Baraza

Category: Uncategorized, WildlifeDirect news | Date: Mar 03 2009 | By: baraza

A recent visit of the WildlifeDirect team to Rwanda (Thanks to the MacArthur Foundation),  gave the team and bloggers (and potential bloggers) an opportunity to put faces to the names they have been seeing appended to the mails. Having been a blogger for a few months (Albertine rift birds), I was recruited to support the WildlifeDirect project that is working in the Albertine Rift. On this occasion, I was among the team mainly as a “field guide” in the country of a thousand hills, Rwanda.

               “country of a thousand hills over the horizon”

Having had an enjoyable time at Bwindi, we were escorted by our cab driver, Habib to the border of Uganda and Rwanda. From here we took a kigali bound bus. Here things changed from left to right and the driver driving at a maximum speed of 40 km/h (it would be twice as fast in Kenya). Yes, it would be probably be a trip around more than a thousand hills.

Kigali City

After enjoying an evening and a night at the clean, safe Kigali city, we embarked on the main activity of visiting and sharing our mission with conservationists in the country. This took us from Kigali to Ruhengeri and further to Gisenyi (Goma). We realized how interesting biodiversity conservation work in the country is. One easily concludes that this country has very interesting biodiversity but the threats are huge too.The team was well received and all organizations promised to use the Wildlifedirect platform to enhance and improve their conservation work.

 Gift from Paula to Julie (Art for Conservation)

Vincent(AoC Volunteer) with Enoch, Victor and Masumi at AoC tree Nursery.

Tags: Albertine Rift, Biodiversity conservation, MacArthur Foundation, Rwanda

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Category: Gorillas | Date: Jan 09 2009 | By: baraza

The United Nations have declared 2009 the Year of the Gorilla – and there is a call for actions from everyone to participate in global efforts to save gorillas.

Some journalists are questioning the morality ofsaving gorillas while people continue to suffer in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. When in Rwanda I attended the Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming ceremony – a national event, after which I met a famous doctor who is rebuilding the medical infrastructure of the country. He had been invited to Rwandas exclusive tourism lodge on the edge of the Volcano National Park, where a visitor pays $2,000 per night.  A stones throw away he told me he had been treating a community for common diseases, malaria, typhoid, cholera. The lodge made him very angry he said, because all attention was on the gorillas, not the people who live around the park.  Less than 20% of the proceeds from gorilla tourism trickle down to these communities, some of the poorest in Africa and very densely populated.

He told me about the pitiful health status of people living around the protected areas and asked me how conservationists could promote community conservation when communities were suffering so severely, not only in Rwanda but in Congo, Uganda and even Kenya. He asked me how tourism could promote the image of Masai with their two lower teeth bashed out, a romantic image, a reflection of failure to prevent tetanus or lock jaw, a deadly and painful bacterial infection that causes muscle fiberes to shorten until the jaw cannot open (Listen to Lion Guardian Anthony Kasangas podcast here). Poverty he implied, must not become a tourist attraction.

Then Paul Farmer and I had a huge (friendly) argument in which he two accused me directly of having my priorities completely wrong. I accused him of failing to comprehend that human health and living standards are directly affected by the state of the environment. We didn’t see eye to eye … and I wondered who was being stubborn. The solution is not, and can never be, to simply be to get rid of parks and conservation areas for the sake of giving more people land. In such cases the problems are only delayed, and then exacerbated once the land is once again over utilized. It just does not make sense to me that we should permit people to destroy a national asset that would take decades to recover, just to feed a population for a few days or weeks.  Rwanda is hugely is a tiny country that is overpopulated - even if people are allowed into the few parks it will not allevaite the problem in any appreciable way.

But not everyone agrees. In a recent thought provoking article Alex Halperin reminds us that Rwanda is staking its economy on gorillas. To protect this national asset the authorities go to great lengths to kept the gorillas safe and healthy, mainly by restricting human contact, especially with poor villagers who are not allowed into the National Park to forage for natural resources. So, while the national economy benefits, the local population pays the cost.

In Seatlepi blog Robert McClure asks if saving gorillas in a poor country is sustainable. Read the Halperin article here and tell us what you think.

Oh, and if you haven’t already done it, don’t forget Sheryls birthday gift. Thanks to everyone who has already made a contribution!

