Gorilla Journal Journal of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe No. 30, June 2005 Conservation Impact of Habitu- The Maiombe For- Where Are the of Gorillas and ation for Tourism est in Cabinda Gorillas? Type Chimpanzees in on Gorillas in Specimens and Itombwe Bwindi Conservation BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE Authors of this Issue with the WCS gorilla surveys in Kahuzi- CONTENTS Biega and Itombwe since 1994. Democratic Republic of Congo 3 Christelle Chamberlan has been Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi has worked Post-Confl ict Inventory of Kahuzi- co-ordinating the orphan gorilla reha- for conservation in the D. R. Congo for Biega National Park 3 bilitation and reintroduction programs 22 years. Since 2002, he is Principal Massacres in Kivu 4 of the John Aspinall Foundation (JAF) Conservator of Kahuzi-Biega. Dangers to Kahuzi-Biega and in the Republic of Congo since 2002. John Kahekwa has been working POPOF's Artisan Program 5 Amos Courage co-ordinated the at Kahuzi-Biega since 1983. He foun- Conservation in the Itombwe Massif 7 activities of JAF in Congo from 1996 to ded the Pole Pole Foundation that has Two Young Chimps Confi scated 8 2000. Now based in the UK, he is direc- been cooperating with the population Gorilla Orphans in Rwanda and tor for JAF overseas projects. around the park since 1992. Congo: Update 9 Andrew Dunn is Project Manager Pierre Kakule Vwirasihikya has Twin Boom in Eastern Gorillas 9 for the WCS biodiversity research pro- been working in the Virunga National Uganda 11 gram in SE Nigeria since 2004. He has Park since 1982. Currently, he is both Impacts of Habituation for Ecotourism been working on surveys and conser- the Tayna Gorilla Reserve Coordinator on the Gorillas of Nkuringo 11 vation projects in Africa since 1989. (since 1998) and the UGADEC Execu- The Impact of Tourism on the Jef Dupain works for the African tive Secretary (since 2002). Behaviour of Mountain Gorillas 14 Wildlife Foundation-DRC. He is the Tony King has been developing the Uganda Losing Gorillas to Rwanda 15 coordinator of the Landscape Maringa research and monitoring programmes Gorillas 16 Lopori Wamba within CARPE-CBFP. for the JAF in Congo since 2002. Update on Nigeria: Recent Work by Dr. Michele L. Goldsmith works Innocent Liengola is Project Direc- the Wildlife Conservation Society 16 at Dartmouth College, Anthropology. tor for WCS’s program in Kahuzi-Biega. The Maiombe Forest in Cabinda: Since December 1996 she has been He led the biological surveys, gorilla Conservation Efforts, 2000–2004 18 studying the behavioral ecology of go- census and habitat evaluation of the Where Are the Gorillas? 21 rillas and chimpanzees in Bwindi. highland sector in 2004 and is currently Sudden Great Ape Die-Off in the Peri- Prof. Colin Groves wrote his PhD heading the lowland survey. phery of the Dja Biosphere Reserve 28 thesis on gorilla osteology and tax- Dr. Angela Meder studied captive Ebola in Congo Republic 30 onomy. He now teaches primatology lowland gorillas for 10 years. Today she Reintroduced Gorillas: Reproduction, and human evolution at the Australian works as a book editor. Since 1992 she Ranging and Unresolved Issues 30 National University. has been on the Board of Directors of Reading 33 Patrick Guislain has worked in Pro- Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe. News from the Internet 34 jet Grands Singes since 2001. He is Leonard Mubalama has coordi- Berggorilla & Regenwald doing a study on habitat use of chim- nated WCS’s Itombwe program since Direkthilfe 35 panzees and gorillas. 2002, and has led fi eld surveys there in Dr. John Hart, WCS Senior scien- 2003–2005. He has been a member of tist, directs WCS-DRC’s inventory and the WCS/DRC program since 1994. Organization Address: monitoring program and is based in Fortunate Muyambi worked as a Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe Kinshasa. He has has been involved warden for Research and Monitoring c/o Rolf Brunner in Bwindi/Mgahinga Conservation Area Lerchenstr. 5 Gorilla Journal 30, June 2005 for 2 years, and is currently the Field 45473 Muelheim, Germany Editor: Angela Meder Project Coordinator of the Mountain Fax +49-208-7671605 Augustenstr. 122, 70197 Stuttgart, Gorilla Conservation Fund-Uganda. E-mail [email protected] Germany Dr. Tamar Ron was UNDP Biodiver- Website: Fax +49-711-6159919 sity Chief Technical Adviser to the Gov- http://www.berggorilla.org E-mail [email protected] ernment of Angola in 2000–2004. She Bank Account: Translation and Proofreading: Ann was requested to continue help devel- Account number 353 344 315 DeVoy, Bettina and Andrew Grieser oping the Maiombe Forest project. Stadtsparkasse Muelheim, Germany Johns, Colin Groves Carlos Schuler visited Bukavu in Bank code number 362 500 00 Design: Edwin Artho, Angela Meder 1983 fi rst. Two years later he returned IBAN DE06 3625 0000 0353 3443 15 Cover: Skull of the Grauer's gorilla to Bukavu and since 1994 he has been SWIFT-BIC SPMHDE3E type specimen. Photos: H. Turni working for the GTZ in Kahuzi-Biega. 