Endangered gorillas prosper

2006-12-18 07:40

Parc National Des Volcans - One hour's trek into the Rwandan rainforest, a crunching sound breaks the silence that hangs over the misty thick bush.

Slow and loud, it lasted for a few minutes, then stops abruptly. Suddenly a gorilla's face peers through the giant nettles to look at the tourists who had sweated along jungle trails to catch a glimpse of him and his family.

The 200kg male, the silver-grey saddle on his back signalling maturity, studied his visitors.

Then, his curiosity satisfied, the mountain gorilla emerged from the bush, crawled to the top of a clearing on the lush mountainside and continued loudly chomping on his bamboo shoot.

A female followed and stretched out next to the silverback, keeping a careful eye on the intruders as her babies playfully fought, thumping their chests and rolling down the hill.

17% gorilla increase

Their low-pitched grunts were answered in kind by a guide so both humans and gorillas knew the others were just observing. One tourist said: "Look at those babies. Aren't they amazing?"

Agashya and his family were among the world's 700-odd surviving mountain gorillas who lived in their natural habitats in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Split between the Virunga volcanoes, which straddle the borders of the three central African countries and Uganda's Bwindi National Park, the gorillas had actually seen their numbers increase in the last few years.

A 2003 census showed a 17% increase from 1989 to 380 mountain gorillas living around the Virunga volcanoes in a series of three national parks. About 320 lived in Bwindi.

Justin Rurangirwa, chief park warden of Rwanda's Parc National des Volcans (PNV) where Agashya lived, said: "There is no difference in the number of births. What has changed is that there's no more poaching."

Mountain gorillas 'not hunted for bushmeat'

International studies of mountain gorillas began after German explorer Oscar von Beringe became the first non-African to encounter one in the Virungas in 1902.

According to the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, in the two decades that followed, scientists and trophy hunters killed more than 50 mountain gorillas. Hunting and habitat destruction had also driven them to the verge of extinction.

Mountain gorillas were not hunted for bushmeat. Some were poached to sell their hands and feet to collectors. Others had been maimed or killed by traps intended for other animals.

United States researcher Dian Fossey brought the gorillas international fame with her efforts to save them from poachers.

Fossey studied the gorillas in Rwanda before her murder in 1985 - her work was the subject of the 1988 Hollywood movie Gorillas in the Mist.

Dedicated anti-poaching and conservation efforts, which included close monitoring and working with locals to protect the habitat, had helped increase numbers.

'We have poaching patrols'

A guide Francis Bayingana said: "There is a lot of protection and conservation. Not only in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo, the whole world is taking part. We have poaching patrols on a daily basis."

Bayingana said the last poaching incident in the Rwandan park was in 2002 after two females were shot dead, a baby taken and a silverback injured.

The gorillas had also been threatened by conflict in the DRC and Rwanda. Rebels would flit easily across the region's borders and sometimes the gorillas were caught in crossfire.

With its robust build, long muscular arms, massive chest and broad hands and feet, the mountain gorilla was closely related to man, sharing 98% of its genetic material with humans.

That made it vulnerable to many of the same diseases - but without necessary immunities so that a sickness that might seem harmless to humans could be dangerous for gorillas.

Tourists were told to stand at a certain distance from the gorillas they encounter and must turn away to cough.

A maximum of eight people were allowed to visit a group each day and stay for just one hour. Each foreign visitor paid $375 for the experience in Rwanda, where seven groups of gorillas had

- Reuters