Tags: health, mountain gorillas, poverty, Rwanda, wildlifedirect, Year of the gorilla

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Category: Emergency appeals, Uncategorized | Date: Nov 03 2008 | By: baraza

The tension in the air can be felt in Goma from far away Nairobi. We are in touch with our colleagues on the ground I’ve just heard that the convoy trying to reach Rutshuru (50 miles north of Goma through the CNDP front line) has come across scenes of intense fighting in the recent days with the road strewen with empty shells and casing.

They describe seeing the bodies of Congolese military still lie in road side ditches.  An ugly scene but at least food is moving towards those most in need which will be a huge relief. I’m dreading what they will find when they get there though. All the news agencies are talking about is the humanitarian crisis and are filled with harrowing stories.

The missing rangers are still at large which is very worrying. Where could they be? We hope that they are safe.  At least NGO’s are feeling safer and many have been able to return to Goma.

A tiny piece of potentially good news if true, was reported in the Uganda Monitor “The rebels for now have been persuaded by Rwandan officials, according to several sources, to abandon their plan to occupy Goma which had been abandoned by government troops”.

Our thought are  with all our friends wherever they are in Eastern Congo. We’ll keep you posted as news comes in from the convoy - which is not easy - cell phone networks are on and off.

If you have any messages for the team on the ground please leave them here in comments and we will post the best of the messages here  for them.

Tags: CNDP, crisis in the congo, DR Congo, Gorillas, Rwanda, Virunga National Park, wildlifedirect

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Category: Gorillas | Date: Oct 14 2008 | By: baraza

After visiting gorillas one can’t help wanting to know more about the individuals

I found the family photo of the Amohoro group in Rwanda that I visited and wrote about in June on the IGCP website.

This is the family album of the Amohoro Group. A google search reveals that many people have visited this group like  Mike Johnson who has some incredible photos of his visit on his blog here and Chris Will is in his spectacular photo album of the same group.

Have a  look at their photos and mine below, see if you can identify anyone from their unique nose prints.

This as an adult female - she had a new baby

How easy/difficult is it?

Tags: Amohoro, IGCP, mountain gorillas, noseprints, Rwanda

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Category: Emergencies, Gorillas, National Parks and protected areas, WildlifeDirect news, wildlife | Date: Oct 09 2008 | By: baraza

We have been following the alarming developments in Eastern Congo on the Gorilla protection blog and here we bring some of the latest reports on BBC here and from the United Nations official site

There is additional inforamation at the UNITED NATIONS Monuc website here Oct 8, 2008 - The Democratic Republic of Congo’s envoy to the United Nations called Wednesday for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss what he called an “imminent” Rwandan attack on the eastern DRC city of Goma.

Speaking to AFP, Atoki Ileka said DRC authorities had “observed concentrations of Rwandan troops in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi,” and that this suggested that an attack on Goma, located just across the frontier, was “imminent.”
In an earlier statement, the United States has responded angrily to Nkunda’s recent declarations in this statement from the US Department of State

“The United States condemns and rejects the statements made by General Nkunda, leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), claiming the CNDP intends to overthrow the elected and universally recognized Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (GDRC). The U.S. calls on the international community to support the GDRC as it works to consolidate its democracy and capacity to govern justly its entire territory. The U.S. opposes all those who seek to foment instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The Goma Agreement and the Nairobi Communiqué remain the only true viable framework to bring stability to eastern Congo. The signatories should respect their commitments and implement them swiftly. All concerned parties should also respect the current cease fire and move quickly to disengage their forces in accordance with the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (MONUC) Global Disengagement Plan. The U.S. applauds MONUC for its efforts to stabilize eastern Congo and calls on all parties to cooperate with those efforts. Conflict between the CNDP and the DRC Armed Forces only detracts attention from resolving the root problem causing instability in the region posed by the ex-Rwandan Armed Forces (ex-FAR), the Interahamwe, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
The U.S. remains committed to supporting the GDRC and the people of the Congo to ensure a strong, democratic state, free from all illegal armed groups. At the October 3rd UN Security Council meeting on DRC, the U.S. condemned statements made by Nkunda and called for the improvement of MONUC capabilities to better carry out its mandate. The U.S. will continue to work with the DRC and the Great Lakes countries both bilaterally and through the Tripartite Plus process to strengthen regional cooperation and build a stable and prosperous region.
The U.S. will work to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in eastern Congo and elsewhere”.

Tags: CNDP, Gorillas, MONUC, Nkunda, rebels, Rwanda, Virunga National Park

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Category: Gorillas | Date: Oct 04 2008 | By: baraza

After spending a day with Lucy Spelman a vet with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP)  in New York and hearing her amazing stories about live as a gorilla vet I realised that I’d much rather be in the rainforest experiencing what the MGVP does first hand. Well, I may yet get to do it one day but for now I can only experience it virtually.  So can you!

