•While the number of Rwandan mountain gorillas is increasing, Cross River’s lowland gorillas are on the brink of extinction •Gorilla conservation: What Nigeria can learn from Rwanda
By Okorie Uguru
Ueuranga, the alpha male and leader of the Hirwa family, is a silverback gorilla. He is confident, arrogant, and seems disdainful of intrusive humans who constantly invade his family’s privacy to satisfy their curiosity. However, he seems to have grown used to the prying eyes of humans and they do not bother him anymore. Aware of the interfering presence of tourists in the Volcanoes Mountain forest in Rwanda where he roams with his family, he ignored the intruders and continued with his early morning nap.
The team of tourists, eight in number, assigned to visit the Hirwa gorilla’s family early this November, was still in awe at the sight of the gorillas. The team had been lucky. The elements decided to be kind. Even though the sky threatened rain, no drop fell. Before finally approaching where the gorillas’ family was temporarily resting, the tourists had been given face masks to cover their faces. This was to reduce the chances of passing human diseases to the gorillas. Tourists, while taking pictures or videos of the gorillas, were also warned not to use flashlights, to avoid triggering panic among the gorillas as if a gun was being shot at them.
•A lowland gorilla in Cross River
The journey to the Hirwa family had taken about an hour of trekking. For this reporter, it was the second in five years. The tourist team was lucky; it could have taken longer than that to get to the gorillas, especially if the family was on the move.
•The Hirwa family resting
The preparation
Seeing the gorillas in the Volcanoes Mountain Park involves driving to Kunigi in northern Rwanda as early as possible. This writer’s team arrived at the park’s headquarters in Kunigi a few minutes after 7 am. Then there was the division of tourists into groups, each group assigned to a gorilla family for a visit.
This reporter, having earlier requested to visit the Hirwa family, was assigned to visit the family with other tour team members. There was the initial briefing on the do’s and don’ts before leaving for the forests. An SUV was on standby to drive the tourist team into the town, close to the foot of Volcanoes Mountain’s forest. The forest is separated from the town by farmlands. There was also an additional stone barrier about four to five feet that separates the Volcanoes Mountain forest where the gorillas live from the farmlands. The stone barrier was to stop the gorillas and the other wild animals in the forest from crossing and destroying farmlands. Having crossed into the forest through the about five-foot stone barrier, there was a park ranger with a gun waiting to lead the trekking team to the Hirwa gorilla family. The guide was in constant communication with the tracker and park rangers through a walkie-talkie. The tracker was to first pick up trails of the gorilla family from the previous day, track them, and then give directions to the guide on where to locate them.
It was tedious and physically exhausting ascending to where the gorillas were on foot. One had to meander through slippery marshy grounds, wild animal droppings, and dangerous twigs of leaves that latched at one’s eyes. Being very careful is the watchword. At this point, having fallen several times on the slippery marshy track, fashion was the least on one’s mind; the legs were covered with mud, and nobody, including the ladies, seemed to care. But it was a small price to pay for the excitement of visiting the gorillas. And finally, in a hushed tone, the park ranger and the guide told the team we were at the gorillas’ nest.
Face-to-face with Hirwa family
Just a few metres further from where the gorillas were, the guide stopped the team. Face masks were distributed, and the initial instructions were repeated for emphasis. In this period of excitement, safety and the well-being of the gorillas were of paramount importance.
Ueuranga, the silverback alpha male and leader of the Hirwa family, was lying a few metres away from the rest, using his hands to shield the morning light from his face. He was confident and enjoying his recently acquired status of alpha male and undisputed leader of the Hirwa family. In this family, his instructions are law. This was a few minutes to 10 am, but Ueuranga was not through with his early morning siesta. Not even the presence of human intruders could rouse him. His only worry was the hundreds of tiny insects flying and circling his face making him turn in different directions in discomfort.
Satiated with sleep, he announced to the whole family it was time to move with a loud startling noise, and heavy banging of his chest.
The young adult gorillas were the more adventurous and semi-independent. They wander about gnawing at the bamboo trees and other plants. They were unafraid of humans. The younger tiny infants tagged along, following their mothers. The young ones between the ages of two and four were more excitable. They even venture to come close to humans without fear. They have been fully habituated.
