On Thursday 19 June, the Gorilla Organization joined hundreds of conservationists from around the world to participate in the first ever conservation conference held in Rwanda. The conference brings great hope to the future of conservation in Rwanda and in particular to the Volcano National Park, one of the last remaining havens for the endangered Mountain gorilla.
The conference formed part of the activities taking place in the run up to the biggest event on the Mountain gorilla ...
It is with honour and sorrow that the rangers of the Virunga National Park, partners of the Congolese wildlife authority (ICCN) and members of the local community said goodbye to Alexandre Wathaut, the director of the Virungas National Park in DR Congo on 12 June 2008.
Wathaut began his career with the ICCN in 1971 and rose to the rank of director in 2005. He had been a great supporter of the work of the Gorilla Organization and will be sadly missed. Henry Cirhuza, manager of the ...
This year, for World Environment Day, the Gorilla Organization arranged events for the towns surrounding the Virunga National Park in DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The theme for World Environment Day 2008 was ‘Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy’ and during the week, the Gorilla Organization worked with local communities to combine this year’s theme with gorilla conservation.
Events were planned throughout the week but the official proceedings took place ...
On Thursday 15 May 15, 2008, over 100 ecologists stormed the streets of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, to protest against the intensive poaching of elephants and other mammals in the Virunga National Park.
Dressed in black and flanked by the Congolese national police force and the kimbanguist brass band, the peaceful protesters voiced their outrage about the recent killing of 13 elephants in 13 days ...
Another milestone in the conservation of the Cross River gorilla has now been achieved with the formal announcement last month that the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary has been recognised as the latest recruit in Cameroon’s protected area network.
Despite its relatively small size (only 19.8km2), the montane forests of Kagwene are crucially important for the conservation of Africa’s rarest ape. When Cross River gorilla researchers, headed by Jacqueline Sunderland-Groves, first ...
Between 14 and 27 April, 13 elephants were killed in the Virunga National Park, DR Congo, home to some of the world’s last remaining Mountain gorillas. This intensive poaching is devastating the national park and has renewed existing fears that as long as the armed forces continue to operate inside the forest, the national park and its inhabitants continue to be in danger.
This situation is extremely worrying for conservationists and ecologists. Elephants reproduce slowly and the loss of such ...
Sir Arthur C Clarke was as much a champion of planet earth as he was of space. He put issues of poverty and the environment above all. That is why he felt so strongly about the Gorilla Organization, becoming our founding patron in 1994, and giving us so much of his time, his inspiration, his introductions and his money to ensure the gorillas had a future. He will be so sadly missed.
Sir Arthur first became involved with the Gorilla Organization in 1994, when he made it his personal ...
Rebels occupying a patrol post in DR Congo’s Virunga National Park are preventing local people from accessing their specially-constructed fresh water supply, and jeopardising an innovative community-focused conservation success story.
Two community water cisterns at the Bukima patrol post, funded by the Gorilla Organization, had removed the need for more than 1,000 local people to go into the forest for their water, and prevented ongoing damage to the valuable gorilla habitat.
On World Water ...
On 1 March 2008, Tuver Wundi, the Gorilla Organization’s communications manager, joined a team from the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) on an expedition to the summit of the active Nyiragongo volcano. The team spent two days at an altitude of 3470m observing the spectacular scenery and lava inside the crater of Nyiragongo, and assessing the volcano’s activity in preparation for its opening as a tourist attraction.
Nyiragongo erupted in 2002, devastating much of the town of Goma and killing ...
Between 22 January and 2 February 2008, the first ever bird survey took place at Mt Tshiaberimu in the northern annex of the Virungas National Park, DR Congo. An impressive 145 species of bird were identified in this small isolated area of forest, including the rare Shelley’s Crimson-wing (Cryptospiza Shelleyi), found only in four countries in sub-saharan Africa. The survey forms part of the Gorilla Organization’s Mt Tshiaberimu Conservation project, which serves to evaluate and conserve the fragile ...