The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) is an innovative gorilla health initiative first established in 1985 when Dian Fossey asked the Morris Animal Foundation for help in response to a crisis situation for these gorillas. MGVP established veterinary care and health resources in the Rwanda rainforests. To watch the video go to the Morris Animal Foundation website and watch this video about MGVP.

Dr. Lucy is currently on a promotional book tour of USA so if you don’t yet have her book “The Rhino with Glue on Shoes” then you must get it.

Tags: Lucy Spelman, MGVP, mountain gorillas, Rwanda, Veterinarians, Virunga National Park

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Category: Gorillas, Podcasts | Date: Jun 27 2008 | By: admin

Hello everyone, Paula here and this is the moment of truth !!! Here’s my promised podcast. Listen with headphones gorillas are very quiet creatures so listen carefully, I hope you feel immersed in the jungle. Look a the photos as you listen - I’ve put them in chronological order.

The day started at 4.30am after a very long night of very loud Oliver N’goma concert!

The experience begins with a talk from our guide Francis, who was absolutely brilliant. ….he takes us on an extraordinary hike through the jungle introducing us to much more than gorillas,….

Here’s the volcano, Mt Bisoke, we had to climb it!

We first walked through farms to this wall, the “buffalo wall” demarcates the edge of the park protecting it from incursions as well as protecting the people from buffaloes.

The houses in this area are made of sticks and the walls of leaves, the soil here is not sticky enough to plaster the walls!

The trek we were told would take anything from 10 minutes to 3 hours. Every time someone asked “are we nearly there?” we were told the same thing, “just ten more minutes”. It took us nearly like 3 hours! From Left to Right these are Joe Summerhays (animator), John (assisting guide), Bill Gorth (master story teller), Craig Hatkoff (co founder of Tribeca Film Festival), and Brian Newman (Tribeca Film Foundation).

Our first sighting, he just sat there and stared right back.

The emotion you feel when you spot Gorillas for the first time are never forgotten. From Left to Right, these are Dino (dudu diaries), Craig and Rabai Irwin.

It’s hard to keep the 10 meter rule, gorillas walk right up to you and will even grab and push you aside you if you are in the way as happened to Craig!

The experience gets better and better as the group begins to ignore you - two individuals played right in front of us then climbed a tree.

I could have watched these guys playing for hours! So entertaining.

I know why Dian Fossey fell in love with the place, the staff like Francis are super dedicated, amusing, and just a pleasure to spend time with.

The trackers wake up at about 6 am to find the group and stay with them and guide the tourists to them.

Can you see the 3 week old baby? Did you hear it coughing on the podcast?

Life as a gorilla can’t be that bad?

Apart from the mind blowing gorillas, other odd things creatures also caught our attention like this giant earthworm. They grow to about 1 foot and are about 1 inch thick!

After that full day in gorilla country and one hour with the Amohoro family  I looked at my certificate and I can’t help feeling like it was a life time experience well wort the $500 price tag. I want to stay in touch with them, monitor the progress of the new baby, hear their daily shenanigans.

What do you think? Would you pay $500 to experience this?

How was the podcast?

Tags: Bisoke, Craig Hatkoff, Dian Fossey, Gorilla trek, karasoke, Paula Kahumbu, podcast, Rwanda

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Category: Gorillas | Date: Jun 26 2008 | By: admin

This month seems to be dedicated to Gorillas, the whole world is absorbed with them at the moment. Today the National Geographic screen Gorilla Murders in Washington DC. Everyone is talking about it. I”ll try to watch reactions to it on the news. I was sent these links to more of Ben Stirtons photos and stories which are just adding to the hype. Let us know what you hear!

I am still in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda where internet access is amazingly good. It’s one of those mornings - I know the chaos will hit me (it has been a frantic trip so far) so in these moments of calm I’ve been able to check out the latest online news. I had a wonderful surprise this morning when I read that in USA a man has walked from Seattle to Portland to support the Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Project which is run by Lucy Spelman.