The Hirwa family is about 16 in number and relatively healthy and in good shape just like when this reporter first saw the family in May 2018. Or so, it seemed. On the surface, everything seems normal in this gorilla family called Lucky, except that the close to 40-year-old mother of the family, Chige, has had some mishap that caused her one of her eyes. She currently sees with only one eye. On this occasion, she was slow, looking forlorn and melancholic as if in perpetual pain. In 2018 she had complete eyes and was vibrant like the rest of the family, but she was disinterested with what the other members of the family were doing now. The playful young gorillas would try to nudge her into action but she was not interested.
The travails of Hirwa family
Hirwa in KinyarwandaI means luck. The family was called Lucky because one of the women in the harem of the alpha male had twins some years back. But it seems, since 2018, the Hirwa family has faced life’s vicissitudes. Our guard, John, explained: “This family called Hirwa in 2019 migrated from Rwanda to Uganda. The family stayed there for eight months. During that period, there was a tragic incident, where seven gorillas of the family died in a day, including the leading silverback, Munyinya. With that tragedy, the number two, who was at that time a blackback named Ueuranga, was the one to take over, based on the family’s hierarchy of leadership in place of his father. By that time Munyinya was dead.”
Munyinya, who was in his 30s, led the family from 2006 until 2019 when he was killed with other family members by lightning. He led for 14 years. Currently, it was the era of Ueuranga who was relatively young and still in his teens.
A country’s multi-billion dollar business
The Rwandan government’s conservation programme to protect the endangered mountain gorillas has become a success story, and through sustainable tourism, the government succeeded in creating a niche market tourism product. The gorillas are allowed to live in their natural habitat and grow their population. Tourism trekkers are allowed to visit the gorillas in their natural habitat for a premium fee of $1500 per person. It is a project the Nigerian government with the endemic Cross River mountain lowland gorillas should study. There are 23 gorilla families in Rwanda. Fifteen of the families are open for public visits daily, while the remaining eight families are not open for public visits. They are conserved for research purposes. An average team for gorilla trekking is made up of eight persons, meaning daily, a gorilla family generates $12000 for the Rwanda government. The 15 gorilla families generate $180,000 daily. In seven days, the gorilla families generated $1,260,000 for the Rwandan government. In a year, Rwanda makes about $453.6m from gorilla trekking. This revenue is outside the income from hotel accommodation, transportation, and other tourism ancillary services. Gorilla conservation and sustenance is a multi-billion dollar business in Rwanda.
Through the not-so-long introduced gorilla naming ceremony at Kunigi, additional funds are also attracted to the country for conservation.
The beauty of gorilla conservation in Rwanda is that it has a direct economic impact on the host communities. For every dollar generated from gorilla trekking, a percentage goes to the host communities. The communities within the Volcanoes Mountain feel a sense of belonging and are more protective of the gorillas and the forest reserve. This sense of fairness and transparency has helped to get the local buy-in of the host community. However, the biggest success story in gorilla conservation is that, within a period of a little over 30 years, the gorilla population in the Virunga Massif has nearly tripled. According to the report by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), at the 2003 census of gorillas, the total population was 380 in 30 social groups. The last gorilla census carried out before the COVID-19 pandemic had placed the total number at 1006, close to three times the number of gorillas in 2003. The number in 2023 would likely be way above what was obtained in the last census.
Kunigi: Enjoying benefits of sustainable tourism
Kunigi in 2018 was more like a village devoid of many social amenities. Within five years, the transformation through tourism income has been massive. The effect of tourism on the host community is practical here. There is a better network of roads. Where tourists used to trek to get to the forest has now been tarred. There are a host of comfortable hotels and relaxation spots all over the town. Kunigi oozes prosperity, thanks to tourism income. It has also brought huge revenue to the Rwanda government and has succeeded in creating economic prosperity not just to the indigenes of Kunigi, in northern Rwanda, but the country as a whole. It is not surprising that the mountain gorilla is the national icon of Rwanda.
