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A few volcanologists took a trip to the erupting volcano from the 23-25th of January. They took many photos from a completely different angle: from the top of the first eruption site that began 6 November and ended the first week of December when a new eruption started nearby. Here are some of the photos taken from this trip by Richard Roscoe. You can visit his website HERE:

Lava flow from the volcano. Pilot Jon Cadd flew over the lava flow yesterday and described it like this:  “I followed the river of fire north. It was amazing and took my breath away at how fast it was flowing. No way to get away from it if it was coming toward you. Not just flowing.  It was churning and splashing and tumbling more like a waterfall than a river.  Very exciting to see.”

Fumarole deposits right of fissure on left image.

Fumarole in west flank.

Close-up of lapilli coated in fumarolic deposits.

Eruptive fissure west of primary crater complex

Rock coated with fumarole deposits

Fumarolic deposits with crater behind

View of secondary crater complex from flank of primary complex

Viewing active crater complex from primary one.

This is our new bloodhound kennel….

…and these are the happy bloodhound girls and Congohounds program manager Christian Shamavu.

This is exciting for us. Don’t go away, let me explain….

We started the Congohounds program about a year ago – the first ever in central Africa. The idea is that bloodhounds can help in our anti-poaching efforts as well as search and rescue, ultimately protecting and saving the lives of both animals and humans.

Marlene Zähner, one of the top bloodhound experts in the world, has volunteered her time as the project leader of Congohounds, training the dogs and handlers for the last year with the help of other volunteers from Germany, Ursula und Marcel Maierhofer, and Swen Busch. We are sincerely grateful for their gift of service to us! Here on the ground in Virunga, our amazing ranger, Christian Shamavu, heads up the Congohounds program.

The new night-house for the dogs

For a year the dogs have lived in a fenced-in area with two small wooden huts to sleep in. Everything else needed for the program has been spread out in various odds and ends places that we could find for office/storage/cooking, etc (we can’t get commercial dog food, so all food must be natural and cooked). Far from an ideal set-up!

Last year, a Swiss organization called ZAPA (Zürcher Tierschutz - Zurich Animal Protection) stepped in to fund the building of a proper kennel that includes an office, storage, cooking area, and night house for the dogs. It’s well-constructed, beautiful, useful, and a great new home for the bloodhounds. We are seriously grateful for this gift!

And that’s why we’re excited. Isn’t it lovely? Thank you ZAPA! Thank you Marlene, Marcel, Ursula, Swen, and all of you who have chosen to financially support the Congohounds program. If you would like to join the team of supporters, click HERE and see our monthly and one-time project possibilities, and join our Facebook Congohounds page.

Click here for the German website and German Facebook page.

Christian Shamavu’s office with windows that look both inside and outside.

The happy bloodhounds on the covered verandah, a practical place for the dogs during the torrential rains.

The new Tongo chimpanzee trek opened in January.

Our tourism development officer, Cai, could not wipe the huge smile off his face when he announced that the tourist numbers for January, about 350 visitors, were nearly the same as our 2011 high summer season months. Considering that January isn’t high season, this is fantastic.

Some possible reasons for the jump in numbers is that the word is getting out that we are the coolest national park in Africa (we’re not the slightest bit biased in saying this), that we have an erupting volcano you can get close to (and how many parks can claim that?), that we have a new awesome lodge for people to stay at in the park, and there’s a new chimpanzee trek available. Who wouldn’t want to come here?

On top of this, we received some excellent news (for us) that Rwanda is increasing the price of their gorilla treks to $750 per trek, a 50% increase in price. Since our treks are almost half the price ($400), we are hoping that people who want to see mountain gorillas in their natural habitat will come here instead. We can’t guarantee our price won’t increase some, but we’ll most likely keep it down so it’s affordable and we can increase our visitor numbers. Another big reason to smile!

And one last comment on tourism: it’s good for the park, it’s good for conservation, it’s good for the gorillas, and good for the community. 30% of revenue from tourist permits goes toward community projects. This year we will have much more to spend, with several planned projects that include roads and improving water sources for communities surrounding the park.

Tongo chimp.

If you follow our blog here, you might start to think that it’s a very common thing for young gorillas to fall out of trees. It probably is, but they can hurt themselves quite seriously, even from short falls when they are very young.

