Mountain Gorillas Endangered in Virunga National Park

CURWOOD: Its Living on Earth. Im Steve Curwood. Almost a century ago, in a vast expanse of Central Africa known as the Belgian Congo, King Albert I of Belgium decreed the continent's first national park to protect key-habitat for our biggest and most impressive relative, the mountain gorilla. The park still survives. Today it's known as Virunga National Park, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, but a series of wars and rebellions since independence in 1960 have killed more than five-million people, and protecting almost everything there has been a challenge. There are still gorillas, but they are in deep trouble. Reporter Karen Lowe recently traveled to Virunga where one of the park rangers, Innocent Mbrumbrwe, led her deep into the forest in search of gorillas. Makawamwe, a blackback in the Humba family living in the Mikeno sector of the Virunga National Park, watches over the family as visitors approach. (Photo: Karen Lowe) MBRUMBRWE: I can say its because I love them. Every time when I'm with these animals I feel very good to be with these gorillas because they are like humans. CURWOOD: Here's Karen's report. [BIRDS CHIRPING] LOWE: When trekking through Virunga National park, your senses are always on overdrive. You dont want to miss anything. Virunga has rainforests and volcanoes. Its savannah wildlife rivals the Serengeti. The source of the Nile is here. It has the largest lava lake on Earth, and glaciers. There are at least one-thousand species of animals, including some odd ones, like the Okapi. It looks like a cross between a zebra and a giraffe. Or the recently-discovered Lesula monkey with a human-looking, professorial face. Ranger Innocent Mbruwamwe looks for signs that the Humba troop in the forest. (Photo: Karen Lowe) But the marquee drawthe reason most people comeis the mountain gorilla, the worlds largest primate. The species is on the critically endangered list. There are only eight-hundred and eighty in the world and a quarter of them live here. MBRUMBRWE: Are you ready? Put the mask on. [BIRDS CHIRPING] LOWE: Right now, Im following Innocent Mbrumbrwe. [WALKING IN THE BRUSH AND HACKING AT THE FOLIAGE] Were looking for one gorilla in particular: Humba, a silverback with about 20 family members. Innocents a 38 year-old ranger and an expert on mountain gorillas. He runs the parks southern sector. Were flanked by two other rangers with machetes and AK-47s, just in case we encounter hostile rebels and charcoal traders. MBRUMBRWE: Every time you have to be together. LOWE: Nearly one-hundred and fifty rangers have been killed since this country descended into war almost twenty years ago. Just before I arrived, one ranger was killed and two were injured. After Innocent spent years acclimating the gorillas to human presence, Humba, the silverback, is quite at ease with visitors. (Photo: Karen Lowe) The gorillas are deep in the forest, and to get to them, you have to hack your way in. [SOUNDS OF HACKING WITH MACHETES] LOWE: Vegetation is so thick that visibility is only a few feet. But honestly, at the moment, Im not really concerned with gorillas, or even armed rebels; Im worried about the giant Congo spiders with six-foot leg spans. I carefully place my foot exactly where Innocent has just lifted his. But vines wrap around my ankles, and I become a sweaty mess trying to keep up with Innocent. Reporter Karen Lowe returning from the visit to the gorillas. (Photo: Karen Lowe) MBRUMBRWE: Come on. LOWE: He patiently waits for me to pull myself together. Hes cool. Not even a crease in his uniform. Innocent is formal in the field, but when he sits and talks about his relationship with the gorillas, he softens. MBRUMBRWE: I can say its because I love them. Every time when I'm with these animals I feel very good to be with these gorillas because they are like humans. Looking after her baby (Photo: Karen Lowe) LOWE: He also offers some tips on gorilla etiquette. MBRUMBRWE: Before reaching the gorilla you have just to give the signsmeaning, you were just understanding what I was doing [GRUNT] just to communicate with the gorillas, so that it can remember that this guys my friend; it's not the enemy. These are different signs, but some signs are just showing that we are friends. But the other ones are telling to the gorilla, Please dont approach me. For example, this one, hahmmm. And another one, its like haaummm. I am not the enemy. But I just want to