Post by Jeff on Dec 14, 2006 1:13:01 GMT -5
PARC NATIONAL DES VOLCANS, Rwanda (Reuters) - One hour's trek into the Rwandan rainforest, a crunching sound breaks the silence that hangs over the misty thick bush.
Slow and loud, it lasts for a few minutes, then stops abruptly. Suddenly a gorilla's face peers through the giant nettles to look at the tourists who have sweated along jungle trails to catch a glimpse of him and his family.
The 200-kg (440-lb) male, the silver-grey saddle on his back signaling maturity, studies his visitors.
Then, his curiosity satisfied, the mountain gorilla emerges from the bush, crawls to the top of a clearing on the lush mountainside and continues loudly chomping on his bamboo shoot.
A female follows and stretches out next to the silverback, keeping a careful eye on the intruders as her babies playfully fight, thumping their chests and rolling down the hill.
Their low-pitched grunts are answered in kind by a guide so both humans and gorillas know the others are just observing. "Look at those babies," one tourist marvels. "Aren't they amazing?"
Agashya and his family are among the world's 700-odd surviving mountain gorillas who live in their natural habitats in Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Split between the Virunga volcanoes which straddle the borders of the three central African countries and Uganda's Bwindi National Park, the gorillas have actually seen their numbers increase in the last few years.
A 2003 census showed a 17 percent increase from 1989 to 380 mountain gorillas living around the Virunga volcanoes in a series of three national parks. About 320 live in Bwindi.
"There is no difference in the number of births," said Justin Rurangirwa, chief park warden of Rwanda's Parc National des Volcans (PNV) where Agashya lives. "What has changed is that there's no more poaching."
POACHING PATROLS
International studies of mountain gorillas began after German explorer Oscar von Beringe became the first non-African to encounter one in the Virungas in 1902.
In the two decades that followed, scientists and trophy hunters killed over 50 mountain gorillas, the International Gorilla Conservation Program says. Hunting and habitat destruction have also driven them to the verge of extinction.
Mountain gorillas are not hunted for bushmeat. Some were poached to sell their hands and feet to collectors. Others have been maimed or killed by traps intended for other animals.
U.S. researcher Dian Fossey brought the gorillas international fame with her efforts to save them from poachers.
Fossey studied the gorillas in Rwanda before her murder in 1985 -- her work was the subject of the 1988 Hollywood movie "Gorillas in the Mist."
Dedicated anti-poaching and conservation efforts, which include close monitoring and working with locals to protect the habitat, have helped increase numbers.
"There is a lot of protection and conservation. Not only in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo, the whole world is taking part," said guide Francis Bayingana. "We have poaching patrols on a daily basis."
Bayingana said the last poaching incident in the Rwandan park was in 2002 when two females were shot dead, a baby taken and a silverback injured.
The gorillas have also been threatened by conflict in Congo and Rwanda. Rebels would flit easily across the region's borders and sometimes the gorillas were caught in crossfire.
Slow and loud, it lasts for a few minutes, then stops abruptly. Suddenly a gorilla's face peers through the giant nettles to look at the tourists who have sweated along jungle trails to catch a glimpse of him and his family.
The 200-kg (440-lb) male, the silver-grey saddle on his back signaling maturity, studies his visitors.
Then, his curiosity satisfied, the mountain gorilla emerges from the bush, crawls to the top of a clearing on the lush mountainside and continues loudly chomping on his bamboo shoot.
A female follows and stretches out next to the silverback, keeping a careful eye on the intruders as her babies playfully fight, thumping their chests and rolling down the hill.
Their low-pitched grunts are answered in kind by a guide so both humans and gorillas know the others are just observing. "Look at those babies," one tourist marvels. "Aren't they amazing?"
Agashya and his family are among the world's 700-odd surviving mountain gorillas who live in their natural habitats in Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Split between the Virunga volcanoes which straddle the borders of the three central African countries and Uganda's Bwindi National Park, the gorillas have actually seen their numbers increase in the last few years.
A 2003 census showed a 17 percent increase from 1989 to 380 mountain gorillas living around the Virunga volcanoes in a series of three national parks. About 320 live in Bwindi.
"There is no difference in the number of births," said Justin Rurangirwa, chief park warden of Rwanda's Parc National des Volcans (PNV) where Agashya lives. "What has changed is that there's no more poaching."
POACHING PATROLS
International studies of mountain gorillas began after German explorer Oscar von Beringe became the first non-African to encounter one in the Virungas in 1902.
In the two decades that followed, scientists and trophy hunters killed over 50 mountain gorillas, the International Gorilla Conservation Program says. Hunting and habitat destruction have also driven them to the verge of extinction.
Mountain gorillas are not hunted for bushmeat. Some were poached to sell their hands and feet to collectors. Others have been maimed or killed by traps intended for other animals.
U.S. researcher Dian Fossey brought the gorillas international fame with her efforts to save them from poachers.
Fossey studied the gorillas in Rwanda before her murder in 1985 -- her work was the subject of the 1988 Hollywood movie "Gorillas in the Mist."
Dedicated anti-poaching and conservation efforts, which include close monitoring and working with locals to protect the habitat, have helped increase numbers.
"There is a lot of protection and conservation. Not only in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo, the whole world is taking part," said guide Francis Bayingana. "We have poaching patrols on a daily basis."
Bayingana said the last poaching incident in the Rwandan park was in 2002 when two females were shot dead, a baby taken and a silverback injured.
The gorillas have also been threatened by conflict in Congo and Rwanda. Rebels would flit easily across the region's borders and sometimes the gorillas were caught in crossfire.