Virunga National Park Welcomes Twin Baby Gorillas
Conservationists and the entire tourism sector have been overfilled by joy as the Virunga National Park welcomes twin baby gorillas. An adult female gorilla from the Nyakamwe gorilla family group was spotted holding her newly born twin babies in the tropical rainforest of the Virunga National Park, one of the 4 gorilla safari parks where mountain gorillas live worldwide.
Considering the challenges conservationists face in protecting mountain gorillas and other wildlife in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it is such great news to hear from the gorilla habitat when more newborns are welcomed into the wild. The twin baby gorillas were born by Gato female gorilla and the new births were recorded on 21st September 2020. This brings the total number of mountain gorillas in Nyakamwe gorilla group to 16.
Gorilla lying down, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo
The new gorilla births bring delight to the park authorities and other conservation stakeholders as it is an indication of the continued efforts to conserve gorillas and other wildlife amidst the coronavirus pandemic that seems to have made everything to come to a standstill. With such amazing news, it inspires conservation efforts as the population of the endangered mountain gorillas keep on increasing in their natural habitat.
Nyakamwe gorilla group is of the 8 habituated gorilla groups set for gorilla trekking in the Virunga National Park. The other 7 groups include Rugendo, Bageni, Kabirizi gorilla family, Lulengo, Munyaga gorilla family and Mapuwa group. When coronavirus broke out, gorilla tourism activities in the Virunga National Park had to be suspended like it was a case Uganda’s Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Volcanoes National Park in Northwestern Rwanda.
However, efforts to save the lives of mountain gorillas never stopped! The Virunga National Park staff continued with their daily conservation activities regardless of the challenges. On 23rd August, 2020 a new gorilla birth was recorded in the Mapuwa group and on 2nd July, 2020, Baraka gorilla group also recorded a newborn baby gorilla. When the park is re-opened to tourists on gorilla safari, don’t miss to enjoy great sight of these bouncing babies in the wild.
Virunga National Park is nestled in Eastern DR Congo, gazetted in 1925 mainly to shelter a portion of the endangered mountain gorillas that account for a total of 1063 worldwide today. These endangered species exist only in Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC. The Congo Virunga National Park occupies 7800sq.kms of land area making it one of the largest parks in Africa.
Besides mountain gorillas, Virunga National Park also shelters a number of interesting attractions including stunning and world’s powerful volcanoes (Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira), 706 species of birds, elephants, hippos, chimpanzees, 2000 floral species to mention but a few.