play, but not play. Even in the family, they communicate with each other by signs. LOWE: Innocent spent years learning how to communicate with the gorillas and getting Humba acclimated to humans. Sometimes it got dicey. MBRUMBRWE: At the beginning, it was very, very aggressive; you know that its a wild one. So coming every day, trying to give signs. And youd see that the silverback is coming; hes charging; hes crying. Every individual is beating his chest; hes coming toward you. Then you say, Oh my God, what I am going to do? Now, he is changing; now hes very quiet, very calm. LOWE: As we move through the rainforest looking for signs of Humba, Innocent occasionally grunts to announce our presence. He points out some flattened branches. Thats where Humbas family slept overnight. MBRUMBRWE: Another female which passed the night herebecause the hair it is not white-ish. Its black. LOWE: We walk on, and he plucks some gorilla fur from a branch and shows it to me. Then he points down. No explanation neededgorilla dung. Then we come to one of Humbas sentinels. MBRUMBRWE: It is not the chief of the family, but its one of their members, Nakamwe. A female watches over her baby. (Photo: Karen Lowe) LOWE: They greet each other with the formality of two generals. Standing about ten feet apart, [GRUNTS] they grunt and acknowledge one another respectfully. Innocent negotiates our passage. [GRUNTS] The gorilla turns and leads us to his family. We adjust our face masks that we were given to make sure we dont spread any diseases to the gorillas. As we get closer to Humbas troop, a few gorillas beat their chests. Theyre showing off for the tourists. And then, theres Humba. He makes me feel very, very small. Mountain gorillas can weigh nearly five-hundred pounds. Their outstretched arms can measure seven feet across, and fully-grown male can be ten-times stronger than a man. Humba is completely unfazed by us. He sits on the ground with his back to us and pulls down branches the size of saplings to eat the leaves. At one point, Humba lies on his back and crosses one knee over the other, arms behind his head: total alpha pose. Humbas troop and Innocent clearly are at ease with each other. Humbas name means peaceful. Rather than face a fight with another silverback, hed rather move his brood a safe distance away. I feel safe and move closer to the gorillas, which annoys Innocent a bit. Hes spotted some blood on leaves, which means theres been some fighting before we came. There are two silverbacks in the grouppossibly trouble there. There are about two dozen females, though you dont see them all at once. But everywhere you turn, if you look closely into the brush, you will see eyes peering back at you. Curious baby gorillas edge closer to visitors. (Photo: Karen Lowe) [COUGHING] LOWE: I cough a few times and each time I do, one of the gorillas does too. Theyre mimicking me. Juveniles roll around in playa ball of fur and feet. A baby grabs for my camera, but Innocent gently shoos him away with branches. Then Humba walks in my direction. I hold my breath as the giant silverback moves past me just a few yards away. You can see the power ripple across his back and shoulders. After about an hour, Innocent tells us we have to leave. [FOOTSTEPS] LOWE: As I walk away, I look back at gorillas peacefully eating and playing, and I wonder: Can this last? They face a lot of problems. Potentially the biggest one isnt even visible yet. The Congolese government granted a London-based oil company rights to explore for oil in an area that would cover about half of the park. The oil company called SOCO is finishing seismic testing in a nearby lake. Its uncertain what will happen once theyre done. I want to talk to the park warden about this. [BIRDS CHIRPING] LOWE: So, the next day I walk over to Mikeno Lodge at Virunga Park headquarters. The Director is Emmanuel de Merode. Hes a primatologist by training and a Belgian prince by birth, though he never mentions that. Hes dressed in a green uniform with a rolled up beret pinned to his shoulder. A close-up of Humba eating leaves and vines (Photo: Karen Lowe) On the day we talk, hes optimistic about turning the park into an economic engine. He says tourism and agricultural projects, like coffee and cocoa plantations, could generate as many forty-thousand jobs. Theyre also building hydroelectric power plants that could generate enough electricity to cover park expenses for the next eighty to one-hundred years. De Merode says