Category: Mountain Gorilla

Bwindi Gorillas

Bwindi Gorillas

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Alex Banzhaf photographing Bwindi's Bitakura silverback.
This safari has two scheduled gorilla treks, one in Bwindi (Uganda) and one in Parcs de volcans (Rwanda). Today’s was in Bwindi.

Our group of 13 was divided into three sub-groups. Four people visited the Habinyanja group, and the other two groups visited the Bitakura group (one in the morning and one in the afternoon).

Unlike Rwanda where permits are not group specific, because Bwindi is so spread out (the distance from one gorilla station to another can be 6 hours of tedious driving) permits are issued group-specific.

Habinyanja was closest to where we were staying at Buhoma. So Dave, Hope, Margo and Stephen, left the lodge at 7:30a and drove about 1½ hour to the starting point. Sometimes, Habinyanja can be within ten minutes of Buhoma.

Steve, Sarah, Doreen and Roger were headed to Bitakura. This was presumed to be a 3-hour drive from our lodge, so they started out at 6 a.m. But in fact it took them only about 1¾ hours.

The rest of us didn’t leave the lodge until 9:30a. We had lunch after a three-hour drive, and then started trekking about 1:30p.

Everyone saw gorillas! The trek I was with was the hardest one: it took us nearly two hours before we found the Bitakura family, but what a prize! We saw all three silverbacks, the one-year old, and number of other family members.

The Habinyanja group proved the easiest trek. They descended from their start point and were with the 18-member family within a half hour.

Daniel Pomerantz & silverback.

And in between was the morning excursion to Bitakura. So actually, no trek was excessively long – not even mine. But the Bwindi terrain is often more difficult than the Parcs de volcans terrain, and so in that regards it did seem taxing on some members of the group. But with attentive porters and great guides, it was a super experience for all!

One of the greatest moments of a gorilla safari is when everyone gets back, cleans up, shares some digital photos and endless stories. See my earlier blogs about mountain gorilla trekking: it’s not just a personally rewarding and dramatic experience, but a real part of successful conservation.

Tomorrow, our long trek into Rwanda!

Personal Note: This was my 50th gorilla trek! Somewhat ironic, since I’ve had only 6 of those in Uganda, most of the rest in Rwanda (and 5 in The Congo). I quietly celebrated by sitting on my deck at the lodge and listening to the sounds of Bwindi until I fell asleep.

To the jungles of the Gorilla

To the jungles of the Gorilla

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As I leave for Africa to guide the Cleveland Zoo to see mountain gorillas, it’s worth repeating what a wonderful success story this is.

When EWT sent its first tourist into Rwanda’s Parcs de volcans in 1979, there were less than 320 mountain gorillas, a dangerously low number. At the time scientists had determined that if the population dipped below 280, it was likely the genetic diversity would not be great enough to sustain a long-term population.

There had been a lot of good science already completed back then, by such people as George Schaller and a bevy of Japanese researchers.

Dian Fossey was not a good researcher. Neither was she a good person. She was a media creation who in the end completed no good science and probably set the science of primates on a reverse track.

There’s no question that her media celebrity, though, helped the cause. Maybe even jump-started it.

But for the truth about early mountain gorilla science and the mountain gorilla program that began in earnest in the 1980s and which saved these great beasts, read In the Kingdom of Gorillas: The Quest to Save Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas by husband/wife researchers Bill Weber and Amy Vedder. Bill and Amy were technically Dian’s first assistants, but as you will learn from reading their popular book, Dian needed almost more medical attention than the gorillas.

The gorilla project essentially begun by Bill and Amy is what saved these grand beasts. Today there are more than 750, despite a series of wars and natural disasters. It is a healthy, robust albeit still endangered population.

What happened?

Basically the business of tourism saved the gorillas. Today every visitor (and there are 56 daily in Rwanda and up to 42 daily in Uganda) pays $500 for an hour with habituated mountain gorilla families.

The enormous revenue this generated was transparently used first to help the gorillas and their habitat, and then, to help the human populations surrounding the habitats which for centuries had been understandably hostile to the animals.

This seed mountain generated more money. Money from research institutes, tangential organizations and even direct from governments.

The model of the mountain gorilla project is one of the most successful in the tourism/conservation arena…

Next week I’ll be blogging from Uganda and then Rwanda as a group of 12 others joins Cleveland Zoo Director, Steve Taylor, and myself as we explore the jungles for these grand beasts and some of their equally interesting cousins.

I hope you’ll follow us!

TITUS the gorilla

TITUS the gorilla

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This U.N. “Year of the Gorilla” couldn’t have come at a worse economic time, and as if to underscore the sadness, the great Silverback Titus has died.

Probably the most studied mountain gorilla on earth, Titus, died September 14 at the age of 35. He was survived by uncountable progeny and most importantly his son, Rano, who killed him.

Titus lived in Rwanda’s Volcano National Park, the master for so many years of the Susa Group. His birth was recorded on August 24, 1974, by American researcher, Kelly Stewart. He was observed every day thereafter until researchers at the Karisoke Research Station found him dead in his nest in the morning.

Rano had been hassling him for months. Titus avoided fights – he was still bigger but not as strong as his son – but the researchers who buried him in the gorilla cemetery on September 16 (at the site of the original Karisoke Research Camp) said he had just “given up” to Rano’s incessant bullying. Thirty-five is a ripe old age for a wild gorilla.

There was no autopsy. Researchers do not think he was sick. He was just old, and hassled by his son.

During his life he made films (click here) , was WikiPedia’s poster child (click here) , and even headlined the BBC World News (click here) . Simply put, he was the baseline not only for mountain gorilla research, but the rise of tourism that ultimately saved this endangered creature.

The heavy sort-of El Nino rains that were predicted had started two weeks earlier. New bamboo shoots were sprouting everywhere, and this meant that the gorilla families didn’t have to wander so much each day to feed. More time for bickering, I guess.

It is an oustandingly beautiful time in the park. Some of the orchids continue to bloom as the rains begin, the already lush jungle bursts out in fresh color and smells, and the whole mess of foliage is filled with rainbow colors of elegant Arum Lilys, wild versions of Geraniums, Hyacinths, Aster Daisys, Lupins, Dahlias and Nasturtiums.

The greatest of the turacos moves into its spectacular breeding plumage, looking like a giant blue soccer ball piercing the green, its monkey-like grunting echoing all over the place.

It was probably his favorite time. So make your bed, go to sleep and let pesky Rano take over.