Congo Rangers

Category: Mountain Gorillas, Personal | Date: Oct 26 2006 | By: admin

We set out at six o’clock yesterday morning from an abandoned tourist lodge at Bukima in search of Kibirizi, DRC’s largest family of mountain gorillas consisting of no less than 32 individuals. This family had suffered a major loss back in 2002 when the adult male silverback was shot by poachers. Now a new wild silverback has taken up residence and is slowly getting accustomed to human presence. We wanted to go and see how he was getting on.

Cave dwellers?

The first sign that we had come across the group was with the sound of crashing branches from a young juvenile playing around in the top of a nearby tree. As we watched, a sub-adult appeared from the undergrowth, followed by a mother with the newest member to the Kibirizi family, a three month old baby gorilla, wide eyed and clinging to her back. Moving on slowly to find the other members of the group, we stumbled into the mouth of a cave, sunk into the ground and shrouded by vegetation.The cave was a new discovery, but what followed next was even more incredible. As we gathered round the entrance, we could here grunts and other strange noises coming from within the cave. We moved closer and started pulling aside the leaves and vines to get a better look. Suddenly a pair of eyes appeared from out of the darkeness, looking straight at us, and followed by another. We backed off ever so slowly as two sub-adult gorillas climbed their way out, followed by a third, blinking heavily as their eyes adjusted to the light. Then a fourth gorilla climbed out, looked at us, grunted and moved off after the others.

A young male pulls his way up out of the cave

Wanting to have a better look inside the cave, we lowered ourselves slowly down into it. The cave was around 1.5 to 2 meters high, and about 10 meters wide and 10 meters deep. Then, in the darker recesses of the cave we heard movement. As our eyes became adjusted to the light, three more gorillas started moving around in the darkness. We crouched down and moved away from the entrance as we watched two adult gorillas and a juvenile move their way towards the light. Grasping vines, roots and other hanging vegetation, they pulled themselves out of the cave to join the others in the world outside.

Two sub-adults taken with an infra-red camera

I have never seen anything like it! Could it be a strategy used by gorillas to hide from poachers? Or perhaps the cave is used as a shelter during bad weather? More likely perhaps is that the rock is full of vital minerals that help with their digestion? This is the fourth cave that has been found in the Gorilla Sector, but it is by far the largest and the only one known to be used by gorillas. We have taken the GPS coordinates and will go back to the cave from time to time to see if it is in regular use or whether this was just a chance happening. The rangers would also be keen to take future tourists there in the hope of catching a glimpse of these rare cave dwelling gorillas!

The seond species of ape to explore the cave!

The Kibirizi family is doing well but are still threaten by poachers who try and snatch infants from their mothers for sale on the black market. Often the mother will be shot in the process along with any other gorillas that stand between the poachers and their bounty. Sometimes whole families are killed. Poachers may view this collateral damage, but when you consider there are only around 800 individuals left on earth, every individual is vital if the species is to survive.

Please help the Congo-Rangers to protect Virunga’s exceptional wildlife from shot and killed by local poachers. The rangers desperately need basic supplies such as rations, medical and field equipment, and transportation. Financial support can be brought to bear within a matter of days through this blog, and 100% of any support goes straight to the rangers in Virunga.