Gorilla Journal 32, June 2006
Trip to the Kahuzi-Biega National Park
At the end of January 2006, I visited the Kahuzi-Biega National Park
accompanied by the photographer Christian Kaiser. We also visited projects
in the surroundings of the park that have been supported by Berggorilla
& Regenwald Direkthilfe over the last few years. Carlos Schuler
had organized everything perfectly and was a wonderful host during our
stay.
The office of the ICCN/GTZ project, parts of which burnt down last year,
was in the process of being rebuilt. I presented a computer to park director
Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi; this will provide park staff with permanent access
to the Internet. The computer was funded by employees of the bank Kempen
& Co. in Amsterdam; they collected this donation at a Christmas auction
for us and we received it via the Apenheul Primate Conservation Trust,
the conservation foundation of the Apenheul primate park.
Photo: Christian Kaiser
Of course, we also wanted to see the gorillas, and we decided to visit
the Chimanuka group, hoping to catch a glimpse of the twins. Unfortunately,
the mother was not interested in meeting us; but we spent a long time
watching Chimanuka feed and also observed some other group members.
The next day, we visited one of the schools where Pygmy children have
now been educated for some years - it is only thanks to the PNKB/GTZ project
that they can go to school at all. The school in Lukananda has admitted
16 of these children (a total of 300 students are taught there).
Volker Jährling paid for part of the tuition fees and for costs of
teaching materials for 200 Pygmy pupils in 2005. The company ESGE in Albstadt,
Germany, has financed their 2005/2006 academic year in its entirety, to
mark the occasion of the company's anniversary; on behalf of the students,
we extend a heartfelt "thank you" to managing director Karl
Eugen Maag, who has ensured the education of these children for a further
year with this generous donation! It has also helped to address some of
the worst problems in the school's facilities. During our visit to Lukananda,
new school benches were delivered for one class.
In addition, we visited a local NGO, the Pole Pole Foundation (POPOF),
which was founded by the ranger John Kahekwa in the surroundings of the
park. The POPOF office was completely looted during a robbery in 2004
and most of the equipment has not yet been replaced. As a contribution
from the "Zoo-Mobile" fund-raising drive at Stuttgart Zoo, I
was able to present a digital video camera to POPOF, and a solar storage
battery charger courtesy of Mr and Mrs Winkler, who played a decisive
role in the zoo fund-raising campaign.
Photo: Christian Kaiser
The last part of the programme was a visit to the Lwiro research station.
Unfortunately, we found that the orphanage, which currently houses 20
chimpanzees and numerous smaller monkeys, is in a pitiful state. Food,
medicine and new enclosures are required urgently. Gorillas are not kept
in Lwiro - they would not survive the conditions there.
Angela Meder
Dr. Angela Meder studied captive gorillas and now works as a book editor. Since 1992 she has been a member of the Board of Directors of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe.