Gorilla trekking in the Virunga Conservation Area.
Geography
Three national frontiers converge on the dormant volcanoes where the mountain gorillas live on the edge of the Rift Valley: Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (or Zaire as was). This is the place where the deep, dark forests of the Congo Basin meet the wide, open grasslands of east Africa: the line of contact between the two is an abrupt volcanic mountain range known as the Virunga, that continues north into the Mountains of The Moon, or Ruwenzori range.
Each of these countries protects its own portion of the Virunga Mountains which when combined forms the 435 Km² Virunga Conservation Area (VCA). The Rwandan section is called “Volcano National Park (NP)” in Uganda it’s divided in two and called “Mgahinga” and “Bwindi Impenetrable Forest” and in DRC it’s “Parc National de Virunga”. The gorillas are unaware of the boundaries and view it all as a single habitat. Having said that, gorilla families are territorial and tend to remain in a given area and follow a gentle nomadic lifestyle, following the grazing.
At the time of writing (end of 2010) Djomba, Rumangabo and Kahuzi-Biega are no-go areas which rules out a visit to DR Congo.
Family dynamics!
Gorilla families are led by a dominant male, occasionally supported by a second and third male, known as the silverback/s. The name comes from the fact that around the age of thirteen the hair along a male’s back turns grey, or silver. A silverback will have a harem of several females all of whom carry his young. Silverbacks are known to kill infants not fathered by themselves so that the mother comes into oestrous more quickly. The silverback’s chief role is to protect his family. He also decides when, where and how fast they move camp, pacing the day’s travel to accommodate the young, sick or injured. Silverbacks are especially gentle towards their own infants.
Female gorillas reach sexual maturity at around eight years. Often the silverback in their group is their father so to avoid inbreeding, females will leave the group they were born into. They will transfer to another established group or link up with a lone silverback who is establishing his harem.
Gorilla reproduction is slow. The interval between infants is four years (hence the incentive of silverbacks to commit infanticide on young that are not their own) and infant mortality is high. In her lifetime a mother will raise between two to six offspring remaining fertile till the end of her life. Infants are generally born at night after a gestation period of 8½ months. For the first three months infants are completely dependent upon their mothers.
At three months, they begin to walk and climb on and around their mother. During the first six months baby gorillas develop about twice as fast as humans. Weaning takes place at 3½ months and as they grow, play takes on an increasing importance. Over the next few years, social play reflect the roles that each will assume as an adult.
Conflict with humans
The habituation process can create problems such as crop raiding and the transmission of disease as gorillas, humans and livestock interact. Over the years Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA’s) have come up with the solution: the creation of buffer zones between the national park and the villages. Furthermore, it’s important that local communities share the wealth created by gorilla tourism, and that gorilla crop pillaging is reduced as much as possible.
Creating a buffer zone is a diplomatic tightrope-walk: extensive consultation, negotiation, sensitization and education with different stakeholders and the local community is required before land can be bought and the buffer created. The buffer zone needs to be at least 300m wide and stretch the entire length of the park boundary. The inner two-thirds of a buffer zone is owned by the park authorities and the outer third is co-owned between the park and the village. Human activity is not allowed in the inner section but community activities, commensurate with gorilla conservation, is permitted in the outer section. Similar models are followed in Project Tiger in India, but with less success.
Gorilla trekking.
Treks to visit the mountain gorillas are well organised and responsibly guided in both Uganda and Rwanda. Visitor numbers are limited to eight persons per gorilla family per day. Eight gorilla families in Rwanda and four in Uganda are habituated (which means they are tolerant of human visitors) meaning there are about 8 x 12 = 96 permits available each day. Permits cost 500 US$ per person per day in either country. That’s a significant sum but the inspiring fact is that this income stream works and mountain gorilla numbers have grown over the years. I first took a group to visit the gorillas in 1984 and at that time there were fewer than 600 individuals. Today there are approaching 800: not too shabby for 25 years, particularly when you consider the shocking human history in this area during the same period.
Treks start early (08:00 hrs) and can last between 30 mins and several hours before contact is made with the family. Bear in mind that the average altitude is 2,500m so physical effort is more onerous than it is in the UK. The guides are English speaking and have amazing relationships with their family of gorillas. There is no doubt that there is personal recognition and trust between the guide and the silverback which is a humbling phenomenon to observe.
Before you set off you are briefed about gorilla etiquette and the do’s and don’t’s of the trek. It’s all obvious stuff, but the first time you encounter a silverback, which can weigh in at over 200 Kg! it’s a little daunting. The main rule is not to maintain direct eye contact, which is interpreted as a challenge. Time spent with a family is a pretty mellow affair and the family generally continues to browse and feed in the normal way. The youngsters are usually pretty confident and may well approach you, in which case you need to move away. Another of the rules that you will be told about is that you must maintain a “barrier distance” of 7 m between you and a gorilla to prevent any human diseases (zoonoses) being passed to the gorilla family.
Rwandan Gorillas
Rwanda: comment
Rwanda is a beautiful country with great natural history. The climax to a visit to Africa is a gorilla trek which is a unique aspect of any safari. The two principal parks in Rwanda are Nyungwe Forest National Park (NP) and Akagera NP. Many species of mammals, primates, birds, butterflies and orchids occur in these parks and the hiking trails are well maintained, but it has to be said that forna populations are distinctly more modest than they are in Ugandan, Kenyan or Tanzanian NP’s.
The main reason for this is the vicious civil war and genocide that plagued the region around 1994. Rwanda is now peaceful, with a stable government and sound reconciliation programme. It has even dropped French and adopted English as the national language in an attempt to foster closer links with its Anglophile neighbours to the north and east. But one of the consequences of the war years was the decimation of animal populations in the NP’s.
Rwandan Gorilla Families.
Gorillas are browsers: that’s to say they move through the vegetation selecting the shoots and plants they like, constantly moving to fresh areas. During the dry season they tend to favour higher zones and during the rains they tend to descend to lower areas. In Rwanda (once you’re at the park headquarters) you may request a visit to a specific family, but this isn’t always possible. Here’s a summary of the eight families:-
Sabyinyo Group: silverback plus 10 others. Occupies the Sabyinyo and Gahinga area which is close to the forest edge.
Group Thirteen: silverback plus 24 other. Usually in the Sabyinyo area.
Amahoro Group: 16 family members. Tends to favour the more remote parts of the park.
Umubano Group: 10 family members. Tends to favour the more remote parts of the park.
Susa Group: Dian Fossey pioneered gorilla research in the 1970’s and ‘80’s and this was the family she studied. At that time the research centre was name Karisoke (est 1967) which is a hybrid name of the two principal volcanoes (Mt. Karisimbi and Mt. Visoke). She was murdered in 1985 and the camp was finally deserted during the civil war of 1994. These days it’s rapidly reverting to the bush, but remains a memorial to this remarkable lady.
The Susa group used to be 42 strong headed by the enigmatic “Digit”, but has now divided into two, the Susa Group and the Karisimbi Group. Susa is fairly accessible but the Karisimbi group favour the upper slopes around the caldera of the volcano – a serious yomp to reach!
Hirwa Group: silverback plus 10 others. It is believed that the silverback was born in the Susa group and split from his family fairly recently.
Kwitonda Group: silverback plus a dozen others. This group crossed from Djomba (DR Congo) in 2005, since when they have been carefully monitored and are now fully habituated.
If you are interested in visiting these extraordinary animals in their natural habitat then email us now or call on 0044 (0)1926 411 122