Little Ihirwe, the mountain gorilla rescued from poachers in August of 2011, is approaching the age of 2, and is quite a rambunctious, and growing bolder by the day. She loves to climb trees, but several days ago Ihirwe fell out of a tree and nearly knocked her two front teeth out. Luckily for Ihirwe, she has her own dedicated team of doctors – the vets from Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) – who are currently caring for her in Rwanda until she is moved to Virunga’s Senkwekwe Center.

Their examination concluded that she had hit two incisors and knocked them forward but not out, and her mouth was bleeding. Her jaw appeared to be stable, and she drank a bottle of milk shortly after the fall. There didn’t appear to be any signs of neurological deficits. The vets decided to treat her pain and give her antibiotics to prevent infection.

The two incisors are her baby teeth, so when they fall out, it is not a serious problem.

You may remember when our orphan gorilla, Ndakasi, fell from a high tree last year and appeared to have neurological damage for a while, and before that Ndeze fell from a tree causing pain in her arm and shoulder. Both are fine now.

Read more about all the orphan mountain gorillas HERE and see how you can get involved.

Ihirwe drinks her bottle of milk even with a sore mouth.

Dr. Noel tries to get Ihirwe to let him pick her up.

When Marlene was here last week for the 6th training session with the bloodhound dogs, our Congohounds program, she stepped up the training by taking the dogs to a completely new environment (the savanna) where they were surrounded by the sites and sounds of completely new wild animals (hippos, elephants, buffalo, and antelope), experienced the sound of gunfire up-close, and pushed their man-trailing skills to a new level with longer trails and day-old trails. Canadian journalist Ethan Baron tagged along for a story and wrote this blog about the experience. (Photos by Marlene):

The dogs took an interest in the hippos across the river, but saved their barking for the evening when the hippos began splashing and making noise.

For the dogs, the savanna around Lulimbi was a completely new environment. Among their first sights at the rangers’ small camp was the Ishasha River, muddy brown and full of hippos snorting and fighting and lumbering onto a mudbank across from the camp to sun themselves during the day. The bloodhounds looked at the huge animals with curiosity, but it was only after dark on the first night, when the hippos began vigorously splashing and vocalizing, that the dogs responded with a great deal of barking.

The man-trailing exercises in the savanna are quite different from the volcanic terrain and villages where they normally train and the wild animal smells are everywhere. Still they found their man.

The next morning, Marlene set up trails leading to the obstacle course used by rangers during training. The scent trails led through the grassland, past a swamp, to a concrete structure, open-topped, with three cubicles inside, with walls about 2 1/2 metres tall. The dogs and rangers performed very well - the bloodhounds found their man quickly and directly each time, indicating he was inside the structure.

Ethan took his turn as the “runner” that the dogs had to find inside the concrete block. They found him.

In the afternoon, the dogs received their first introduction to gunfire at a spot in the savanna near Lake Edward used by the rangers for shooting practice. Marlene kept the bloodhounds in their plastic carriers, next to the transport truck that carries them from place to place. Lily showed a bit of anxiety at first, but soon became more comfortable with the sounds, and the rest of the dogs appeared undisturbed by the shooting, which started about 100 metres away before the rangers moved to within 25 metres, with no noticeable change in the dogs’ reactions.

The following day, Marlene put out trails through grassland, and into an area of thick brush and trees cut by trails and containing small clearings. Again, dogs and rangers performed to Marlene’s satisfaction, locating their quarries in the thickets where they’d hidden. That afternoon she and the rangers took the dogs back to the shooting range, where she removed them one at a time from their carriers, walking them around while the rangers shot AK-47s. The shooting, this time from about 15 metres away and sometimes slightly closer, did not appear to unsettle the dogs, except for Lila, who became somewhat jumpy when the rangers began firing heavily with their weapons on full automatic.

Two rangers prepare to fire guns at the firing range so the dogs to get used to the sound and not be startled if they encounter it on a real mission.

That evening, Marlene set out another trail, through grassland and the edge of the swamp, across a small creek, through more grassland and into the brush area. The dogs would follow this trail the next day, so Marlene could evaluate their performance, and that of the ranger handlers, on a trail more than 12 hours old.
In the morning, Virunga National Park Warden Emmanuel de Merode and park security chief Gilbert Dilis joined Marlene when she took the first two dogs out. Emmanuel and Gilbert found the bloodhounds’ ability impressive, and were happy to see how well the rangers were learning the difficult task of man trailing.

If you would like to support this anti-poaching program, click HERE to visit our Congohounds website to read more and choose how you can support the program, or donate by clicking on the DONATE button at the top-right of this blog post.

For German-speakers, click HERE to visit the German Congohounds website.

