Conservation of the Cross River Gorillas
There are several pieces of encouraging news to report about the gorillas
of the Cameroon-Nigeria border region, the population described in Gorilla
Journal 20 as belonging to the subspecies
Gorilla gorilla diehli.
In April 2000, Nigeria's Cross River State
Government declared Afi Mountain as a wildlife sanctuary. This welcome
news, which brings more formal protection to the Afi Mountain subpopulation
of gorillas, was the result of vigorous activity by the reorganized State
Forestry Commission (formerly the Department of Forest Development)
and especially by its new Director of Wildlife and Ecotourism, Chris Agbor,
and its Permanent Secretary, Etim Amika. Meanwhile, Kelley McFarland's
team of gorilla trackers on Afi Mountain have continued their patrols,
supervised by Liberian volunteer James Coleman, who reports to a conservation
consortium that includes the Forestry Commission, the local NGO Pandrillus,
Fauna and Flora International, and myself (representing the Wildlife
Conservation Society and the City University of New York). Kelley
McFarland is presently in the U.S. analyzing her field data for her doctoral
dissertation, but plans eventually to return to Afi to continue studying
the gorillas. In October 2000, Hazel White arrived in Cross River from
the U.K. to take over on an interim basis from James Coleman on Afi Mountain,
while we work to develop a sanctuary management plan.
Elsewhere in Nigeria, another Cross River State
NGO, Primates Preservation Group (PPG), has been monitoring the
gorilla subpopulations on the Mbe Mountains and in the Boshi Extension
forests of Cross River National Park. During July through September, Ernest
Nwufoh of PPG recorded evidence of two gorilla groups in Boshi Extension,
and managed to see two juveniles in one of the groups, showing that they
are reproducing successfully.
No recent hunting of any Nigerian gorillas has been
detected in the last year and there appears to be growing awareness in
Cross River State of the importance of gorilla conservation. One very
helpful element contributing to this awareness has been the personal commitment
of Onari Duke, the wife of the new State Governor, to gorilla conservation.
The state's First Lady has initiated a plan for an education and
visitor center to be established on the Obudu Plateau, near the Cattle
Ranch Hotel and within sight of the Boshi Extension gorilla habitat.
In Cameroon, meanwhile, September saw the start
of renewed field surveys in the Takamanda and Mawne Forest Reserves by
Jacqui Groves. These surveys are supported by the Wildlife Conservation
Society, the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation and the Whitley
Foundation.
Finally, plans are being made for a small workshop
to be held at Obudu Cattle Ranch in April 2001, a meeting that will bring
together conservationists, scientists and government officials from Nigeria
and Cameroon to formulate policies for more coordinated and effective
conservation of the remaining Cross River gorillas.
John F. Oates
Prof. John F. Oates is a member of the Conservation Committee of the ISP (International Primatological Society) and of the Steering Committee of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group. He has been studying the ecology of tropical forest primates since 1964.
Photo:
John Oates
Obudu Plateau. In the center the Mbe Mountains in
the background, at the right in the background the Afi Mountains