located at a safe distance, but with the best view in the world! Come and check it out for as long as the eruption lasts. For more information contact tourism@gorilla.cd

©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

Cai Tjeenk Willink, Development Director of the park. ©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

Location of the camp in a safe area. ©Cai Tjeenk Willink-Virunga National Park

Ever since Nyamulagira volcano began erupting Sunday night, there has been excited talk about trying to hike into the eruption site to get an up-close view. It looks pretty close from our perfect vantage point on the hilltop of Rumangabo.  Estimates ranged from 7 to 12 km. How hard could this be?

Very hard. Not hard in the sense of strenuous uphill climbing, but a pretty rough and sometimes painful trail, and much longer than we anticipated.

We set out this morning with the security officer (Gilbert), the tourism director (Cai), the communications officer (me), and a section of rangers. Cai wanted to see if there was any possibility of offering overnight treks into the site. Gilbert needed to make sure the area was secure. I was there to take photos and video.

The trek into the site took 4 hours, partly because we lost the trail at one point, and had to send a few rangers to find it. This caused a 45-minute delay. The return took about 3 hours in pouring rain.

Ranger Emmanuel directs the rangers during a security check.

The trail itself included just about every variation of lava from a wide old lava flow that swirled and rippled like water frozen in motion, to a lichen-covered endless field of small boulders. Most of the hike weaved through a young forest. In many places, the rangers had to hack the vegetation and vines to clear a narrow path wide enough to walk through. At times, the vegetation turned vicious, trying its best to attack us with thorns or trip us with tangled vines. In my case, it succeeded brilliantly. After the sixth fall, I stopped counting the number of times I tripped. A few were exceedingly painful.

Lichen-covered lava boulders were very difficult to walk on.

The final 50 minutes had us scrambling over the lichen-covered loose lava, often tricky to maneuver. At this point the eruption finally came into view, along with the roar of intensely spewing fire and lava, as well as lightening and thunder for an even more dramatic effect. We debated just how close was too close, and opted for a good view, but keeping a safe distance. Cai and I would have happily moved in closer but we were running out of time.

Around the point where we stopped, the floor was covered with strange weightless chunks of…something black…that crunched and disintegrated under our feet or even in our hands if we tried to crush it. It had clearly come out of the eruption, and we could see black chunks of material flying out of the fire and almost floating in the air as it slowly drifted to the ground. We imagined that if the wind changed, those chunks would head our direction. They had already once made it this far.

Tomorrow, our warden Emmanuel and Dario, a volcanologist with the OVG (the Goma volcano observatory) will hike into the site and decide how safe it is. We’ll let you know what they decide.

Some of the team of rangers with Cai and Gilbert.

The volcano seemed to be spitting out small, weightless, lava pebbles.

Rangers who watched over us on the hike. These are a great group of new rangers.

Cai, LuAnne, and Gilbert.

The lava flows north from our erupting volcano, Nyamulagira.

The Big Event:

• The biggest excitement this week came on Sunday night when the sky lit up bright orange with a spectacular eruption from our very active volcano, Nyamulagira. That was 2 days ago, and it almost seems to be shooting higher like an impressive fountain, and rumbling louder. This could last for days to months. One eruption lasted 9 months. We are already getting requests from volcano fanatics and others who would like to get in close to see it. We’re checking into this possibility.

Community:

• You may remember the EU-funded hydro-electric dam we are building in the north of the park for a community called Mutwanga that specializes in small papaya enzyme businesses. We finally completed the canal and released the flow of water over the dam and down the canal for the first time. This was very exciting to see it work just as planned, all with water run-off from the park’s Ruwenzori mountains. It may be that we can raise the number of light bulbs for this community from 40,000 to 80,000.

Water from the river is opened up to test the canal.