if oil is to come, there needs to be enforceable regulations and resources in place because of the potential risks. DE MERODE: The risks, of course are, have to do with an accident. There isnt a single oil field on Earth where there hasnt been an accident. To say there wont be an accident in Congo is ambitious, Id say. The other issue of course is all the spin-off effects of an activity like that, that need to be managed very, very carefully. In economic thinking, they talk about "le mal Hollandais", the Dutch disease. Its a term thats used for, when you have a region like this, and suddenly a massive influx of activity tied to a single industry which is oil, it kills off a lot of other activities around it because it just swamps it. LOWE: And then there are the direct threats inside the park to the gorillas. He recalled the night in July 2007, before he became a park warden, when he and Innocent heard gunshots in the bush. DE MERODE: So, the next morning we went out and walked through the rain for several hours and eventually came upon a terrible scene, which was the massacre of the Ruwenga group of gorillas. And basically, we found four bodies of the mountain gorillas, and theyd been killed. The fifth one was found several days later. Theyd all been shot at very short, close range. One of them had been shot and doused in petrol and set alight. It was a very brutal, very vicious killing. LOWE: De Merode says the massacre was the work of charcoal traders. Theyd been cutting down trees for fuel at an alarming rate. The Congos charcoal trade is worth millions. Thats a lot of money here, where the average annual income is $120 dollars a year, and the militias are getting a cut. Park rangers were getting in the way of business. DE MERODE: The rangers really are on the front line trying to prevent the forests from being destroyed, in particular the gorillas habitat. So by killing all the gorillas, these militias were betting on the fact that it would discourage the rangers and stop them from protecting the forest, so that they could access it and make money. It was a very, very violent scene. It was extremely brutal. And for Innocent, it was all the more terrible because that was his lifetimes work, and it was also his fathers lifetimes work. His father died protecting those gorillas. LOWE: At the time of the massacre, de Merode was working with a conservation group and Innocent was leading the rangers. Corrupt officials were blaming him for the attack. Spent shells collected by rangers from fighting in the bush with rebel groups and charcoal traders. The shells are kept at a patrol station only a 45-minute walk to the Humba troop. (Photo: Karen Lowe) DE MERODE: And he actually went to prison for it. They were trumped up charges. They accused him of resisting arrest. And they tried to turn things against him, and they tried to blame him for killing of the gorillasof negligence, of not protecting them adequately. And so, he was arrested and quite badly beaten when he was in prison. We were able to get him out after a few days, and eventually we able to demand an inquiry into the whole thing. And the real people responsible were eventually arrested. [WALKING WITH BIRDS CHIRPING IN DISTANCE] LOWE: After that incident, the Congolese government wanted someone who was not caught up in local rivalries to run the park. That meant bringing in an outsider; they offered it to Emmanuel. That was an interesting choice, given that Belgium ruthlessly exploited the Congo when it was a colony. Emmanuel became the only foreign national to have judicial powers in the Congo. His first mission was to find out what was happening with the gorillas. But rebel fighting made it too dangerous to go in. Ultimately, he brokered a deal with all the warring parties to let the rangers back into the gorilla sector. Conservation Rangers from an Anti-Poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorillas killed in mysterious circumstances in Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo. (Photo: Dawai Ding; Flickr Creative Commons 2.0) DE MERODE: We had been away for a very long time because of the war. We crossed the front line and went up into the hills, into the forest, right up into the mountains, and finally saw the Humba group, which we hadnt seen for fifteen months. And they immediately went to him. So, Humba himself, the silverback, immediately went right up to Innocent, walking past me and the others, and straight to him. So there is no doubt