The team visited a village on beautiful Lake Edward near Lulimbi

The dogs seemed to thoroughly enjoy their time camping next to the river at Lulimbi. The humans certainly did.

The Kabirizi mountain gorilla family is the largest one in the park with 33 members. Silverback Kabirizi has probably fathered more gorillas than any others in the park. MGVP veterinarian Dr. Eddy filed this report from his routine health check of the family, discovering that Kabirizi has been fighting, and getting injured, to keep control of his family. Here is Dr. Eddy’s report:

From Bukima patrol post at 7:30 AM, we walked to the park’s boundary. After 30 minutes of walking from the wall, we found a huge very fresh trail and then we met a group of gorillas which were identified as a wild unhabituated group. Suddenly all the gorillas became quiet, hiding and moving away, charging and some screaming.

We left the group and continued tracking the Kabirizi family. At 10:37 we found the night nesting area. At 11:14, we found the group resting and a few gorillas were eating. The weather was sunny and almost all gorillas were sitting under shade in the bush, which made our observation quite long and difficult.

Kabirizi’s back right foot has a 7 cm cut that is healing.

From today’s observation, I realized that silverback Kabirizi was quieter than usual: not charging, not hiding, not running, easy to observe from a short distance, eating without fear, sitting with his family members. He has many healing wounds on his left shoulder and thigh, a healing large cut (7cm) on his right heel which was not allowing him to walk properly (limping but using his right leg quite well).

Kabirizi’s upper and lower canine’s are missing.

Kabirizi has lost his upper and lower canines, which I think is one of the reasons that the young silverback Bagheni is fighting him in order to become the leader of the family. Regular interactions have been reported between the two and Kabirizi has received several battle injuries. Kabirizi is also facing a great challenge from young silverback Mugeni.

During the visit we were able to see 31 gorillas of 33, and no health problem was identified apart from Kabirizi, whose general health state may be due to old age as well as ranking challenges.

Young silverback Mugeni has been challenging Kabirizi along with silverback Bagheni.

Kabirizi sits with some of his women and children.

Humba family

Each mountain gorilla face is unique. They range from beautiful to expressive, laughable, and noble.  Some of the infants have faces like old men, and the toddlers sport wild hairstyles. Here are a few pictures from all six of our habituated mountain gorilla families: Lulengo, Mapuwa, Munyaga, Rugendo, Humba, and Kabarizi.

The photographs were taken by our rangers (Sekibibi, Innocent, and others), MGVP veterinarian Dr. Eddy, MGVP’s communication officer Molly Feltner, and me.

Humba family infant

Lulengo family

Mapuwa family, photo by Molly Feltner

Kabirizi family - Bageni

Kabirizi Family

Mapuwa Family, photo by Molly Feltner

Lulengo family

Kabirizi family

Kabirizi Family

Rugendo family, silverback Bukima

Munyaga family

Kabirizi Family

Stefanie Reska, Head of Education at Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart Germany, organized a fundraiser for Virunga National Park.

Last July, I got an email from Stefanie Reska, Head of Education at the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart Germany. She was looking for photos and information for the new boards at their new Great Ape enclosure. In the process of helping with this, she learned about the Fallen Rangers Fund and our effort to support the widows of rangers who have died protecting the gorillas and other wildlife. She decided she wanted to help. Here is her description of the fundraiser she put together:

The lottery tickets raised money for the Fallen Rangers Fund

In December 2011 Zoo Stuttgart, the Wilhelma, decided to do some urgent fundraising after hearing about the desolate situation of the ranger widows and their families in Virunga. So we organized a lottery stall next to the gorilla exhibit at which people from the education department talked to visitors about the problems the rangers face and sold lottery tickets for 1 € each.

The first prize was an exclusive animal encounter with our camel family but we also had a whole heap of stuffed apes, toys and gorilla postcards. Although visitor numbers in winter are always rather low, those who came were happy to buy a few tickets each. After only three Sundays we had sold nearly all of them! The result was 1200 €, or over $1500 for the Fallen Rangers Fund, which made us all very happy : )

These items could be won with the lottery tickets. The postcards included the Virunga website address where people could go for more information on Virunga National Park.

This is a great example of how one person (and a team of volunteers, and zoo visitors) can make a difference for the rangers and gorillas at Virunga. Stefanie hopes she can repeat the lottery at another time when there are more visitors.

There are many creative ways that individuals and organizations can raise money. We would love to hear any fundraising ideas you might have! Stefanie described another on-going fundraiser where the zoo collects used mobile phones and receives $1 to $2 per phone donated, all given to conservation causes.