Drew Nichols, a mortgage loan officer did a 10 day, 228-mile walk and raised more than $30,000 in donations and pledges. He is an amazing example of a volunteer who is making a massive contribution. Our own Robert Williams of Ending Charcoal blog is one of our own heros helping gorillas in Congo. In addition we have two other virtual volunteers working with us on specific blogs. It is hugely valuable and we all really appreciate their contribution which is making such a massive difference for us. We encourage any of you to volunteer just sign up here to help, and tell your friends! http://baraza.wildlifedirect.org/virtual-volunteering-for-wildlifedirect/

Some other gorilla news today made me even happier… in Uganda a 38-year-old veterinarian, Dr Gladys Kalema, has just won the prestigious San Diego Zoological Society conservation medal - The 2008 Conservation-In-Action Award. She is recognized for her outstanding conservation work in Uganda, at her organization the Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), a private non-profit organisation, that promotes conservation and public health by improving people and animal primary healthcare in and around protected areas in Africa.

We fly back to Nairobi this morning - it has been absolutely amazing as you will read and hear in coming posts.

Tags: MGVP, mountain gorillas, National Geographic, Rwanda, virtual volunteers, wildlifedirect

8 responses so far

Category: Gorillas | Date: Jun 23 2008 | By: admin

This is part of a series of posts about our trip in Rwanda. It has been so exciting and there is so much to tell you that I don’t know where to start….Ok, I’ll start with Saturday’s naming ceremony

When we arrived the venue for the ceremony was already packed with thousands of local people. The setting is amazing - that’s mount Karasoke behind.

We were witnessing the naming - which Craig Hatkoff one of our Dierctors of WildlifeDirect and my co-author in Owen and Mzee, and his daughter Juliana were lucky enough to actually participate and name a gorilla. The baby they named was called “Mushye” which means ‘new’. I’m going to get her to do a guest post about the experience - so watch out for that post coming soon… for now just imagine yourself emersed amongst about 4000 people and the sounds of an African celebration….

The music and fanfare was absolutely mindblowing… here are some photos to get you into the mood -you will just have to imagine the loud African beat, the energy, the celebration. It was absolutely incredible.

The dancers had so much energy it was hard to sit still while they performed

One of the key stars of the ceremony was Oliver Ngoma from Gabon after naming his gorilla he was asked to give us a taste of his music described as Afro-zouk reggae… he sang a couple of song to the entire audience, a teaser for a major concert in the evening. Everyone was dancing in their seats!

I couldn’t resist it… so I took advantage of the opportunity to get a shot with the star himself! WOW! He is seriously famous in Africa, ….

On Sunday we went on a gorilla trek …apart from it being the out-of-this-world experience that everyone who has ever met a gorilla has, something particularly unusual and special happened to Craig. I have to download photos and podcast … it’l be in my next post. Hope you can wait!

Tags: , Craig Hatkoff, karasoke, Kwita Izina, mountain gorillas, Rwanda, Volcanoes, wildlifedirect

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 10 2008 | By: admin

I received this as an email which was based on a conversation with the Commerce Minister Monique Nsanzabaganwa (L) and ORTPN Director General Rosette Chantal Rugamba after yesterday’s talk show on the upcoming ‘Kwita Izina’ ceremony.

Rwanda’s efforts to save mountain gorillas which last year generated $7m about Frw3.1bn have yielded $0.16m (approx Frw87.3m) portion to DR Congo.

The director general of Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN), Chantal Rugamba said the allotment is part of revenue sharing policy by three countries housing mountain gorillas. Rugamba, who was among the key speakers at Sunday live TV and radio talk show at Telecom House, said the money is meant to promote conservation of gorilla habitats on Congo side ravaged by civil wars. “Some gorillas fled insecurity in Congo habitats, to Rwanda side. The revenue we generate from tourists who visit them, our DRC counterparts have a portion” she promised.

Her revelation about proceeds they have allocated to Congo comes in the wake of preparations for the fourth gorilla naming ceremony (Kwita Izina) slated for June, 21. The ceremony will take place in Musanze District, Northern Province and this year 20 baby gorillas will named.

“Let us give it real value in view of the fact that it aims at conserving the natural habitats of mountain gorillas” said the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Monique Nsanzabaganwa.

Kwita Izina will be preceded with the inauguration of 3 primary schools of Nyabitsindi, Mugarama and Nyangwe; include 3 of the ten water harvest tanks and 2 bridges.

Another major event is a conservation conference expected to act as a platform to review the conservation action in Rwanda’s protected areas. Rugamba promised the conference will attract over 150 regional and international conservationists who will present their research findings on gorilla conservation.

Tags: DR Congo, gorilla, kwa inzina, mountain gorilla, Rwanda, wildlifedirect

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