Security:

• Quite a few security incidents and arrests took place in the park this week. The biggest was an operation carried out by 100 of our rangers in the central sector of the park to track down FDLR Rwandan militia, the men held responsible for the Rwandan genocide. It was a successful mission overall, but did result in two violent contacts that killed six FDLR, including the body-guard of a renowned FDLR leader, Soki.
• Two elephant poachers were caught in the central sector with 30 pieces of smoked elephant meat and material for poaching. They were arrested and taken to the courts in Goma.
• Bandits held up a land-cruiser of the NGO Action Aid between Walikale and Goma. The looters took computers, phones, money and other valuables.

Nyamulagira at night on Day 2 of eruption.

A spectacular fire show started last night when Nyamulagira volcano (also known as Nyamuragira) began an eruption that happens about every two years. The eruption could be seen clearly from park headquarters - probably the best view you could ask for. It appears that the eruption is not happening on the volcano itself, but on the side and lower to the ground. We’ll fill you in on details once we have them.

This is NOT the volcano that tourists hike to see the lava lake, but a far more active volcano just to the north. Most of the lava flows north into an area where no one lives, so it shouldn’t bring harm to people or wildlife as the flow is moving slowly.

Eruptions like this one can go on for days, weeks, or even months, so we’ll update you on the status.

The view of the eruption from the office terrace. The sound is like a dull roar.

A closer view of the eruption (on the left side)

Video of the volcano erupting HERE:

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Manhattan High School biology class in Manhattan, Kansas supports the mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park, thanks to teacher Benji George.

Two years ago in a small Kansas town, Manhattan High School biology instructor Benji George was thinking of ways to incorporate conservation biology regularly into his 9th grade biology classes.  “So much has to be taught throughout the year that it was difficult to give the time and attention to conservation issues that I felt they deserved,” Mr. George said.  After coming across news stories and a National Geographic video of the 2007 mountain gorilla killings of Senkwekwe’s family, Mr. George decided to spend just a few minutes of class each week updating the students on the plight of the mountain gorilla.

“Once or twice a week for the first 9 weeks of school, I will share some information about the mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park.  Sometimes it’s a short video, sometimes I read stories, or sometimes just show a few pictures of recent newsworthy events with the gorillas.  As the semester progresses, the students become more curious and captivated by these amazing animals.”

One student remarked, “It was entertaining to be able to come to class and see the gorilla’s progress everyday.”  Another student added, “After Mr. George introduced us to the gorillas and the website, I looked into it a bit more.  I found out how serious the gorilla situation was and how important it was to try to help.”

Mr. George also enacted a simple classroom procedure to prompt the students to come to class prepared – if a student did not have a pencil with which to write, then that student was responsible for a small donation (10-25 cents) for gorilla conservation.  The system has worked so well that the students keep track of everything.  “By far this has been one of the best procedures I have enacted in my classroom.  It is student led – the only thing I do for the system is report to the students how much money has been raised!”  Eventually, the students feel passionate enough about helping the mountain gorillas that many start to donate money on their own.  One student stated, “I love making a difference.  I love making a big change in life itself.  Not everyday are we able to do something this important.”  Many times, students have even brought in boxes of change from digging through their couch, car, or bedroom at home.  By the end of 9 weeks, this adds up to a very significant donation on behalf of mountain gorilla conservation.

It’s gratifying to see the students’ curiosity and knowledge about gorillas grow, Mr. George said, but the importance goes beyond the money raised.  “This provides us the opportunity to discuss and learn about conservation, ecology, zoology, and even world issues such as war and famine that are impacting the area around Virunga National Park.  The students become empowered and motivated to make a difference.”

The biology teacher explained that through the updates in class, the students also become aware of the daily struggles the rangers face in order to protect this endangered species.  The students begin to understand the complexity of the problem and what the rangers must go through in order to carry out their life’s work.  Mr. George’s students had this message for the rangers – “Gorillas are a beautiful species…thank you so much for carrying out such a dangerous mission.  Future generations will appreciate it!”

*Virunga National Park would like to thank Benji George and his biology students for their support of the mountain gorillas and rangers. We are told that they have a particular interest in the 32-member Kabirizi family. If you are a teacher and would like to speak to Benji George about his program, comment here, and we can connect you.*

We would love to hear more stories of how teachers and students are supporting the park. Please tell us in the comment section below.