Different tales of two gorilla ‘kingdoms’
Mountain gorillas are endemic to the Virunga Massif range that overlaps into three countries – Rwanda, Uganda and Congo Democratic Republic. However, they are not the only species of gorillas. There is the Cross River lowland gorilla in Nigeria found in the rainforest stretch that stretches between Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon. They are also endemic to this area and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Gorillas are generally categorised by age. From one year up to three and a half, either male or female, they are called babies. They are dependent on their mothers for feeding and moving. During movement, their mothers may carry them on the chest or back. From the ages of three and a half, up till six years, they are called juveniles. They are beginning to get a bit more independent. During the night, they may have their own nest, but not far from their parents. From six to eight years, they are called sub-adult females or males. They are independent, and may not be interested in staying close to their parents, but are still in the family. Then, any female gorilla above eight years old is regarded as mature. It means that she can conceive her first baby. The gestation period for mountain gorillas is just nine months like human beings. The weaning period is around three years, which means before having another baby, the first has to be four years old. It is a kind of natural family planning. So, a family consists of a leading silverback alpha male. He is in control in terms of where they have to graze. The gorillas are non-territorial. They move anytime and anywhere. Because of this, countries with shared boundaries where these gorillas move collaborate. Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo Democratic Republic collaborate to conserve and preserve the mountain gorillas. These countries have different national parks under the Virunga Massif. The average lifespan of a gorilla is about 45 years, and they are totally vegetarians.
Species on the brink of extinction
While there is a pro-active, collaborative and sustainable programme in place for the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Virunga Massif to survive and increase in population in their natural habitat, the reverse is the case with the lowland gorillas of Cross River State. While the population of the mountain gorillas is increasing, that of the lowland gorillas in Cross River seems to be decreasing. While the mountain gorillas are visited daily in Rwanda and other countries, physical sightings of the lowland gorillas are rare and difficult except through some of the fixed cameras in the forest. The lowland gorillas are believed to be currently about 100 in the whole world, and there are no programmes in place by either the Nigerian or Cameroonian government to conserve and protect them. These gorillas are at the brink of extinction as a result of hunting and loss of habitat to humans. If there are no concerted efforts on the part of the federal and state governments, non-governmental organisations and host communities, the Cross River lowland gorillas might be extinct within the next 40 to 45 years.
Asked about the current status of the Cross River lowland gorillas, the Conservator of Cross River National Park, Mrs. Caroline Samuel Olory said: “We have not done a recent survey. From the data we have, we are looking in the range of 50 to 100, but not so many again from the camera footage photographs that we have. We have an organisation working with us – the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – that is in collaboration with the National Park Service. The camera track photos indicate that the gorillas are actually increasing, but there has not been any recent coverage to know the exact estimated population.
“What we have been doing with this organisation (WCS) is protecting their habitat, and through rare sightings, I told you most of the photographs we get are through camera footage. Also during direct monitoring of their nest, looking at their feeding activities where they have their nests. But to get to where the gorillas are is a very difficult terrain. I have once gone with them. Because of hunting pressure, they go to areas not easily accessible to humans.”
With no meaningful effort at conservation and preservation, the lowland gorillas’ survival instinct has currently kicked in. They try as much as possible to keep their distance from man and the threat man poses to their existence. Mrs. Olory talked about this treat: “It is majorly hunting. Now we have issues of habitat destruction. Some parts of their habitat are being destroyed because of farm encroachment, and there is the fragmentation of their habitat because of one agricultural activity or the other. Also in the Cross River National Park, the Okwangwo division, there is the Ndem Mountain which is controlled by the communities. So, these are the same ranges that have these gorillas. One side is protected by the Federal Government and the other side is where the WCS is trying to help the communities. The challenge has been mainly due to that pressure that the gorillas go to areas where humans find it difficult to access.”
Mr. Andrew Dunn, a wildlife expert, is the Country Director of Programmes for Nigeria for the WCS, the non-governmental organisation at the forefront of protecting the endangered lowland gorillas. He explained that the gorillas are currently being monitored through camera traps. And to ease the pressure of clearing the natural habitat of the gorillas for farming, WCS has tried to empower communities around the gorillas habitat with sustainable cocoa and bush mango farming techniques and also through engaging in schools’ enlightenment programmes.