2 Gorilla Journal 30, June 2005 D. R. CONGO Post-Confl ict Inventory National Parks Institute (ICCN) lost control of the park during the war, a of Kahuzi Biega National wide range of incursions, deforestation Park and illegal extraction of resources fol- There are few sites where the potential lowed, including mining, hunting, log- for conservation of great apes is ging, charcoal production, agriculture, juxtaposed with such major challenges and grazing. and uncertainty as in the Democratic During the war, much of the park’s Republic of Congo’s Parc National de highland sector (600 km2), and all of Kahuzi Biega (PNKB). At the outset of its lowland sector (5,000 km2) have the Congo’s civil war, nearly a decade been inaccessible to ICCN guards. In ago, this park was the single most the highland sector, fi res, cutting and important site globally for the endemic clearing have led to signifi cant habitat I. Liengola and park guards in front subspecies of the eastern gorilla (G. degradation. Large areas of the corri- of the former Itebero park offi ce b. graueri), containing an estimated dor (400 km2 ) linking the highland and Photo: Innocent Liengola 8,000 individuals in both sectors of the lowland sector of the park have been park. PNKB also supported a nationally deforested and settled. known silverbacks, the ICCN patrolling signifi cant population of chimpanzees Despite the extreme insecurity and of the gorilla sector, during all but the (Hall et al. 1998) and it is also a major challenges, ICCN, and the park, were most dangerous periods, was certainly reservoir of biodiversity endemic to the supported throughout the war by GTZ critical in ensuring the survival of the Albertine Rift (Plumptre et al. 2000). (Gesellschaft für technische Zusam- habituated gorillas in the park. During the past decade of the civil menarbeit). Further support for park Within the last year security in the war, PNKB has been a constant theatre guard salaries came through the UNF/ PNKB region has improved. ICCN of confl ict. The park has been overrun UNESCO program, and over the past guards have recovered patrol posts by successive waves of militias, Mai- several years other NGOs have also and fi eld teams have returned to the Mai and Interahamwe, some of whom been able to provide assistance. While park and surrounding region. Several still have local infl uence today, though a number of highland sector’s habitu- important new fi nancial commitments open confl ict and insecurity have re- ated gorillas were killed by poachers have been made to the park, including ceded in most areas. As the Congolese during the war, including several well- a renewal of the GTZ program, and further support for the park buffer zone 28° E Utu Musenge (the area and communities around the park) through the USAID CARPE pro- Itebero Kakelo Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega gram and the Congo Basin Forest Part- Nyamilenge Isangi Hombo nership. Busakala DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF In November, 2004, a break in the CONGO confl ict allowed WCS (Wildlife Con- Luhoho servation Society) and ICCN teams Ezeze to survey the highland sector of the Lowland Sector 2° S park where they found at least 168 go- Kalehe rillas. While this number is less than Bitale the 250–270 pre-war population in this Luka zi Lake Kivu area, it was higher than the estimated ahu High- K Topetope Lulingu Tshibati 130 gorillas counted in a similar survey a land Swiz 4 years earlier. Chimpanzee numbers Sector Tshivanga a (as estimated by encounter rates with Miti Bieg Kalonge nest groups) appeared to have re- National Park Border Cyangugu Lugulu mained stable over this same period. Nindja Road WCS survey teams are now prepar- Nzovu Bukavu River Ruzizi ing to move into the remote lowland Ngoma Mountain sector where most of the park’s gorillas 0 20 km Walungu Lubimbe and chimpanzees occur, but where little 3 Gorilla Journal 30, June 2005 D. R. CONGO information and essentially very limited invasive liana not eaten by gorillas or patrolling has been possible up to now. Massacres in Kivu chimpanzees. The liana has colonized These surveys will also be an important recent openings caused by fi re and cut- step in recovering this sector of the During the night of 23/24 May ting, and is now overtopping adjacent park and securing its great apes. 2005, a Nindja village was at- canopy, killing trees and bamboo and In February 2004, ICCN re-estab- tacked by an armed group calling creating large mono-dominant prairies lished the park’s two lowland sector itself Rasta that is composed that are not favoured by the apes. While stations, Itebero and Nzovu.