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Rangers need rations. The 650 + Rangers in Virunga all need to eat and drink to protect the flora and fauna of the park during their anti-poaching, anti-charcoal and routine patrols.

Rangers get ready to take rations from Goma to Lulimbi

Having rations regularly distributed makes us more effective in our work. We can plan better, and we don’t have to spent time and energy wondering where the next meal is coming from.

Unloading rations at Kabaraza station

Our rations, as you know, consist of foufou (manioc flour mixed with water), beans, rice, salted fish, cooking oil, salt and tomato paste. This can vary, but that is basically it. It would probably not be to your liking, but we appreciate it! We actually all cook together too, just because it is easier and more cost effective.

Many of you have donated patrol rations over the years, and that is extremely appreciated.

So at the end of each month, each of the 5 Park Stations receives rations for the Rangers based there. This is largely thanks to you, and also thanks to the European Union.

Thank you.

Distributing rations at Kabaraza

In the Congo of today, the death of a husband plunges a family into poverty.

We’ve received a significant donation from the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) to help the widows of the rangers who have died protecting the park.  Over 130 rangers have died, many of these during the war, and because of the situation, we were unable to provide them with any kind of support.

Life has been extremely hard for these women, who’s husbands made the ultimate sacrifice.  They were with us last year, when we evacuated Rumangabo during the fighting.  They remain with us, and are considered part of the Virunga “family”, but they don’t receive any financial help, and many of them are homeless, but for the makeshift accomodation that is prepared for them on the station.

So it was a huge boost for us to receive the support from IGCP, which enabled us to provide roofing, doors, and windows together with some additional cash to enable the widows to build a home and restore some dignity to their solitary lives.

As we were providing the equipment, we were able to listen to their stories.

For many, their husbands died in combat, and they were never able to say goodbye.

“Our souls were wrenched with emptiness and for my children and I, our life is full of despair” says Hakizimana Noella one widow in the  group.

For the Park’s wardens and rangers, providing a future for the widows and children of our fallen colleagues and friends is the greatest of priorities.  We’re extremely grateful to IGCP for beginning to put this right.

Our thanks also to those of you who have bought the book and made donations in aid of the families of the rangers who have died protecting our park.  This time we were able to help the widows of Rumangabo.  Many more need help in the rest of the park.

We are often asked for maps of Virunga National Park, so we decided to create a library on the website where you can download various maps in high resolution.

Click here to access the map library

You can now refer to maps such as the one below when we mention specific places in the blog:

Thank you Bruno from WWF for providing many of these maps.

Earlier this year I wrote about the lack of clean water in Bukima and how the population near the park was struggling with water, even going into the park just to find some to drink and cook with.

The month of June marks the beginning of a dry season that will last into August. We haven’t had any rain at all in over three weeks and already people are running out of water. The fews sources of water such as stagnant ponds and volcanic caves are drying up.

These pictures by Eddy tell the story better than I can:

Read the full story »

I had been in Goma for a while, but I am now back at the Bukima Camp. Whenever I come back here I take a lot of pictures, because this place is so beautiful.

I just want to share a selection of images from the last couple days of work (I am doing some GPS work which I will tell you more about on Monday). As usual, these photos and more than 300 other pics from our archive) will be available on our Flickr Page.

I hope some of these pictures capture the beauty of the Mikeno Volcano and the forests at its slopes, home to Virunga’s mountain gorillas:

(click on “read the full story” to see the full selection of these photos)

Read the full story »

Today was a beautiful day in Bukima, so I took some pictures to share it with you:

The Mikeno to the right, the Karisimbi volcano to the left.

The summit of the Mikeno

The Nyiragongo surrounded by small inactive volcanoes. (note the smoke from a charcoal fire in the forest to the right)

The very active Nyiragongo adds clouds to the sky

You can just see our camp on the bottom right- it is now finished, pictures of that to follow…

It is relatively calm this morning in Goma and in nearby Kibati, where the fighting was at its worst on Friday. Below is a video filmed by journalists from Euronews on that day, which shows exactly why Rangers such as Kazerezi Barigomwa, Jean-Marie Serundori, and Sekibibi Bareke cannot go back to their patrol post in Kibati:

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Please keep the donations coming for our refugee camp- we will need them in order to continue providing food and medicine to these Rangers and their families.

I last posted about the Museya patrol post construction about three weeks ago. Now it is almost done which is very impressive considering how isolated we are. The materials must travel far along bumpy roads. Some materials, for example bricks with holes in for ventilation, have to be flown, brick by brick, from Goma to Beni to then be transported by road for several hours. We are very grateful to the European Union for funding this via WWF.

I would also like to extend a special thanks to The Andrea and Michael Banks Nature Fund. WildlifeDirect has just told me that Andrea and Michael have sent a check for $360 to fund the conservation work at Ishango. This amount is what I am still missing on a monthly basis to reach the $690 monthly target - ie the amount that keeps Ishango going. Thank you Andrea & Michael for this.

Here are the latest photos of Museya patrol post - one of the six patrol posts (or “pps” as we call them) that are under my responsibility.

Samantha blogged last month about the construction that is going on there - it will be transformed from mud huts to brick buildings! The EU is funding this, and the building process is being overseen by William from the French organization Soderu who comes to visit us regularly. He also oversaw the schools in Mutsora, and the other buildings here in Ishango. We are very very excited! As you can see the European Union funds many projects in eastern DR Congo - and we are grateful of each one.