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Well almost!

I took these photos yesterday - and as you can see Observation Platform number 1 is almost done. It rises up just outside one corner of the 40mx40m and has a great view over the orphans, without being too intrusive.

This gives you an idea of where it sits in relation to the perimeter wall.

And this is taken from behind. You access it along this plank. We will also be adding a door in coming days, and a few more planks to darken it a little.

And this is the view from the platform. The 2 heads sticking out are Placide, the electrician who did the wiring around the top of the wall, and Patrick, who oversees the construction of the Senkwekwe Centre.

This was ALL built WITH YOUR DONATIONS.

Thank you!!

Ndakasi clearly thinks she can reach the tree tops.

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Ndeze & Ndakasi continue to adapt well to their new life in the forest. I am at Rumangabo and have just come from the Senkwekwe Centre. Andre has just left to go to the market. Monday is an important shopping day for the gorilla food - mainly the cauliflower and the carrots. There are 3 markets relatively close by, but they all stock different things. So at the moment Andre is going to market 3 times a week, but we want to cut that to 2. Andre took all these photos over the last few days.

Ndeze & Ndakasi both love forest food, and market food - so for now we must still supply both. Diddy is in charge of bringing the forest food from the Gorilla Sector - 3 times a week.

Ndeze & Ndakasi spend a lot of time playing on the climbing structures that were erected last week. You can spot the edge of the wall with the electric fencing - so far neither of them have touched it! Apparently a baboon was having a good look at the gorillas over the weekend, and not quite sure what to make of them! He did not venture into the enclosure.

If you are lucky you can actually spot the gorillas from outside the Senkwekwe Centre as they climb the trees and the structures.

Undoubtedly they are much happier here than in Goma. Andre and the other carers are so positive about this new environment.

All the gorilla girls do all day long is play, eat and sleep. As they should.

And the observation platform is underway… hopefully finished by the end of the week. This is being built with your donations!

Thank you for all your donations this past week. Here you all are… each and every one of you who is making the Senkwekwe Centre a reality. I have listed the donations this week by donation amount, with the largest first. Thank you everyone!

Eric A, $1,000.00, Open Donation; John S, $500.00, Open Donation; Laura R, $500.00, Open Donation; patricia d, $375.00, 25 x Support the Senkwekwe Centre; Winthrop A, $300.00, Open Donation; Eric B, $200.00, Open Donation; roy s, $102.00, 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 1 x Veterinary Support, 1 x Running Costs, Open Donation; sheryl p, $102.00, 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 1 x Veterinary Support, 1 x Running Costs, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Julian I, $100.00, 2 x Foster Ndeze, 2 x Foster Ndakasi; Mark W, $100.00, Open Donation; Philip R, $100.00, Open Donation; Georgena F, $88.00, 4 x Running Costs; Alison R, $50.00, Open Donation; Catherine T, $50.00, Open Donation; Frances H, $50.00, 5 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; giuseppe luigi s, $50.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Heather E, $50.00, 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Education, 1 x Veterinary Support; Ian B, $50.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Josefine K, $50.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Lesa W, $50.00, 1 x Gorilla Observation Platform, 1 x Veterinary Support; Pirjo I, $50.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Riki T, $50.00, Open Donation; Robert L, $50.00, Open Donation; Susanne M, $50.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Vanessa B, $50.00, Open Donation; David K, $40.00, 4 x Fuel for Patrols; Alvaro S, $30.00, Open Donation; William W, $30.00, 1 x Senkwekwe Appeal: Patrol Rations; Alison R, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Alison R, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze; Alison R, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 91; annabel b, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndeze; Christoper C, $25.00, Foster Ndakasi; Christina R, $25.00, Open Donation; Elizabeth B, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Harry van der H, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 58; Heidi L C, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 82; Janet W, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 16; John R, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 47; Junko T, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 2; Laura F, $25.00, Open Donation; Megan C, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Minna Maaria K, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 49; Peter Vander V, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Polly W, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 11; Rosemary Mac A, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 1; Steven M, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 220; Valerie B, $25.00, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Whitney F, $25.00, Protect Park Area no. 12; bart l, $20.00, 1 x Veterinary Support; Camille S, $20.00, 1 x Veterinary Support; Ed B, $20.00, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Education; Margaret K, $16.00, Open Donation; Barbara T, $10.00, 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; Paulette Z, $10.00.

Since we started the campaign on Nov 16th we have had OVER 320 INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS to the Senkwekwe Centre.

We started building a visitation platform last week with your donations. I will post photos of that next week. There will also be an update on Ndeze & Ndakasi in their new home!

Watch Andre Bauma - the head Gorilla Carer at the Senkwekwe Centre - at home with his human family! Rosette his wife, his son Eric - and his home in Kiwanja, just north of Rumangabo.

