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  PlanetArk 14 Dec 06
Endangered Gorillas Prosper in Heart of Africa
Story by Marie-Louise Gumuchian

PARC NATIONAL DES VOLCANS, Rwanda - 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 lasts for a few minutes, then stops abruptly. Suddenly a gorilla's face peers through the giant nettles to look at the touri sts who have sweated along jungle trails to catch a glimpse of him and his family.

The 200-kg (440-lb) male, the silver-grey saddle on his back signalling maturity, studies his visitors. Then, his curiosity satisfied, the mountain gorilla emerges from the bush, crawls to the top of a clearing on the lush mountainside and continues loudly chomping on his bamboo shoot. A female follows and stretches out next to the silverback, keeping a careful eye on the intruders as her babies playfully fight, thumping their chests and rolling down the hill. Their low-pitched grunts are answered in kind by a guide so both humans and gorillas know the others are just observing.

"Look at those babies," one tourist marvels. "Aren't they amazing?" Agashya and his family are among the world's 700-odd surviving mountain gorillas who live in their natural habitats in Rwanda, Uganda and 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 have actually seen their numbers increase in the last few years.

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

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

POACHING PATROLS

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.

In the two decades that followed, scientists and trophy hunters killed over 50 mountain gorillas, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme says. Hunting and habitat destruction have also driven them to the verge of extinction.

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

US 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 include close monitoring and working with locals to protect the habitat, have helped increase numbers.

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

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

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

VISIT FOR US$375

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

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

Tourists are told to stand at a certain distance from the gorillas they encounter and must turn away to cough. A maximum of eight people are allowed to visit a group each day and stay for just one hour. Each foreign visitor pays US$375 for the experience in Rwanda, where seven groups of gorillas have become used to receiving visitors.

To see the gorillas, which live 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) above sea level with some roaming higher, visitors trek on muddy trails across rugged slopes covered in bamboo, moss and stumps.

Hundreds visit every month and numbers are growing, giving Rwanda's government a powerful incentive to protect the animals in a country better known to many for a 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 people were killed.

"Gorillas are our national pride," Bayingana said. "There has to be promotion of conservation."

About 10,650 tourists came to Rwanda's park last year. Up to November this year, nearly 12,000 had been, park figures show.

Agashya's Group 13 is the only one at the park which has seen its numbers increase dramatically. From 7 members in 2002, Group 13 now counts 20 members. Other groups are stable, although in the largest, rare twins were born in 2004.

Although strong and powerful, the gorillas are generally gentle. Tourists are told how to behave in their presence -- whisper, no pointing, eating or shouting when stung by a nettle. Leaving bags and walking sticks with porters, they can take cameras with them but no flash photography is allowed.

And if a gorilla charges, stand still unless told to crouch or move back. Despite the fearful looks from the animals, Bayingana is reassuring. "They don't mind our presence," he said. "They do what they do unless we disturb them."
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