We are very grateful for Stefanie and so many of you who have given generously to the park in support of the work here. Thank you so much!

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I was in Germany for the holidays and had a chance to meet Stefanie and visit the Wilhelma Zoo. It’s truly one of the most beautiful zoos I have ever seen – originally the private garden of King Wilhelm I. Here are some photos from that visit.

Stefanie and I visited the gorilla enclosure. A new larger facility is under construction.

Stefanie showed us around behind the scenes at the zoo, including an introduction to the elephants and rhinos.

My nephew was thrilled to have a close encounter with snakes – one of his favorite creatures - with the zoo’s reptile expert nearby.

Stefanie is training one of the birds to do tasks such as placing a puzzle piece where it belongs. Birds are far more intelligent than most people think, she explained.

This small creature, the Bush Baby, is one of the smallest primates and is common around Virunga National Park headquarters.

This little night creature, the Bush Baby, is one of the smallest primates, and (in my humble opinion) one of the noisiest. Often at night we hear them chattering loudly around our tents at the park headquarters, as if they are having a convention on which trees produce the juiciest fruits.

Bush Babies vary in size, but our particular species is small, like the size of a squirrel with a long bushy tail. They only come out at night and have huge eyes that look like aliens when you shine a torch in their direction. One tourist compared them to the cute gremlin Gizmo.

The bush baby in the pictures has been identified (by our head of Tourism Cai Tjeenk Willink) as a Spectacled Galago, Galago matschieni (syn. G.inustus). These animals on average weigh between 170 - 250g (about 6 - 8 ounces) with a body size of 14.7 - 20cm (about 5.5 - 7.8 inches) and an average tail length of 19 - 27.9 cm (7.5 - 11 inches). Although bush babies can be found across Africa, this species is only found in eastern parts of Congo and very isolated mountain slopes in Eastern Uganda.

Some random facts:

• Bush babies can jump up to 4 metres between the trees.
• To mark their territory, bush babies will urinate on their hands so when they walk on branches they leave behind their scent.
• Bush babies can follow this scent and jump on exactly the same branches whenever they enter or leave their nest.
• They like to eat fruits, gums and insects, which they can track in the dark.
• Mothers give birth to 1-3 babies at a time, with each new born weighing less than half an ounce.
• Bush Babies can be easily trained to eat from your hand.

Bush babies only come out at night, usually alone in an area, jump from tree to tree, and make a ridiculously loud noise for their tiny 6-8 inch body.

The eyes glow when a light hits it directly, so we only see their eyes if the bush baby is looking right at us and we have a torch shining right in their eyes.

Look at the long fingers on its hands. They pee on the hands and mark the trees with it.

Usually if a human is shining a light on a Bush Baby, it will watch briefly and then jump away. This baby was curious and came within 4 feet of me.

This is what we normally see when we hear the bush babies and go out with our torch to look for them. Hold the flashlight up near your face, and shine it around in the direction of the sound. Suddenly you will spot two glowing eyes in the dark. This view is exaggerated because of the camera flash, but usually we don’t see the body, just eyes.

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There is nothing quite so mesmerizing as watching an erupting volcano up close.

It feels a little like watching an amazing fireworks display that makes you want to cheer with each spectacular explosion.

Not only is it visually delicious, the constant roar and booms add just the right ambiance to make sure you remember you’re in the presence of something dangerous.

Add a little lightening and thunder from an approaching storm, and you’re quite certain you’re in the middle of a “Lord of the Rings” episode. Mount Doom is right here. Where is that Hobbit and ring?
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Yes, Nyamulagira is still erupting 9 weeks after the earth cracked and shot up flames of lava around 300 meters high. Here are photos from last weekend. The eruption treks continue with confirmed groups of 8 or more until the eruption dies out. Click on the photos to see larger.

View of the eruption from the tented camp.

One of the trekkers, a volcanologist named Lorraine, chooses a safe spot for us to watch from.

Ranger Emmanuel and several other escort us from the camp to the viewing site.

Sarah Bendalow is excited about this erupting volcano!

The landscape is quite desolate, most of it covered in gravel-size pieces of lava.

The lava flow was hard to see until it started to get dark, and then chunks of lava could be seen floating down the river

In the early morning light, the lava flow could be seen a little.

To the left of this eruption is the first eruption from Nov 6 which died out around the first week of December, with this second one starting up immediately next to it.