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Ndeze & Ndakasi have moved one step closer to the wild. It is now over a week since they first saw their new home in the forest, and we are still getting used to this wonderful news in Rumangabo. The park station had already changed so much in the last year – and now with the 2 latest arrivals it feels very different altogether!

No longer are these precious orphans near the noise and dust of Goma. Now they wake up to birds singing and sometimes even the sounds of buffalo and elephants.

Andre tells me that they are already learning how to make their own nests, and importantly since day one they have been sleeping together, on their own, with their carers in the room next door. This is a critical step for these young gorillas.

Enjoying life at last!!! As we all should.

Thank you for all your donations…

Life in Virunga has been busy for all of us recently - finalizing the anti-charcoal operations, checking up on school construction and the new patrol post at Bukima, trying to raise more funds for anti-poaching patrols and to maintain the briquette program, and of course, moving Ndeze and Ndakazi to their new home.

Ndeze enjoying life in the Senkwekwe Centre yesterday

Life in Virunga has also been good. Bringing our two orphans home, back to the park.  For us, their return has enormous significance, possibly because it brings some closure on some of the terrible events that have affected the park over the past few years.  Ndeze and Ndakazi’s story began with the gorilla killings in 2007.  After hearing the gunshots, the long hours walking in the rain, we found the mutilated bodies of the Rugendo family.  That day, the sight of Senkwekwe’s body lying dead at our feet destroyed our morale and for a while, broke our resolve to keep this wonderful park alive.

Ndeze & Ndakasi now have several trees to climb amid the lush vegetation

But somehow, it also brought the team together, and that helped us to get through difficult months that lay ahead. The day the war came to the park, our homes at Rumangabo, Rutshuru, Rwindi and Lulimbi suffered heavy artillery fire, and most of the park came under rebel control.  The rangers and their families followed the faceless suffering masses on that long hard walk to the refugee camps of Goma.  We ran out of funds, and it was largely thanks to the support that we received from you through this blog that we were able to provide basic food and healthcare to the rangers to keep their families alive.

Andre has also built climbing structures for Ndeze & Ndakasi, including a hammock!

A year has gone by, and so much has changed.  People are still suffering terribly in North Kivu, but there are also a great many changes.  As I walked around Rumangabo this morning, watching people getting on with their normal daily existence, the change felt very real.  And then, walking down through a deep forest to a place where Ndeze and Ndakasi can resume their lives, so brutally disrupted in 2007, I began to feel a real sense of the amazing things that are possible when this sleeping giant that is Congo begins to rebuild itself.

Watch the exclusive video of the move of Ndeze & Ndakasi to the Senkwekwe Centre.

Thanks for all your comments, kind words & donations!

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Thank you for your donations for the past week for the Senkwekwe Centre - the new home of Ndeze & Ndakasi. We have now raised almost $16,000. THANK YOU!

Adrian T, $300.00 , Open Donation; Andre P, $100.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 2 x Veterinary Support, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Bennett M, $50.00 , Open Donation; Carol Z, $20.00 , 1 x Gorilla Orphan Education; Cheryl T, $200.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 1 x Gorilla Observation Platform, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Toys & Kit, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Education, 1 x Christine K, $20.00 , 1 x Veterinary Support; Christine T, $25.00 , Open Donation; Cornelia S, $50.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Cornelia S, $15.00 , 1 x Senkwekwe Appeal: Patrol Rations; daljit s, $25.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze; David L, $30.00 , Open Donation; David S, $100.00 , Open Donation; David S, $30.00 , 1 x Gorilla Observation Platform; Gemma E, $25.00 , 1 x Foster Ndakasi; hedwige de m, $25.00 , Protect Park Area no. 10; houle d, $25.00 , Protect Park Area no. 63; Jacqueline H, $30.00 , Open Donation; James M, $50.00 , Open Donation; Jimmy G, $25.00 , 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Joyce L, $50.00 , Open Donation; Junko T, $100.00 , 2 x Foster Ndeze, 2 x Foster Ndakasi; Kathleen B, $25.00 , Open Donation; Keith K, $100.00 , Open Donation; Kevin C, $50.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Leon P, $1,000.00 , Open Donation; Lynette W, $25.00 , Protect Park Area no. 50; Martina H, $25.00 , Protect Park Area no. 59; Mary C, $40.00 , 4 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; Meghan H, $20.00 , Open Donation; Michael P, $92.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Toys & Kit, 1 x Veterinary Support, 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; MKA e, $30.00 , Open Donation; mrs a n, $30.00 , 1 x Gorilla Observation Platform; Nicola B, $10.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; Pearl S, $50.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Peter H, $25.00 , Protect Park Area no. 178; PHILIPPE S, $50.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi ; Roger M, $15.00 , 1 x Senkwekwe Appeal: Patrol Rations; Rosemarie O, $50.00 , 5 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; Samantha B, $20.00 , 1 x Gorilla Orphan Education; Sarah H, $10.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; scott l, $50.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Sharon S, $25.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze; Stephanie W, $42.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Toys & Kit, 1 x Gorilla Orphan Education; susan k, $15.00 , 1 x Support the Senkwekwe Centre; Susan P, $40.00 , Open Donation; Suzannah B, $10.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; Suzanne McD, $25.00 , Open Donation; The F, $25.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze; Traci T, $15.00 , 1 x Senkwekwe Appeal: Patrol Rations; Valerie E, $50.00 , 1 x Foster Ndeze, 1 x Foster Ndakasi; Zoe M, $10.00 , 1 x 10 Bricks for the Wall; Zoe M, $25.00 , Protect Park Area no. 57.

