Latest Virunga Mountains Stories

Africa’s most active volcano Nyamuragira, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, erupted last weekend throwing off clouds of ash and orange smoke, AFP reports. Located in the eastern areas of Virunga National Park, the volcano continues to erupt but was not considered a threat to locals or to the mountain gorillas living in the park, said Congo’s Center for Research and Natural Sciences. “A fountain of lava, smoke and ash came out of a fissure on the side” of a flat area...

Rwandan media reported on Monday that a mountain gorilla in northern Rwanda gave birth to twins, which is a rare occurrence for an endangered species with a population less than 800 individuals. "The twins, both of them males, were born Thursday of a mother gorilla called Kabatwa. They are doing well," Radio Rwanda reported, quoting information from the Rwandan Development Bureau.According to the pro-government daily New Times, only five previous instances of twins have been...

The Virunga National Park, home to 200 of the world's 720 mountain gorillas, is in the path of molten hot lava spewing from a volcano that has erupted in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.The park is also home to elephants, hippos and buffalo, along with a range of reptiles and birds.It's said lava from Mount Nyamuragira began picking up speed when it hit the steep ground near the national park.The volcano is 22 kilometers from the provincial capital Goma, which it last threatened in...

Science and aid agencies said that two volcanoes may erupt in heavily populated eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where years of fighting have already forced a million people from their homes.Scientists in Goma have registered high levels of seismic activity in recent weeks, which is considered an early warning sign of an impending eruption, around the Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira volcanoes."There is heavy activity around Nyiragongo, but it's more centered on Nyamuragira, around 8...

A new census count released on Tuesday showed the population of mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park has risen by 12.5 percent.Rangers from the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) conducted more than 128 patrols during the eight-week census.They found that about 211 of the great apes were estimated to be currently residing in Africa's oldest national park, with 81 new arrivals now living there permanently.ICCN gorilla monitoring head Innocent...

Park officials in East Congo said on Monday that conflict has put more than a quarter of the world's last mountain gorillas at the mercy of armed groups who hunt and camp in their territory.  The gorillas now face even greater extinction because no rangers are left to protect or care for them.Recent conflicts between Tutsi rebels and the government army and militia allies have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, which is home to...

Text of report in English by Martin Tindiwensi entitled "United States to support mountain gorilla conservation" published by Rwandan newspaper The New Times website on 16 July Rubavu [western province]: The United States Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science, Claudia A. McMurray, has said that her government will continue to support the conservation of the unique species of mountain gorillas found in the Virunga Mountains. McMurray said this while at a two-day...

KIGALI (Reuters) - Twelve baby gorillas were given names by Western officials on Saturday in a ceremony aimed at attracting more foreign tourists to the tiny central African nation. Dubbed "the land of a thousand hills," Rwanda is home to nearly 400 mountain gorillas, one of the world's most endangered species, which attracted over half of the country's 22,000 tourists in 2005. Tourism officials face an uphill battle to lure visitors to Rwanda, where around 800,000 people were...

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwandan officials commemorated the life and the 20th anniversary of the death of famed primate researcher Dian Fossey with dances and speeches in the rural highlands where she studied the mountain gorillas she loved.Government officials and locals held traditional dances, gave speeches and laid wreaths at the site where Fossey, who was killed in mysterious circumstances in 1985, was buried.Fossey's work inspired the 1988 Hollywood film Gorillas in the Mist, starring...

By Daniel TrottaNEW YORK (Reuters) - The upcoming movie remake of "King Kong" might outrage some serious scientists, but one expert in gorilla conservation sees the fictional ape as an inspiration.Patrick Mehlman is a field researcher in Rwanda and a vice president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.He is also a King Kong fan."The original 'King Kong' (1933) is one of my favorite movies. I think that's one of the things that as a child got me interested in studying...