Hi, this is Wellard again –writing to tell you about the rest of our visit to DRC, a journey of mixed emotions. After leaving the beekeepers, we traveled another 12 kilometres of bumpy road to the T-junction to the local army base and the National Park authorities’ offices, Rumangabo Station. There we saw an amazing [...]

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My name is Alister Mungai and I am the Programme Assistant for IGCP. After ICCN (the Congo government’s national park and nature conservation authority) officially reopened the Mikeno sector of Virunga National Park for tourism on May 1st, IGCP was invited to train the rangers who would be involved in the handling of visitors. As rangers [...]

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Today we have a guest blogger: Jef Dupain, AWF director of the Congo Heartland. He writes about the latest from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Today, we are sitting here in Basankusu, with representatives of the local communities and with ICCN. A two days workshop on the management of the Lomako Yokokala Faunal Reserve… we [...]

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The new Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge is perched on a narrow ridge adjacent to the vast Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The lodge is the centerpiece – but not the only piece – of an array of business ventures recently developed by the Nkuringo community through the direction and support of AWF and International [...]

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On the other side of the DR Congo, out east where things are grim, there is some good news for mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. 70 rangers have returned to their posts, with the intention of resuming monitoring activities, says the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP). An IGCP meeting with representatives of General Laurent [...]

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We’ve been following the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where rebels took command of Virunga National Park’s headquarters. What about the rangers and the mountain gorillas? Jamie from IGCP sent me this news: “There are still 52 park staff in the Mikeno Sector [the sector of the park where the mountain [...]

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Staff of the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) have been evacuated from DR Congo, as things remain tense between the Congolese army and rebel militia. Staff were moved from the office in Goma across the border to the town of Gisenyi in Rwanda. From IGCP’s Jamie in Rwanda: “Eugene [Rutagarama - the IGCP Director] organized [...]

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Fighting has broken out again in eastern DR Congo between rebels under General Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese Army. The rebels, who have been hiding out in Virunga National Park, have just taken the park headquarters. The park is home to about 200 of the 720 mountain gorillas. “Over 50 rangers were forced to flee [...]

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Thousands of people gathered on a grassy area at the base of Mt Sabyinyo for the fourth Rwandan Gorilla Naming Ceremony, Kwita Izina. Twenty bug-eyed, curly-haired, ridiculously cute gorilla infants were given names in this year’s festival by “VIPs” of various sorts, including our very own CEO, Patrick Bergin. AWF CEO Patrick Bergin named one [...]

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When the trackers go out with the gorillas, it’s not all picture-taking and gorilla games. There’s work to be done. During our trek, Damascene and Gabriel showed me the techniques they use to collect data on the gorillas and monitor the groups – a program called Ranger-Based Monitoring (RBM). RBM was developed by the International [...]

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