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Welcome to the second in a series of gallery photos from our readers who responded to a call for photo donations. Today’s photos are from Morgan Trimble who contributed many photos, and since I couldn’t choose just a few, I’ve decided to let her have the whole show today.

This is the Rugendo family, dear to our hearts. This family only has seven members and it’s been an uphill battle for them following the massacre of 5 members of the family in 2007, including the impressive head of the family, silverback Senkwekwe. Last year was the first time the family grew to a size big enough to allow tourists to visit them. They are surprisingly habituated considering what they went through, and tend often to come right up within several feet of you before you can back away.

I’ve included a few extras of the erupting volcano as well. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos, Morgan.

Below are a series of photos of mom with her baby climbing all over her. I love the various expressions. Human moms…I’m sure you can relate.

Silverbacks Bukima and Kongomani quite often walk right up to you, or run past within a meter. It’s quite the adrenaline rush.

Some of our awesome rangers who lead the gorilla treks. John, on the right, is a 2nd generation ranger - his father retired last year. He hopes his son will choose the same profession.

This is the mountain gorilla graveyard at the Virunga National Park headquarters of Rumangabo. Senkwekwe’s grave is here, the former patriarch of the Rugendo family who was murdered in 2007 along with 4 adult females.

Bukima Tented Camp, where most gorilla treks begin, had a stunning view of the erupting volcano between November 2011 and March 2012.

The Nyamulagira volcano eruption of 2011-2012.

To see more of Morgan’s stunning photos, click HERE to go to her wildlife page. Please remember that her photos are copyrighted and shouldn’t be reproduced or used elsewhere without authorization.

Silverback Bukima of the Rugendo family. © Micheal Valigore

The Rugendo mountain gorilla family is well-known around here for many things.

• In 2007, this gorilla family lost five family members in what has become known as the Rugendo Massacre when silverback Senkwekwe and 4 adult females were killed execution style.
• The family is extremely habituated, meaning they regularly come out of the forest and into cultivated land or wander through the Bukima patrol post peeking into windows.
• And they like to move, living up to the meaning of their name: “traveler”

At Bukima Patrol Post - the Rugendo family is extremely habituated.

Last month, they roamed all over the park, to the far corners near Uganda, south toward Rwanda, and yesterday they came back to their normal place of residence, the Bukima area where most visitors begin their gorilla treks.

Rugendo baby © Micheal Valigore

Yesterday, Rugendo family had a clash with our solitary silverback Mukunda close to Bukima patrol post. Mukunda had also come out of the forest to eat crops. The interaction resulted in no injuries, which is good news, but the rangers are watching carefully to make sure they don’t get into trouble.

Solitary silverback Mukunda on a day outside the forest.

(Thank you to Micheal Valigore for his photos:  www.michaelvaligorephotography.com)

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.

A Rugendo baby born to Lubutu and Bukima bring the family members to six.

Virunga National Park rangers discovered two baby gorillas born into the Rugendo and Humba gorilla families. This is the first baby to survive for mother Lubutu and father Bukima in the Rugendo family, bringing the small group to six members. The new Humba baby makes 15 for the family.

Lubutu is the only female in the Rugendo family. Her last baby died after only two days. We have worked hard to protect all of our gorillas, and are especially happy to see a new baby in this family. We feel like celebrating. Read the full story »

Last week, the Rugendo gorilla family decided to pay a visit to the Bukima Ranger Station where gorilla treks begin. They wandered right through our ranger headquarters, down a path taken by tourists to the tented camp, wandered around the camp for a while, went out into the plowed dirt agricultural field and then into the nearby forest. All the while, 8 Hugos (locals who work with rangers) rang bells and beat drums in an attempt to force them back into the forest. Innocent explains: Read the full story »

Today Kongomani – son of Rugendo and Safari – turns 13 years old, and he is almost a Silverback.

As you know Kongomani is in the Rugendo Family – and is in fact one of the survivors of the July 2007 massacre. It is his sister Ndeze who lives with Ndakasi at the Senkwekwe Centre, and his mother Safari is buried right in front of my office.

Read the full story »

The survivors of the massacre of 2007 are yet to change their ways despite a change of leader. The once solitary Silverback Bukima has been in charge for two years but the family is yet to recover from the massacre or to find its equilibrium.

Bukima

There was the short period of co-direction with Pili-Pili, who was forced to leave the group and flee with the sub-adult female Bavukahe. And before that the Black back Mukunda led the group and, for a time, tried to defend it from the would-be kings Pili-Pili and Bukima. Sadly for Mukunda it wasn’t to be, and he left the group for the solitary life. The cloud of Mukunda’s departure had its silver lining: Bukima was free to impose himself upon the rest of the group, and life became a lot more peaceful.

Read the full story »

THE THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE GORILLA MASSACRE: CONGOLESE RANGERS COMMEMORATE THE TRAGEDY

On the morning of 22 July 2007, Rangers in Virunga National Park found the bodies of four mountain gorillas. They had been murdered by gunmen; shot at point blank range in the manner of an execution. The remains of another gorilla from the same family were found three weeks later. Her infant was missing, presumed dead. Images of the tragedy were broadcast across the globe, bringing attention to the threats facing this critically endangered species.

The events of that day were described in detail on our blog at the time (click here to read)

Read the full story »

Almost 3 years after the brutal July 2007 Gorilla Massacre, the leadership of the Rugendo Family has been assured by Bukima, an 18-year old Silverback, son of Ndungutse.

Bukima used to be in the Munyaga Family - but he left that group in 2007 to become a Solitary, before joining up with the Rugendo family some time in 2008. One of his brothers is Karateka, a Solitary, and another was Buhanga, who recently died.

Read the full story »

The Mapuwa Family have split after nine months of acrimonious cohabitation.
The family had been led by the Silverbacks, Mapuwa and Nvuyekure, since December 29 2008.

Mapuwa

Read the full story »