In addition to this, WCS also runs a radio programme to enlighten those living around the area on conservation and the need to protect the gorillas which Dunn said has been well received by these communities.
Unfortunately, these efforts by the Nigerian National Park Service (NPS) and WCS are inadequate and cosmetic to actually help the gorillas survive human pressures, increase their population and not go into extinction.
How can these endangered gorillas be saved and conserved for future generations? Olory said: “The major issue we have on ground is that most of these communities are rural. We do provide basic amenities like water, health, electricity and even access roads, because these basic things are needful. Now, the National Park is the closest government these communities have. However, even when we go on conservation education, the question they ask is: ‘Okay, you said we should not go to kill these animals. What alternatives are you offering?’ They are looking unto a national park, one small federal parastatal, to provide all. They see us as the Ministry of Works that should get them roads, the Ministry of Health that should provide health facilities, and the Ministry of Water Resources. Most of these basic needs are lacking in most of these communities, and it becomes very difficult. Around that National Park, Okwangwo division, there are 56 communities in an area of approximately 1000 square kilometres where we have these Cross River gorillas. These gorillas are endemic to that area, which is unique between that area and Okamanda National Park in Cameroon. Because of the budget limit, you cannot reach all the communities at the same time. Some communities in the past have benefitted from school blocks provided by the National Park; some have benefited from access roads that we maintain and grade because many of these communities have problems with access. But it is as if we are not getting it. Even in the Okwangwo division, with their collaboration with WCS, they are trying to teach the communities modern farming best practices, telling them that even with the cocoa farming that they are doing, there are ways it could be done to have better yield than expanding the forests.
“Again we have this issue of human population increase. Remember the park was initially a forest reserve that was created in the 1930s. For a reserve that was created in the 30s, and now in this current century, you know there has been an increase in human population. That is where the challenge is. Almost all the communities are agitating for boundary shifting.”
Can the Cross River lowland gorillas generate income through gorilla trekking like in East Africa, at least to help alleviate the infrastructural deficit in these host communities? The Conservator replied: “The gorillas in Rwanda, for some years now, have been habituated. They are used to humans. Our wild animals, not just the gorillas, are not habituated. Remember I mentioned that they are moving to areas that are quite difficult for humans to access because of the danger of hunting, so, we don’t have that habituation, not just for gorillas, but for all our animal population. They have not gotten used to the fact that human beings can just come and watch them. Also the tourists we have are so minimal; the National Park is working on how to increase the number. The main thing is that our animal population has not been so habituated that they get used to human beings moving around and seeing them in their natural habitat.
“The major challenge is protection. Once the area is protected and the animals are safe, they will increase. It is a different ball game when you compare the rangers working in Nigeria and rangers anywhere else in the world. The patrol equipment is grossly inadequate. Those big patrol equipment, we have them but they are inadequate. Two is the manpower. Patrols in National Park are most physical. It would be nice to have things like drones. We are yet to get to that level. For now, everything is physical, energetic, foot patrol, and as such we need more people to carry out that patrol. Even the cameras that I talked about have a very limited number.
“Government cannot do it alone. We want to partner. I have mentioned the Wildlife Foundation, I mentioned WCS. They try to fund some patrols in the form of providing the rangers with what they would eat as they go on patrol. They also try to provide them with patrol kits. But compared to the enormity of the work, it is quite inadequate. And an average ranger, if you compare what they take home with our counterpart outside, it is something else. Remember most of these parks are in the rural areas, and staffers working there have no other source of livelihood.
“Aside from that, there is always that clash with the host communities. You said we shouldn’t enter but you have not given us anything, so if you arrest a member of the community inside the park, there is a problem. You cannot go to the forest and arrest your landlord and you still think you will have a cordial relationship.”
Rwanda and the whole of Virunga Massif have succeeded in protecting the gorilla population. But due to lack of will, neglect, and lack of interest, the Cross River lowland gorillas are on the verge of extinction. Unless the Nigerian government, the Cross State government, and NGOs from all over the world pay greater attention and make concerted efforts to save the lowland gorillas, the world might just be seeing the last of them.