in my mind that he has a very unique relationship with the gorillas. LOWE: That kind of relationship between the rangers and the gorillas is key for tourism, and if Emmanuel just had to contend with poachers and rebels, his seven-hundred rangers might be able to hold the line. But the prospects for oil in the DRC have dramatically ratcheted up tensions over the past few years. In addition to the shootings, there have been recent death threats against conservation activists. Emmanuel and his rangers took huge personal risks. Innocent has not only buried his father and his brother, but now one of his sons has told him that he, too, wants to be a ranger. Another view of the spend shells collected by the rangers in Virunga National Park (Photo: Karen Lowe) Asked if its worth it, Emmanuel is unequivocal. DE MERODE: Thats not a question you can ask yourself. If you start to ask yourself that question, then it becomes an impossible situation, you know. We have to do our job. Its just the decision we made when we decided to become rangers. [WALKING SOUNDS] LOWE: When we walk back down the mountain out of the park, we stop at the rangers post. Its hard not to notice the spent rocket and mortar shells heaped in a pile on the ground from past combat over the Congos riches. One of the great potentials in that conflict is the robust biodiversity of Virunga National Park, and that includes the mountain gorillas. From the Democratic Republic of Congo, Im Karen Lowe. CURWOOD: Karen's trip to Virunga National Park was supported by the International Women in Media Foundation, and she's still on the line with us now. Karen, it sounds like things are pretty tense on the ground there in the Democratic Republic of Congo. What exactly is going on? LOWE: Right now there is a sense of euphoria among the park rangers and conservationists because SOCO oil has agreed to suspend exploring in the Virunga National Park or any UNESCO World Heritage site around the globe. It is a victory for conservationists, a big one, at least for now. But SOCO will finish what it set out to doseismic testing for oil on Lake Edward. It is one of East Africa's great lakes and it supports about eighty-thousand people. What this agreement means is after the seismic testing is done, any actual drilling must be done with UNESCOs blessing. But this victory came at great cost, and we have to remember SOCO's activities have only been suspended. We still dont know how things will play out in the long run, and the DRC government still hasnt said what it will do. Humba casually nibbles on vines and leaves. (Photo: Karen Lowe) CURWOOD: What about the conservationists? What kinds of concessions have they made, and how did things change so quickly? LOWE: As part of the deal, the World Wildlife Fund, which lobbied mightily against SOCO, has agreed to drop its demand for a probe of SOCO. The oil company's publicly traded, and the WWF had alleged SOCO had breached global corporate responsibility standards. It took a long time to get to this point, and there's been a lot of violence over the park. But the thing that probably forced SOCOs hand was the shooting of Park Director, Emmanuel de Merode. CURWOOD: What he got shot? LOWE: Yeah, he was hit four times as he was driving through the park, and he was only five-hundred meters from a military post. Hes okay now. He was treated in Nairobi, and hes back in the park. But SOCO has condemned the shooting and denied any responsibility for it. De Merode was shot just a few hours after he had delivered to the Congolese prosecutor the results of a three-year investigation. That probe was approved by the Congolese court in 2010. The document contained allegations of intimidation and bribery carried out by those who wanted to open the park to oil exploration and drilling. The investigation is a separate matter from the World Wildlife Fund allegations; so, all of this doesn't just go away. CURWOOD: What are some of the specific allegations that were in the report delivered by de Merode to the prosecutor? Baby gorillas keep a curious watch on human visitors. (Photo: Karen Lowe) LOWE: Basically, that elements of the Congolese government and military, who favored drilling, allegedly used bribery, torture and death threats against activists and park staff. Those threats go back for years and had been getting progressively more violent. The report also says that park authorities found that a SOCO oil representative paid a senior park official several