Gorilla Journal Journal of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe No. 53, December 2016 The Virunga Local Com­ On a Road to Gorilla Communication munities for the Nowhere? Habituation in Post Installation Maiko National Loango Park BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE Authors of this Issue anthropologist and studied the be- CONTENTS haviour of wild chimpanzees. D. R. Congo 3 Onésiphore Bitomwa is the Chief Jeannot Katembo is a Field Assistant The Virunga Communications Post Park Warden in charge of Itombwe. for WCS Program for eastern DRC. Installation 3 Dieudonné Boji Mungu­Akonkwa Fidèle Kavuba is currently Field As- Charcoal Trade Destroys Part of has been principal conservator of the sistant for WCS in Kahuzi-Biega and the Virunga National Park 4 Maiko National Park since 2011. Before was involved in the Mwana process for Local Communities for the Maiko this he worked in Kahuzi-Biega. RACOD. National Park 5 Andrew Dunn is Project Manager for Olivier Kisumbu Tata is the General Participation in the World Congress the WCS biodiversity research pro- Secretary of RACCOMI, a local NGO of Rangers in Colorado, USA 8 gram in southeastern Nigeria. He has in Itombwe. Participatory Mapping in the been working on biological surveys and Inza Koné works for the Centre Suisse Itombwe Nature Reserve 9 conservation in Africa since 1989. de Recherches Scientifiques in Côte Grauer’s Gorilla Now Critically Jef Dupain has been AWF’s Technical d’Ivoire. Endangered 9 Director Central and Western Africa Deo Kujirakwinja manages WCS’s Gold Boom along Ulindi River 12 since 2010 and initiated the African Albertine Rift work in Congo and is one Rehabilitating Grauer’s Gorillas 13 Apes Initiative in 2013. of Congo’s leading ornitho logists. Gorilla Nest Types in Kahuzi-Biega 15 Léonard Milenge Eo is the Executive Luc Lukaba is the Deputy Executive Cross River 17 Director of the local NGO IGH in the Director of AJIPD, a local NGO. On a Road to Nowhere? 17 South Kivu Province with a particular Kevin Marriott has been providing in- Gorillas 21 focus on Itombwe. dependent technical consultancies and Gorilla Habituation for Research Manfred Epanda started working for project management to conservation and Tourism in Loango 21 AWF as country director in 2015. organizations worldwide since 2015. The “Walk through the Dja” 23 Terence Fuh Neba leads WWF’s Robert Muir has worked on research First Twins Born to Habituated Primate Habituation Programme in and community-based conservation, Western Lowland Gorillas 27 the Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas from 2004 to 2015 he was responsible African Primatologists Form Society 28 and presently also acts as Technical for re-starting the FZS’s Virunga Na- Reading 30 Advisor for tourism and research. tional Park Conservation Program. Berggorilla & Regenwald Rachel Ikemeh works for the South- Sébastien Mupenda is the Program Direkthilfe 31 west/Niger Delta Forest Project in Manager for bee keeping and com- Nigeria. munities for RACOD. Dr. Inaoyom Imong has conducted Dr. Denis Ndeloh Etiendem works for Gorilla Journal 53, December 2016 research on Cross River gorillas and is the Nunavut Department of En vi ron- Editor: Dr. Angela Meder the Director of the Cross River Gorilla ment in Igloolik, Canada. Augustenstr. 122, 70197 Stuttgart, Landscape Project of WCS in Nigeria. Dr. Martha M. Robbins, Max Planck Germany Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke is the Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Fax +49-711-6159919 GRACE Center Director in the DRC. Leipzig, has been studying the behav- E-mail [email protected] John Kahekwa Munihuzi was a gorilla ioural ecology of gorillas since 1990. Translation and Proofreading: Ann De- habituation officer in the Kahuzi-Biega Bienvenu Shamavu has worked for Voy, Colin Groves National Park. In 1992 he founded the RACCOMI for the last two years re- Cover: Owabi in Loango Pole Pole Foundation, POPOF. garding the Mwana process. Photo: Martha M. Robbins Dr. Sonya Kahlenberg is the U.S.- Alain Twendilonge is Project Assistant based Executive Director of the for WCS in Kahuzi-Biega and has been Organization Address: GRACE Center. She is also a biological involved in the Mwana Valley project. Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe Janika Wendefeuer is studying biology c/o Burkhard Broecker Bank Account: in Hamburg. She volunteered in the Juedenweg 3 IBAN DE06 3625 0000 0353 3443 15 PHP under super vision of Terence Fuh. 33161 Hoevelhof, Germany BIC SPMHDE3E David Williams is AWF’s Program Di- E-mail [email protected] Switzerland: rector, Conservation Geography. Website: IBAN CH90 0900 0000 4046 1685 7 Guian Zokoe works in the Dja Reserve http://www.berggorilla.org BIC POFICHBEXXX and with the SC-RFD. 2 Gorilla Journal 53, December 2016 D. R. CONGO The Virunga Communi­ The system was designed to replace capability. Across Africa it is fast be- an ageing Motorola VHF analog radio coming the defacto standard for wildlife cations Post