Gorilla Doctors

Category: Monitoring Visits | Date: Nov 19 2007 | By: admin

New camp for refugees from the DRC, in Kisoro, Uganda, Nov 10, 2007

I continued my travels in Uganda last week, first on safari with friends, then back to work with gorillas - more about them in a moment. Early on, in Kisoro, we drove past a refugee camp set up by MONUC, the UN mission in the DRC. The camp is just off the main road that connects the Virunga Mountains with Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, the only two places in the world where mountain gorillas live. Though the refugees have access to basic health care and vaccinations, any number of diseases could whip through this camp, putting people as well as the nearby mountain gorillas at risk.

Two MONUC trucks traveling through Queen Elizabeth Park, Nov 13, 2007

Our next encounter with MONUC was a good deal less positive. We were in Queen Elizabeth Park on a game drive. Francis Kiwanuka, our amazing guide, had spotted several lions after hours of searching. The male lion had a swollen muzzle, so of course I was trying to get a better look at him. Suddenly, two UN trucks drove up and parked behind us, engines still running. Dozens of people got out, talking. The lions moved away, and so did we.

Male African lion in Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda, Nov 13, 2007

Only about 100 lions remain in the entire park, a decline in population caused by the poisoning of lions by cattle farmers who prefer to protect their herds in this way rather than wait for compensation for their losses from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, UWA. Evidently, MONUC staff visit the park weekly during their breaks. Our safari group was disappointed and disheartened by their behavior. It cannot help the lions to have people visiting the park who don’t observe the rules.

Female leopard in Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda, Nov 13, 2007

Francis quickly put some distance between our truck and the UN group. We continued our game drive, passing a huge herd of elephants, one of many glimpsed during our 3-day safari. Suddenly Francis stopped, turned off the engine, and pointed upward. A leopard! She too had a minor medical problem - a cloudy right eye, with a bit of discharge. She noticed us, but then went back to sleep… until the UN showed up. She was long gone before they all got out and walked around her tree.

Francis Kiwanuka, nature guide and expert driver.

Francis himself was as impressive as the animals we saw on our Ugandan safari. He works for Volcanoes Safaris, a company that manages several eco-lodges in Central Africa. We’d hired him through Terra Incognita Ecotours, a company that donates to MGVP when guests visit our project in Rwanda. These tour companies, as personified by Francis, offer proof that people and wildlife can live in balance, with mutual respect for one another’s boundaries. As for the UN, maybe the Queen of England can ask them to mind their manners - this week she is due to visit the park name in her honor.

MGVP’s new field office in Buhoma, Uganda, adjacent to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

On my own, I traveled next to Buhoma, Uganda, near the boundary of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Bwindi is not far from the Virungas, but the drive, on winding, often muddy mountain roads, with a stop at the border crossing from Rwanda, takes about 8 hours. MGVP’s Ugandan field vet, Dr Benard Ssebide, is based in the Buhoma area, and we planned to do a few routine health checks together. Benard also wanted to give me an update on the new MGVP field vet office, still under construction.

Mother and infant mountain gorilla in the Nkuringo Group, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.

Bwindi is home to half of the world’s 720 mountain gorillas, though only about a quarter of these have been habituated to people. The percentage is much higher (75%) for the gorillas who live in the Virunga Massif of Rwanda, DRC and Uganda. Most scientists say that the two populations separated about 500 years ago - the result of logging and agriculture. Compared to the Virunga gorillas, Bwindi gorillas live at lower elevation in tree-covered peaks and valleys, eat a greater variety of plants, and have shorter hair.

Dr. Benard Ssebide stands inside MGVP’s newly constructed Buhoma field office.

To make a cell phone call, Benard must drive to a particular spot on the road where he can get decent reception. His office is wherever he finds a place for the night. Recently, though, MGVP has co-funded the construction of a small building. One side houses MGVP’s new Uganda field office, and it’s almost ready. The other side was funded by a small business owner who planned to open an Internet cafe. Now we’re hearing this may never happen. So for now, sending e-mail or talking by Skype in this area remains a dream.

Buzinza’s infant in Bwindi’s Rushegura Group acts fine, despite multiple small white lesions on its face.

I trekked with Benard and UWA rangers to see Bwindi’s Rushegura Group of mountain gorillas. Benard has been monitoring one of the infants in this family, a 10-month old baby. It shows no signs of ill health except for multiple whitish-gray, plaque-like lesions on its chin, nostrils and lips. These lesions appear viral - possibly herpes or pox or papilloma - and have been observed in other infant gorillas. Indeed, during this visit, we noticed another infant, an eight-month-old, with similar facial lesions.

Kyirinvi’s infant in Bwindi’s Rushegura Group also has some small white lesions on its face.

Since the skin condition doesn’t make the infants sick, we have not intervened, and thus have been unable to make a precise diagnosis. It’s definitely not mange, which has been documented once before in Bwindi. But it does last for weeks. In order to track this problem, Benard and I took dozens of photographs of the Rushegura Group of infants, hoping that one of us would capture a decent image. I learned that it can be very dark in the Bwindi Forest, even on a clear day.

View of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest from Nkuringo, Uganda.

After the Rushegura Group, our plan was to visit another Buhoma-based family of mountain gorillas, Mabale Group. But the UWA rangers reported that a blackback (a young adult male gorilla) in the Nkuringo Group had been coughing. This group lives on the other side of Bwindi near the town of Nkuringo, a 15-km forest walk from Buhoma. Unfortunately, the gorillas were another 5km away - too far to walk and do a health check on the same day. We got back in the car, drove 5 hours, spent the night in Kisoro, and drove another hour-and-a-half the next morning to Nkuringo.

Kisoro, a blackback in the Nkuringo Group, eating but coughing.

To reach Nkuringo Group, we hiked down into a deep valley. Because of the dense vegetation, I found it difficult to fully observe each individual, but we did succeed in getting a clear view of the coughing blackback, Kisoro. He rested most of the time, ate a bit, and intermittently sounded a loud dry cough. We were relieved to find that none of the other gorillas was coughing. Benard will go back to check in a few days. After a challenging hike out of the valley, I left with a new appreciation of the word “impenetrable”.

Technorati : gorilla, mgvp, uganda

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