Emmanuel, Innocent and Norbert pay their respects yesterday.

As you know Silvestre had been taken ill with liver disease, and he was not able to recover. He passed away on 18 March 2010 in the presence of his wife, Antoinette, and his 9 children (5 of whom still live at home).

Silvestre had many responsibilities over the years in Virunga, notably in the Gorilla Sector. He was head of the patrol posts of Bukima, Bikenge and Jomba - all key staging posts to protect the Mountain Gorillas - during the course of his career, and in the late noughties headed up the Anti-Poaching fight from Rumangabo. Laterly he had taken on more of an advisory role.

Silvestre was also a mentor to many Rangers that you read about on this blog - obviously Innocent, his son, but also to Diddy, Jean Bosco, Augustin Kambale, and many others. They all spoke very fondly of him yesterday.

There were over 300 people at the funeral yesterday, showing just how much he was loved, and respected.

At the Gorilla Cemetary in Rumangabo, in 2009.

There is a very cruel twist in this story. Silvestre was 2 days away from receiving a lump sum pension payment as part of a program funded by the European Union to allow Rangers to retire. Unfortunately, he is no longer eligible for this payment.

Consequently, I should like to raise $2,500 for Silvestre’s family.

All donations made on the website will go toward this cause, unless otherwise indicated.

Please donate generously to Antoinette and her children. Thank you.

With your monthly contribution the Rangers will be funded to keep the area free from snares, and prevent another gorilla death. Click on the picture link below to find out more.

At the moment 79 plots are protected, representing a total of 2,391 acres.

BUT WE NEED TO PROTECT ALL OF THE GORILLA SECTOR - this is 250km2 or 61,750 acres.

So right now we are protecting, through this scheme, less than 5 percent of the Gorilla Sector. Please help us.

Check out for example Karel’s area. You can see it below, or click on the top right hand square. Karel can see photos and video of the forest area that he is protecting.

As you know the Rangers go out into the forest daily with cameras and devices that log the GPS coordinates of their movements. This is how we manage to synchronize photos and video with the exact location.

If you have any questions please leave a comment here. Thank you.

The villager was with 2 other men who were sitting in their field next to the Gorilla Sector at about 4am in case elephants came to steal the crops. We know - and we have talked about this many times - that elephants, buffaloes and gorillas all leave the confines of Virunga National Park to crop raid.

We have trained community members in crop protection and that it is important have a fire. Unfortunately these men did not have a fire - and so the elephant was not scared off at all, but startled by the presence of the men.

We do not have any photos of the forest elephants. You never see them during the day when you walk in the forest. What you do see very very clearly is their tracks.

The community is understandably upset and angry. ICCN will cover all funeral costs and will make a cash payment to the family. This is the least we can do for the time being, and at a later date we will have to see how we can alleviate the family’s suffering. I have sent this money to Innocent this morning from donations that you have made on our website. This money is usually for the Ranger’s widows, and other emergencies. This is an emergency.

Michel, the head of Bukima patrol post, is still in the community trying to help.

Buhanga is easy to recognize because of his pronounced jaw. He is also the brother of Karateka, another Solitary Silverback. Their father was killed in 1997 in crossfire between the Congolese and Rwandan armies.

The Rangers said that he has diarrhea and that he seemed to be weak and have trouble walking.

Dr Eddy the Gorilla Doctor has gone up there today to check it all out. I will let you know as soon as I hear.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Ckh9g8l9v4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

When the orphans first moved to the Senkwekwe Centre we thought the baboons may be a problem as they can be so aggressive and there are lots of them here. But a few electric shocks from the wire fence has scared them off, fortunately. The Colobus monkeys have also been curious, but Ndeze has now started to try and chase them away, or shake the trees from which they are peering on down.

Interestingly Ndeze has started building gorilla nests in the tree tops, thus exhibiting normal gorilla behavior. Ndakasi’s hair - that was a reddy color - is becoming more and more black. And neither orphan has suffered any health problems since they arrived here on 1st December 2009.

There have been some glitches. We have had a couple of major storms here at Rumangabo that have blow the electrics of the entire park station. This means that for a time the electric fence has stopped working (this fence is more to keep animals out, rather than Ndeze and Ndakasi in). But we have now installed additional equipment, both at the Senkwekwe Centre and also where the main generator is for the station, so we hope that this will not happen again.

We have also had a huge amount of rain since early February, and some water has been entering under the door of the gorilla house. And there are also some signs of humidity in the clean room of the gorilla house. But both of these issues are also being dealt with right now. We need to dig channels (that will not wash away with the heavy rain) to divert the water, and also erect additional roofing on the gorilla house.

Today I gave the 4 gorilla carers new uniforms that I brought from the UK that I purchased last month with donations made on this website. You will see photos shortly but they look extremely smart in their new forest green outfits. I also bought up a bicycle today from Goma to make it a bit easier for the carers to fetch their drinking water. Water for cleaning, cooking and washing comes from the roof of the gorilla house (it goes into a tank) but we need source water for human and gorilla consumption.

Thanks again everyone for your support on this project. Construction for the next phase will be starting very soon!

This is the quasi-permanent lava lake in the crater of the Nyiragongo.

The volcano had been closed to tourism for security reasons, but has just re-opened following a notable improvement in security after months of Ranger operations in the foothills of the volcano.

This is the view you get from the summit, looking down into the crater.