Installation system in the Virunga National Park protection organisations. Security problems in the Virunga Na- (VNP). Phase One of the project cen- The budget was set at USD 350,000 tional Park, Democratic Republic of tred around the installation of a small and came at USD 345,650. Those man- the Congo, have been a severe dan- Mototrbo digital VHF system specially aging the project were able to negotiate ger for the park’s wildlife and its for- for the rangers assigned to the protec- pricing and source direct from manu- ests, and for the rangers who try to tion of elephants within the central sec- facturers where necessary and where protect it. In order to improve the com- tor of the park. appropriate. They were able to deliver munication of the rangers, a new com- The Mototrbo digital VHF radio with system capabilities, procure unbudget- mu nication system was needed that GPS tracking was selected as the com- ed spares and complete the equipment covers the whole park and permits the munications system of choice for en- procurement earlier than expected and park personnel to act quickly when suring effective command and control significantly below budget. problems are noticed anywhere. of the entire VNP. The management A Mototrbo Digital VHF radio com- of this system is the responsibility of The Procurement Phase munications system was successfully the park’s technicians. It was selected This phase commenced on the 28 commissioned for service for Virunga for its increased capacity and spectrum March 2016 following the signing of National Park on 06th July 2016 as part efficiency, encryption, integrated data an agreement with the Virunga Foun- of Project Virunga VHF (Phase Two). communications and enhanced voice dation. The phase included 16 steps and a tight deadline of 8 weeks for delivery of 28 specific types of equip- ment, into Uganda. The time frame had been stipulated by the Virunga Foun- dation. The radio equipment was delivered 7 days earlier than the deadline, but unfortunately due to a rebel attack the Virunga Cessna 206 was out of ser- vice and al alternative aircraft had to be chartered resulting in equipment be- ing delivered into Rumangabo on 06th June 2016. The Deployment Phase This phase commenced on the 04th June 2016, but delays in the locally procured solar system resulted in the deployment date being pushed back to 18th June 2016. The installation and training of Virunga radio engineers commenced immediately upon the consultant’s arrival on 20th June 2016. Delays, to include misplaced equipment and differing opinions, had a negative impact on the amount of time available for training the engineers, but they did receive sufficient on-the-job training to enable them to manage and maintain the radio system. The system was The mobile ops vehicle commissioned for operation on the 4th Photo: Kevin Marriott July 2016. 3 Gorilla Journal 53, December 2016 D. R. CONGO Digital VHF Mototrbo Repeater The mobile ops vehicle is a huge as- Recommendations Network: There are three repeaters lo- set as radios have the capacity to have In order to satisfy the requirements cated in positions around the park and situational awareness of ranger posi- for the expansion of the parks com- an additional three repeaters for redun- tions within a single sector. The vehi- munications system and in order to dancy and use as back-up repeaters cle radio installation with GPS tracking accommodate an increase in sub- for future installations and network ex- have enabled effective fleet manage- scribers, we have made some ad- pansion as required. The coverage is ment and accountability of the vehicle ditional recommendations for further very good, although there are still some drivers, and solutions have been put in enhancing the park’s communication ‘black spots’. place to ensure that the battery is al- capability, as well as providing ongoing TRBOnet Dispatch Console: The ways charged and the antenna is trans- training to include professional de- computer has been provided and will mitting. It also addresses the issue of velopment specifically of the VNP function as the operations centre for possible irregularities in fuel consump- technicians. the VNP. The main operations room, tion and unauthorised vehicle usage. Robert Muir and Kevin Marriott known as CCOPS, has been temporar- The Smartphone Zello System has ily moved from Rumangabo to Rwindi been implemented using custom-built and as a result temporary installations technology to enable the radio voice Charcoal Trade Destroys had to be made. The TRBOnet Dis- network to be extended to other smart- Part of the Virunga patch Console provides the operations phone users running the Zello Push- National Park room with an easy application that at to-Talk application. This system is suit- a glance will enable the watch keeper able for use by covert users providing a According to a new report of the to see which radios are active on the closed system with radio access being Enough Project, an illegal charcoal net and where they are.