thousand dollars to support SOCO activities. And then that park official later threatened to fire rangers who didnt go along with the oil development plan. There were also instances of torture. There were some pretty horrific elements too. When the head of the parks central sector resisted pressure to open the park to oil interests, he and his brother were badly tortured; then their captors paraded the park official through his neighborhood and snuffed out burning cigarettes on his heada not too subtle message to others. CURWOOD: What role did international attention play? LOWE: There was tremendous international pressure applied. The showdown got widespread media coverage, especially after a movie "Virunga" was released. The producers managed to catch on tape some of the shady dealings, and recently Human Rights Watch called on Belgium to investigate the attack on de Merode, who is one of its own nationals. The Human Rights group also asked the U.K. to investigateunder the UK Bribery Actwhether any of the alleged acts of corruption and bribery might have led to attacks on rangers and activists. If there are violations, SOCO and its officials could face criminal prosecution. CURWOOD: It seems pretty clear that someone wanted de Merode dead. Who do you think? LOWE: Yeah, there are a number of parties aside from SOCO who wanted oil drilling to happen, including elements of the military and rebel groups. They always profit from resource extraction in the Congo, and they're not so worried about whats legal. So they just might have just seen de Merode as someone whos getting in the way of business. Most of the time, Humba leads a relaxed life with his family. They spend hours eating, preening and playing. (Photo: Karen Lowe) CURWOOD: So what does de Merode do now? LOWE: For de Merode, Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and hes determined to protect it. Hes driven by what he sees as a perfectly achievable ambition: get the park functioning as a tourism and agricultural enterprise, and a lot more people will benefit from that than they will from oil. And he's got proof right next door: Rwanda endured a horrific genocide fifteen years ago, and its pretty much recovered. And a big part of its economy is tourism. It makes about $430 million dollars a yearmostly from tourists who want to see gorillas. So de Merode figures the DRC can do this too, especially since Virunga has more natural attractions. CURWOOD: So what kind of help is he getting pushing ahead with this? LOWE: For one thing, the philanthropist Howard Buffet is a huge supporter. Hes an avid environmentalist, and he's also the son of multi-billionaire, Warren Buffet. Hes poured $20 million dollars into hiring park rangers, and getting the lodge ready for luxury tourism and hes also developing hydroelectric power. The idea there is that if people get electricity theyll be less likely to burn the forest for charcoal. When I asked Howard Buffet how long he can keep supporting de Merodes efforts, heres what he told me. BUFFET: This is one of those things where there is no second chance. There is no Well, if it doesnt work, well go to Plan B. There is no Plan B; so, you cant let them do this. Mountain Gorilla in Virunga National Park (Photo: LuAnne Cadd/ Wikimedia Commons 3.0) CURWOOD: One last question Karen: Hows Humba doing? LOWE: Oh, Humba. He suffered a setback. The other silverback in his group challenged his dominance, and as we know, Humba doesnt like to fight. So that must have been hard on him. Somehow hes making do with six of the troops sixteen females though. CURWOOD: That's Karen Lowe, just back from the DRC with a tale of its gorillas, the people trying to look after them and the threats still facing them.

CURWOOD: Its Living on Earth. Im Steve Curwood. Almost a century ago, in a vast expanse of Central Africa known as the Belgian Congo, King Albert I of Belgium decreed the continent's first national park to protect key-habitat for our biggest and most impressive relative, the mountain gorilla. The park still survives. Today it's known as Virunga National Park, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, but a series of wars and rebellions since independence in 1960 have killed more than five-million people, and protecting almost everything there has been a challenge. There are still gorillas, but they are in deep trouble. Reporter Karen Lowe recently traveled to Virunga where one of the park rangers, Innocent Mbrumbrwe, led her deep into the