Gorilla Journal 33, December 2006

Cave Dwelling Gorillas in Virunga National Park

We set out at 6 o'clock in the morning on October 25th from an abandoned tourist lodge at Bukima in search of the Kibirizi group, Congo's largest family of mountain gorillas consisting of no less than 32 individuals. This family had suffered a major loss back in 2002 when the adult male silverback was shot by poachers. Now a new wild silverback has taken up residence and is slowly getting accustomed to human presence. We wanted to go and see how he was getting on.
The first sign that we had come across the group was with the sound of crashing branches from a young juvenile playing around in the top of a nearby tree. As we watched, a subadult appeared from the undergrowth, followed by a mother with the newest member of the Kibirizi family, a 3-month-old baby gorilla, wide eyed and clinging to her back. Moving on slowly to find the other members of the group, we stumbled into the mouth of a cave, sunk into the ground and shrouded by vegetation. The cave was a new discovery, but what followed next was even more incredible. As we gathered round the entrance, we could hear grunts and other strange noises coming from within the cave. We moved closer and started pulling aside the leaves and vines to get a better look. Suddenly a pair of eyes appeared from out of the darkness, looking straight at us, and followed by another. We backed off ever so slowly as two subadult gorillas climbed their way out, followed by a third, blinking heavily as their eyes adjusted to the light. Then a fourth gorilla climbed out, looked at us, grunted and moved off after the others.
Wanting to have a better look inside the cave, we lowered ourselves slowly down into it. The cave was around 1.5-2 m high, about 10 m wide and 10 m deep. Then, in the darker recesses of the cave, we heard movement. As our eyes became adjusted to the light, three more gorillas started moving around in the darkness. We crouched down and moved away from the entrance as we watched two adult gorillas and a juvenile move their way towards the light. Grasping vines, roots and other hanging vegetation, they pulled themselves out of the cave to join the others in the world outside.
I have never seen anything like it! Could it be a strategy used by gorillas to hide from poachers? Or perhaps the cave is used as a shelter during bad weather? More likely perhaps - is the rock full of vital minerals that help with their digestion? This is the fourth cave that has been found in the Gorilla Sector, but it is by far the largest and the only one known to be used by gorillas. We have taken the GPS coordinates and will go back to the cave from time to time to see if it is in regular use or whether this was just a chance happening. The rangers would also be keen to take future tourists there in the hope of catching a glimpse of these rare cave dwelling gorillas!
The Kibirizi family is doing well but is still threatened by poachers who try and snatch infants from their mothers for sale on the black market.

Robert D. J. Muir (from his blog)

Robert D. J. Muir worked on research and community-based conservation; since February 2004, he has been working to re-start the Frankfurt Zoological Society’s Virunga National Park Conservation Programme.

Virunga National Park overview

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