Update on the situation in Virunga National Park
from project leader Alison Mollon

(20 November 2012): Today Goma the provincial capital of the region has fallen into the hands of the M23 rebel group and the stability of the region, and possibly even the country is uncertain. I and some of my team are currently camped out in a UN base just north of Rumangabo, having been caught in between the latest fighting. We came up to Rumangabo last week to finalise some details before going ahead with building three new schools and three water tanks...

Virunga National Park, DRC: On Sunday 8th July, the decision was taken to evacuate the rangers’ families and most of the ICCN rangers from their base at Rumangabo. Of course to evacuate is one thing, where to go is another. In 2008 under similar conditions, FZS was able to assist in setting up a camp to house the rangers and families on the outskirts of Goma. Four years on we find ourselves in a similar situation, and although we are pleased that we can help in times such as these, we would prefer that it was unnecessary.

The decision to...

The word habituation can seem like somewhat of a technical word, but the definition simply put, is getting animals used to being around people. Our chimpanzees in Tongo have been hunted for the past two decades, making the habituation process quite difficult. “At the beginning of the habituation process, they were so scared of us. When they saw us they would run away as fast as they could without making any noise or without communicating with each other “, explains Alexis Mutakirwa , our Chimpanzee Habituation Officer. “All they wanted was to get away from us.”

I left their camp touched by their singing, their dances, but above all, I left feeling a sense of urgency; these forgotten people of North Kivu will have to see better days. I turned towards my colleague, Joseph, and in broken French I asked him how soon we could provide them with what they had asked for. Their request was minimal: all they asked for were blankets and kitchen pots.

We went back to our car and on the way back to our camp in Rumangabo I started to think. They tell me that pygmies...

Alan Deverell is the new Project Leader for Upemba National Park - one of the most logistically challenging and isolated parks in DRC. Radu Dumitrascu joins us for two years and heads up FZS DRC's communications programme and Gabriel Chapman joins us for a year as our Communications Officer in Upemba. Vincent Ngeno is joining the team as DRC Programme Pilot. Vincent will fly the old trusted Cessna 206 that has seen been doing long service in the old days in Garamba and Serengeti.

We are very happy to welcome Alan, Radu, Gabriel and Vincent to the FZS team in...