forest in search of gorillas. Makawamwe, a blackback in the Humba family living in the Mikeno sector of the Virunga National Park, watches over the family as visitors approach. (Photo: Karen Lowe) MBRUMBRWE: I can say its because I love them. Every time when I'm with these animals I feel very good to be with these gorillas because they are like humans. CURWOOD: Here's Karen's report. [BIRDS CHIRPING] LOWE: When trekking through Virunga National park, your senses are always on overdrive. You dont want to miss anything. Virunga has rainforests and volcanoes. Its savannah wildlife rivals the Serengeti. The source of the Nile is here. It has the largest lava lake on Earth, and glaciers. There are at least one-thousand species of animals, including some odd ones, like the Okapi. It looks like a cross between a zebra and a giraffe. Or the recently-discovered Lesula monkey with a human-looking, professorial face. Ranger Innocent Mbruwamwe looks for signs that the Humba troop in the forest. (Photo: Karen Lowe) But the marquee drawthe reason most people comeis the mountain gorilla, the worlds largest primate. The species is on the critically endangered list. There are only eight-hundred and eighty in the world and a quarter of them live here. MBRUMBRWE: Are you ready? Put the mask on. [BIRDS CHIRPING] LOWE: Right now, Im following Innocent Mbrumbrwe. [WALKING IN THE BRUSH AND HACKING AT THE FOLIAGE] Were looking for one gorilla in particular: Humba, a silverback with about 20 family members. Innocents a 38 year-old ranger and an expert on mountain gorillas. He runs the parks southern sector. Were flanked by two other rangers with machetes and AK-47s, just in case we encounter hostile rebels and charcoal traders. MBRUMBRWE: Every time you have to be together. LOWE: Nearly one-hundred and fifty rangers have been killed since this country descended into war almost twenty years ago. Just before I arrived, one ranger was killed and two were injured. After Innocent spent years acclimating the gorillas to human presence, Humba, the silverback, is quite at ease with visitors. (Photo: Karen Lowe) The gorillas are deep in the forest, and to get to them, you have to hack your way in. [SOUNDS OF HACKING WITH MACHETES] LOWE: Vegetation is so thick that visibility is only a few feet. But honestly, at the moment, Im not really concerned with gorillas, or even armed rebels; Im worried about the giant Congo spiders with six-foot leg spans. I carefully place my foot exactly where Innocent has just lifted his. But vines wrap around my ankles, and I become a sweaty mess trying to keep up with Innocent. Reporter Karen Lowe returning from the visit to the gorillas. (Photo: Karen Lowe) MBRUMBRWE: Come on. LOWE: He patiently waits for me to pull myself together. Hes cool. Not even a crease in his uniform. Innocent is formal in the field, but when he sits and talks about his relationship with the gorillas, he softens. MBRUMBRWE: I can say its because I love them. Every time when I'm with these animals I feel very good to be with these gorillas because they are like humans. Looking after her baby (Photo: Karen Lowe) LOWE: He also offers some tips on gorilla etiquette. MBRUMBRWE: Before reaching the gorilla you have just to give the signsmeaning, you were just understanding what I was doing [GRUNT] just to communicate with the gorillas, so that it can remember that this guys my friend; it's not the enemy. These are different signs, but some signs are just showing that we are friends. But the other ones are telling to the gorilla, Please dont approach me. For example, this one, hahmmm. And another one, its like haaummm. I am not the enemy. But I just want to play, but not play. Even in the family, they communicate with each other by signs. LOWE: Innocent spent years learning how to communicate with the gorillas and getting Humba acclimated to humans. Sometimes it got dicey. MBRUMBRWE: At the beginning, it was very, very aggressive; you know that its a wild one. So coming every day, trying to give signs. And youd see that the silverback is coming; hes charging; hes crying. Every individual is beating his chest; hes coming toward you. Then you say, Oh my God, what I am going to do? Now, he is changing; now hes very quiet, very calm. LOWE: As we move through the rainforest looking for signs of Humba, Innocent occasionally grunts to announce our presence. He points out some flattened branches. Thats where Humbas family slept overnight. MBRUMBRWE: Another female