It is with sadness that I must report the death a Janja’s baby, Burungani. A week ago, we received news the Rugendo family was eating maize and sorghum crops outside the park near Sarambwe. Such behavior puts the mountain gorillas in grave danger of being injured or killed by angry villagers, so rangers from the
New Volcano Eruption Trek
On the evening of 6 November, Nyamulagira volcano erupted in a spectacular display of fire, ash, and lava, lighting up the sky in bright orange. By day five, warden Emmanuel de Merode, and Tourism Director Cai Tjeenk Willink had organized a new trek for tourists to the eruption site following a safety approval from volcanologist
Monitoring the Virunga Mountain Gorilla Families
In the last few weeks, the rangers and I have been working hard to do a complete assessment of our six habituated gorilla families. We included six new rangers in the survey process for training purposes as many will be deployed in the gorilla sector eventually. Some gorilla families are much easier to access than
Key Members of Baby Mountain Gorilla Traffickers Arrested
Congo Wildlife Authorities arrested two men believed to be key members of a baby mountain gorilla trafficking group following an undercover investigation by Virunga National Park rangers and other Congolese government security services. The two men, arrested in Goma yesterday, have been charged with illegal trafficking an endangered species. The operation followed the recovery of
New Mountain Gorilla Baby in the Humba Family
We are happy to announce the birth of a new baby for the Humba gorilla family, born on the 7th of August. This is the first baby for 9 year-old mother Kanyalire, a female who migrated from the Kabirizi family to Humba family about one year ago. Kanyalire’s history includes the death of her mother,
Baby Gorilla from Virunga National Park Confiscated from Poachers
Late Sunday night, August 7, a group of Congolese and Rwandan men were arrested by Rwandan police as they attempted to smuggle an infant gorilla into Rwanda from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the poachers, the gorilla had been captured near the Bukima area of Virunga National Park, which makes it likely