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It’s the dry season here in Virunga, which means times are hard for all the park’s animals - their daily struggle to find food and water is tougher than ever. The Mountain Gorilla population is no exception but life is particularly tough for the Munyaga Family. There isn’t much bamboo for them to eat and most of what there is in a narrow belt around Mount Mikeno, and that area is dominated by those two towering rivals - Kabirizi and Humba.

Mawazo, Munyaga Family. Guard Mawazo here

The Munyaga Family has been doing very well under its young and dynamic leader Mawazo; better in fact than anyone expected. You may remember that a while back a new female appeared in the group. Nyabigoro’s arrival was disruptive to say the least. She brought with her the threat of infection from a disease she carried at the time. And she seems to have riled up the three males in the group as they have interacted violently on several occasions since her arrival. Indeed some of the Rangers were anxious enough about the group to speculate that it might fragment, leaving one or more of the males as solitaries, which would be a shame. But this stormy period passed and peace prevailed at least in part, so the Rangers say, because the young Mawazo showed that in this family, he has the last word.

Mawazo and Nyabigoro

He may have restored order and secured his leadership, but Mawazo’s trials and tribulations continue as he tries to fulfill his other role – that of provider. Even at altitude, the grass is drying out and young bamboo shoots are scarce. Mawazo is faced with a very stark choice: find a new source of food or go up against Kabirizi and/ or Humba. For now at least Mawazo seems to feel that discretion is the better part of valor because he has adopted the novel strategy of climbing trees in search of food. The salient question is: can he do this until the rainy season or will he have to chance his arm against Kabirizi and Humba?

The Munyaga family climbing trees in search of food

The Munyaga family as you know is made up of 3 males and one female, Bilali. Well a few weeks ago the males succeeded in luring another female into the fold – a non-habituated female that we have named Nyabigoro, after a Ranger who recently passed away.

At first Nyabigoro rushed to hide behind the bamboo as soon as we appeared in the forest – but now she is becoming curious as to who we are, and we now have the first photos that I would like to share.

Kadogo is being rather persistent and continuously making advances toward Nyabigoro – but Mawazo, the dominant Silverback of the family, is making sure Kadogo does not get his wicked way! You may recall that in August Kadogo and Mawazo got into a fight, and Kadogo came out worst off. So for now Kadogo looks like he may be fighting a losing battle!

Nyabigoro is quite a small gorilla, and we think she is fairly young, but of course we cannot know for sure. We wonder how it came about that she left her non-habituated family to join this new group – but that is something we shall probably never know. It is nonetheless fascinating to think of all the non-habituated gorillas roaming the Mikeno sector – we estimate there are about 120 in total, based on sightings (and hearings) by our Rangers on patrol in the more remote parts of Virunga. I wonder what other changes there will be in the months to come… and of course remember Munyaga himself is still missing from this family that still bears his name. Maybe he is with one of the non-habituated families… I wonder…

This time of year is a period of friction between the gorilla families in Mikeno.  Bamboo shoots start sprouting because it’s the beginning of the rain season.  The shoots are in short supply and there is a bit of a scramble, which opens the scene for the occasional fight between silverbacks.

The Munyaga group usually avoids a fight, but has now drifted towards the Kabirizi and Humba group in search of bamboo shoots.

Infact, the gorillas are not alone.  Elephants, Antelopes and Buffalos as well as the gorillas move up into the forest looking for bamboo shoots

Kadogo the bald silverback from the Munyaga group, was spotted at higher altitude enjoying the bamboo.

The Munyaga family is now lead by a silverback called mawazo has only limited experience in leading a group.

This is Mawazo who dominates Kadogo and Kasole, the other two silver backs in the group.

Kasole

Injured but happy because the goup has beaten the fight and entered a new wild female gorilla.

Kagogo again

A furtive shot of Bilali, the only one female in the group, with her baby.

This morning I went to see the Munyaga group to check up on Kadogo who was injured in a fight with Mawazo .

We found the group in Area 369, which at the moment is not taken- please sponsor it now to ensure that it is free of snares and other threats to mountain gorillas.

I was able to get a good look at him- the wound on his bald head has healed nicely.

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On Saturday I went to see the Munyaga group and was treated to a show by the confident infant gorilla Kakule.

The little female gorilla was fooling around and generally posing for the camera

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The Rangers have just come back from checking on the Munyaga group and report that Kodogo (who was injured during a fight yesterday ) is doing fine. The group moved several kilometers over the last 24 hours and Kadogo has been able to keep up despite the injuries on his feet.

We are all very pleased because Kadogo is a special silverback and is Innocent ’s favourite gorilla. He is the only mountain gorilla in the world who is bald on the top of his head.

This is him as he is now:

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This morning the team tracking the Munyaga Group was at the gorillas’ nest site when they heard in the distance two silverbacks fighting, screeching and breaking branches. The team, including Rangers Yaya Mburanumwe and Martin Kazerezi, followed the tracks in the direction of the noise.

They soon found fresh blood on the forest floor:

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Here is a video of three gorillas from the Munyaga Group filmed this morning (13 June) at geographic coordinates 01.41159 South, 29.44018 East.

The adult gorillas were relaxing and eating bamboo shoots, which gave the infant Kakule a bit of time to play under the watchful eye of his mom Bilali and the silverback Mawazo.

The video is edited only a little and is a bit longer than usual, but I wanted to give you a sense of the tranquility and contentment that exuded from this gorilla family scene:

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HELP US DEFEND THESE GORILLAS: PROTECT THE PARK

Yesterday I accompanied Ranger Kazerezi (aka “Martin”) to check out the Munyaga Group. We found them during their rest break and they were very relaxed- a perfect opportunity to take portraits of this unusual family with three silverbacks.

Kadogo was the only one I didn’t see, but I could hear him grunting occasionally in the bushes nearby.

Mawazo

Kakule and her mom Bilali

Mawazo

Kakule hitches a ride

Kasole

Kasole’s silver back

Last week when we found the Munyaga family group and saw that Bilali had a new baby, it was obvious that we had to name the baby after Safari Kakule, the Ranger who was killed in the line of duty earlier this month.

Below is a video I filmed of Kakule the baby gorilla with a very tired Bilali:

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