Ndeze and Ndakasi are settling in well to their new home with Andre and the other 3 carers. It has been a very smooth transition, and they seem to be absoluted delighted with once again being in their natural habitat. So far, things could not have gone better.

More photos and video to follow soon…

Ndeze & Ndakasi have moved to their new, lush, forest home in Virunga National Park - the Senkwekwe Center!

The gorilla girls are now with Andre and the other carers in the 40 x 40 meter holding facility, within what will eventually be a 2.5 acre (1 hectare) plot of lush forest, a stone’s throw from their habitat in the Gorilla Sector.

Yesterday started at dawn, with Emmanuel, myself, Katya, Eddy, Andre, the carers and the Gorilla Doctors - Dr Mike, Dr Jan, Dr Eddy, and Dr Jacques, and also Sandy from DFGFI, a carer for confiscated gorillas. First - Ndeze & Ndakasi had to be tranquilised to put them in the truck. The truck had been parked in the house for a week, so they had had the chance to get used to it.

At 6.30am we started winding through the streets of Goma, a convoy of 3 cars. Although it was still early, people were already out. It was strange to think the gorillas were in the back of the truck - with Andre and another carer.

Eventually we left Goma and headed north to begin the 45km journey to Rumangabo park station. This usually takes about 1h but it took us about 1h30. The roads are all dirt roads, and basically follow the Congo/Rwanda border - previously a hotbed of tension. You can see the Nyiragongo volcano smoking in the background.

After a very very long 1h30 we arrived at Rumangabo park station - again, no one knew the gorillas were in the truck. We had kept the moving date confidential.

Emmanuel parked at the top of the little path heading down toward the Senkwekwe Centre, and then Ndeze & Ndakasi got their first peekat the forest.

Andre and the other carers carried Ndeze & Ndakasi the short walk to their new home.

Once inside Ndeze and Ndakasi stuck to their carers and would not leave their side.

But after a very short time - literally 5 minutes - they started to gain confidence with their new surroundings. Remember they have not been in this habitat since mid 2007 when they were orphaned.

Gradually they started to leave their carers sides and explore…

Until a banana tree planted diligently by Innocent & Diddy took their fancy.

And that was it. Home at last.

It was a tense day, that went very smoothly. The Gorilla Doctors had thought of all the contingency plans from a veterinary perspective and Sandy brought her invaluable carer experience to the team. Andre and the 3 carers were the stars - along with Ndeze & Ndakasi of course.

It was also an emotional day. For everyone. Ndeze & Ndakasi are the only 2 baby mountain gorillas in captivity in the world. And we were all so desperate for them to return to their natural habitat.

I received an email from Dr Lucy Spelman, who you all probably remember used to work here. She summed it up with: “Please tell Andre I said Hello and that I would not have pushed to move the orphans there - or to build the facility - without him, his abilities, and his compassion for gorillas.  I’ll never forget those tough days in Goma when Ndakasi could barely breathe.  We all fought so hard for her, especially him.  I’ve never had an animal patient that sick survive…”

In addition to the Congolese Wildlife Authority, the Gorilla Doctors, DFGFI, Gearing Up 4 Gorillas and many others, our biggest thanks go to Adam Murry at The Murry Foundation who has financed over $100,000 to date, and also to a lady Canadian donor who donated $30,000. Absolutely none of this would have happened without them.

And so now - in order to finish the perimeter wall of the 2.5 acre plot - we need your help. This is why we launched the campaign last month. And for every dollar we get on this website til 24 Dec, the UN Foundation will double it.

That way we will be able to complete the wall - and the visitation platforms, educational center and veterinary facilities. All critical to the future of the Senkwekwe Center.

Yesterday was a great day. And we all hope that soon there will be an even greater one when the Senkwekwe Center is finally finished.

We cannot do anything about the July 2007 massacre. What has passed is past. But we can all do something now to help Ndeze (Senkwekwe’s daughter) and Ndakasi.

Thank you all.