The cost of hiking up is $200 for a foreigner and $25 for a national. Permits can be obtained from the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) office in Goma. Please email Vianney at tourism at gorilla dot cd for more information.

If you want to see some footage of the volcano erupting, and how it looks on most days from Bukima in the Gorilla Sector, click here.

In coming months we will also be providing facilities at the summit - shelter and toilets. At the moment this is lacking but it is something we wish to work on as soon as possible.

If you want to see more photos of the volcano there are many on our Flickr account!

Bantu gave me this image. The killer smiles after the slaughter.

All the killings happened near Vitshumbi, on the southern shores of Lake Edward.

And another image from Bantu. Then they hack up the animal into smaller pieces to eat or sell.If you want to read more about the hippo population of Lake Edward click here.

We have reported several times on hippo killings on this blog. Back in September Pierre wrote that 8 hippos were killed in August 2009. In the past those responsible have been the Mai Mai rebels, army soldiers, or poachers. This time we do not have confirmation who is responsible, but this killing spree needs to be stopped.

Emmanuel has already undertaken significant efforts with Innocent and others to try and see what can be done. In addition, a 4-month training program will start next week in Lulimbi, also on the shores of Lake Edward but to the east of Vitshumbi. 60 Rangers per month will go through the training, to be led by senior trainers we have recruited from abroad.

The killing must stop.

This month we started building a Briquette Warehouse on this land. The warehouse will be home to all of our marketing activities, in addition to facilitating the storage of sacks and the drying and quality control of fuel briquettes before they go out onto the open market.

In short, this is a massive step in our bid to eradicate charcoal.

The plot of land where our warehouse is being built.

It is located on one of the lava flows erupted from Nyragongo in 2002.

The wall construction started last week.

The wall enclosure yesterday, going up fast!

The efforts of our team – me, Balemba, Jean Bosco etc - are now focused on the sale of this biomass energy source, while improving the quality of materials being used for the briquettes mixture.  We are carrying out calorific and burning tests to find out which are the best materials to utilize. Remember, to make one kilo of charcoal, our biggest competitor, you need 6 kilos of wood. That is a lot of concentrated energy!

Balemba with the striped shirt and Patient from Mercy Corps carrying out tests with the fuel briquettes.

Different qualities of fuel briquettes drying in the greenhouse waiting to be tested.

Thank you for your continued support and donations… we are coming along in strides and it is exciting to be a part of this effort.

Ndakasi and Ndeze, the females orphaned in mid 2007 when their mothers were massacred, will be able to fully enjoy life in a custom-built forest home with their 4 carers, Andre, Patrick, Alfred and Richard.

Ndeze & Ndakasi have been living in a new forest home since December 2009 after moving there from the dusty and noisy city of Goma. But it is only partially complete - in actual fact it is a 40 by 40 meter holding facility - and now with the additional funding we will be able to finish it off.

We will also be able to facilitate a comprehensive educational outreach program, especially for the communities living around the Gorilla Sector. In addition, we will ensure that para-veterinary facilities are provided to care for the gorilla orphans, and the other wildlife in Virunga.

This is possible thanks to many of you, who gave both big and small - but the final push was thanks to The Howard G Buffett Foundation. Mr Howard Buffett visited Rumanagabo, Virunga’s HQ, back in December (he was in fact the first visitor on the viewing platform), and has since donated $80,250. These monies, combined with the funds raised on this website BY YOU, will be doubled by the UN Foundation, giving the total of $211,500.

All your donations have been listed on the blog. In total we raised over $30,000 between 16 November 2009, when the campaign was launched, and the end of the year through the website. Thank you to all, and also to the Gorilla Godparents of Ndeze and Ndakasi.

This diagram - which some of you have already seen - gives an idea of what the Senkwekwe Centre will look like once it is completed. We will kickstart construction next month.

Very special thanks to all of you who made this happen:

The Murry Foundation - who got the project off the ground in the very beginning, back in July 2008.

Gearing Up 4 Gorillas - who introduced us to The Murry Foundation and has also provided valuable funding and support.

Raemonde Bezenar - who gave us money when the project stalled after the war, a critical time.

The Howard G Buffett Foundation - the final push - thank you very much.

The United Nations Foundation & UNESCO - who are doubling the money from our web campaign and The Howard G Buffett Foundation.

AND YOU - who all donated via the website or sent checks.

THANK YOU.

Now watch this space to see the construction unfold.

In the meantime Silvestre is at home, being nursed by Antoinette, his wife and Innocent’s mother.

Due to feeling weak he fell over last week and broke his arm.

Silvestre at home in Goma

Silvestre, as you may recall, was one of the very first Rangers to work on the habituation of Mountain Gorillas in 1985, including the Rugendo family.

This is an excerpt from his profile:

“It was in Bukima that I worked with the scientist Conrad Aveling on the habituation of mountain gorillas. Dr. Aveling is a great man and he has been of immense service to Virunga National Park. Habituating mountain gorillas was a difficult and sometimes dangerous job. One day, while following the Rugabo group, several females came up and sat next to me. I had no idea they were in heat until the silverback charged me, grabbed me by the arm, and threw me several meters in the air. I dislocated my shoulder and learned a valuable lesson: like humans, mountain gorilla silverbacks don’t appreciate undue attention being paid to their love interests.”

Here is to wishing Silvestre a speedy recovery.

Silvestre in 1988 guiding a tourist (Phil) to see the gorillas at Jomba