Congolese army says it killed 22 Rwandan Hutu rebels
Category: Crises, General | Date: Apr 28 2007 | By: admin
This article came out yesterday on the BBC website. Click on the picture below and you will get the whole story. The Congolese army said that it has killed 22 Rwandan Hutu rebels during an operation to secure a road near the Ugandan border. 100,000 villagers have been forced to flee as a result of the chaos.
As you can see the peace process is still tenuous here in the east of the country. I now need to establish the situation of the Rangers in this area to see if they need any emergency support. Will keep you all posted.
Technorati : congo, drc, fzs, hutu, rebel, rwanda, wildlifedirect
Video of Mountain Gorillas from the Humba family
Category: Mountain Gorillas | Date: Apr 26 2007 | By: admin
I know that recent videos of Mountain Gorillas are always fun. Here is one taken about 10 days ago of the Humba family, which as you know from Paulin’s blog was thought to be heading to Rwanda and then stuck around for some more Congo fun! Here are three of his 9-member family eating the trees they are actually sitting in!
Technorati : congo, drc, fzs, mikeno, mountain gorilla, virunga, wildlifedirect
Dr Richard Leakey to address RGS in London on climate change and great apes
Category: Mountain Gorillas | Date: Apr 25 2007 | By: admin
Dr Richard Leakey will make a rare visit to the UK to address the Royal Geographical Society on “Climate change and the future of Great Apes.” Ape Alliance in the UK has just forwarded me the news:
World renowned paleo-anthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey will be visiting the UK in May to address the implications placed upon Great Apes as a result of climate change.
Professor Leakey will speak at the Royal Geographical Society on 31st May to discuss what can be done to alleviate the pressure placed upon these threatened species and whether we can predict probably consequences far enough ahead to enable the conservation authorities to take steps now to avert disasters.
Professor Leakey will be available for interviews. Please contact the Orangutan Foundation - 0207 724 2912 - for further information. Tickets are 15 pounds and doors open at 6.30.
If you are in London I would not miss this for the world. Richard Leakey is the Chairman of WildlifeDirect and widely credited with putting an end to the elephant slaughter in Kenya in the 1980s. Recently he has taken on the cause of Congo’s Rangers and their dedication and bravery in protecting the parks of Congo, especially Virunga National Park, the oldest park in Africa. He featured on the cover of Time in 1977 - see below!
Technorati : apes, congo, drc, rgs, richard leakey, virunga, wildlifedirect
Congo Ranger shot and killed because he was trying to protect wildlife from armed poachers
Category: Crises, Rangers, Thoughts | Date: Apr 20 2007 | By: admin
On 18th April the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that a Ranger in Nyaruhangi, in Virunga
National Park, was shot dead by armed men assumed to be from the FARDC during the night of the 17th. Paul Bagambe Baibutsa was Chief of the Ruti Patrol Post. It seems that Bagambe was targeted as he was seen as an obstacle to animal poaching. I met him a couple of times but didn’t know him too well. Other rangers tell me that he was a brave man and spoke out against the Congolese army illegally poaching in the park. He was shot through the shoulder a couple of years ago but fortunately survived. This time, sadly, he wasn’t so lucky. I have promised to provide some support to his family to try and help them through the difficult times ahead. May his soul rest in peace.Â
Rwandan Mountain Gorillas - video on US News
Category: Mountain Gorillas | Date: Apr 18 2007 | By: admin
Kevin Whitelaw, a journalist with US News, just sent me this great link on Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda. Check it out. It is from this month.
Technorati : congo, drc, mountain gorilla, rwanda, usnews, wildlifedirect
Dr Richard Leakey says African initiatives key to conservation
Category: General, Rangers | Date: Apr 16 2007 | By: admin
Dr Richard Leakey, Chairman of WildifeDirect, discusses a new way to get help directly to conservationists in Africa working in isolated and often dangerous conditions.
Dr Leakey is credited with putting an end to the slaughter of elephants in Kenya in the 1980s and has taken on the cause of Congo’s Mountain Gorillas. Mountain Gorillas are critically endangered with only 700 individuals remaining in the world; about 380 of these are in the Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area, shared by Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
Technorati : congo, drc, richard leakey, wildlifedirect
Congo Caterpillar Takes Fancy To Congo Conservationist
Category: General, Personal | Date: Apr 13 2007 | By: admin
If anyone knows what this caterpillar is I would love to know… I came across it the other day at Camp Karema early in the morning and this seemed a good idea.
Technorati : caterpillar, congo, drc, karema
Back at Camp Karema after evacuation last week
Category: Active Service, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers | Date: Apr 11 2007 | By: admin
We are now back at Camp Karema after last week’s evacuation.
The Rangers are on patrol and monitoring the activities of the Mountain Gorillas near Bikenge. These are 3 families in total.
One of the families is the Humba family, and here is one of the 9-member family members below.
More to come soon.
Technorati : bukima, fzs, iccn, karema, mikeno, mountain gorilla, wildlifedirect
Evacuation of Camp Karema after security threat
Category: Crises, Logistics, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers | Date: Apr 05 2007 | By: admin
Yesterday we had to evacuate Camp Karema up at Bukima in the Mikeno Sector. We received information that the Rwandan military could have been on their way to Bukima - Rwanda does after all only lie some 6km away. There are often rumors of security threats in this area, and all have to be taken seriously.
So we packed up our belongings, cleared away as much as possible, hid the new generator in the bush (that is a heavy piece of equipment let me tell you), and set off back down to Goma which is about a 2 hour drive.
We are continuing to monitor the situation with ICCN and the park station at Rumangabo. I think that the threat has diminished and that will go back up to Camp Karema in a few days. Let’s hope so.
The hut is now built and we are doing the finishing touches. Patrick and I are ecstatic!
The Vsat has been installed and we are just waiting for the connection.
For the Vsat to connect to the satellite the generator needs to be on all day, and of course yesterday that had to be aborted.
It sounds crazy I am guessing to outsiders when I talk about the security threats in this area - Mai Mai, Interhamwe (Rwandan Hutus), Nkunda’s men, Rwandan military - but it is after all still an unstable area. We just have to keep going. Virunga National Park is important not just to Congo, but to the whole world. I care about the park and the wildlife in it. That is why I am here.
Technorati : bukima, fzs, iccn, karema, mountain gorilla, wildlifedirect
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