which passed the night herebecause the hair it is not white-ish. Its black. LOWE: We walk on, and he plucks some gorilla fur from a branch and shows it to me. Then he points down. No explanation neededgorilla dung. Then we come to one of Humbas sentinels. MBRUMBRWE: It is not the chief of the family, but its one of their members, Nakamwe. A female watches over her baby. (Photo: Karen Lowe) LOWE: They greet each other with the formality of two generals. Standing about ten feet apart, [GRUNTS] they grunt and acknowledge one another respectfully. Innocent negotiates our passage. [GRUNTS] The gorilla turns and leads us to his family. We adjust our face masks that we were given to make sure we dont spread any diseases to the gorillas. As we get closer to Humbas troop, a few gorillas beat their chests. Theyre showing off for the tourists. And then, theres Humba. He makes me feel very, very small. Mountain gorillas can weigh nearly five-hundred pounds. Their outstretched arms can measure seven feet across, and fully-grown male can be ten-times stronger than a man. Humba is completely unfazed by us. He sits on the ground with his back to us and pulls down branches the size of saplings to eat the leaves. At one point, Humba lies on his back and crosses one knee over the other, arms behind his head: total alpha pose. Humbas troop and Innocent clearly are at ease with each other. Humbas name means peaceful. Rather than face a fight with another silverback, hed rather move his brood a safe distance away. I feel safe and move closer to the gorillas, which annoys Innocent a bit. Hes spotted some blood on leaves, which means theres been some fighting before we came. There are two silverbacks in the grouppossibly trouble there. There are about two dozen females, though you dont see them all at once. But everywhere you turn, if you look closely into the brush, you will see eyes peering back at you. Curious baby gorillas edge closer to visitors. (Photo: Karen Lowe) [COUGHING] LOWE: I cough a few times and each time I do, one of the gorillas does too. Theyre mimicking me. Juveniles roll around in playa ball of fur and feet. A baby grabs for my camera, but Innocent gently shoos him away with branches. Then Humba walks in my direction. I hold my breath as the giant silverback moves past me just a few yards away. You can see the power ripple across his back and shoulders. After about an hour, Innocent tells us we have to leave. [FOOTSTEPS] LOWE: As I walk away, I look back at gorillas peacefully eating and playing, and I wonder: Can this last? They face a lot of problems. Potentially the biggest one isnt even visible yet. The Congolese government granted a London-based oil company rights to explore for oil in an area that would cover about half of the park. The oil company called SOCO is finishing seismic testing in a nearby lake. Its uncertain what will happen once theyre done. I want to talk to the park warden about this. [BIRDS CHIRPING] LOWE: So, the next day I walk over to Mikeno Lodge at Virunga Park headquarters. The Director is Emmanuel de Merode. Hes a primatologist by training and a Belgian prince by birth, though he never mentions that. Hes dressed in a green uniform with a rolled up beret pinned to his shoulder. A close-up of Humba eating leaves and vines (Photo: Karen Lowe) On the day we talk, hes optimistic about turning the park into an economic engine. He says tourism and agricultural projects, like coffee and cocoa plantations, could generate as many forty-thousand jobs. Theyre also building hydroelectric power plants that could generate enough electricity to cover park expenses for the next eighty to one-hundred years. De Merode says if oil is to come, there needs to be enforceable regulations and resources in place because of the potential risks. DE MERODE: The risks, of course are, have to do with an accident. There isnt a single oil field on Earth where there hasnt been an accident. To say there wont be an accident in Congo is ambitious, Id say. The other issue of course is all the spin-off effects of an activity like that, that need to be managed very, very carefully. In economic thinking, they talk about "le mal Hollandais", the Dutch disease. Its a term thats used for, when you have a region like this, and suddenly a massive influx of activity tied to a single industry which is oil, it kills off a lot of other activities around it because it just swamps it. LOWE: And then there are the direct threats inside the park to the gorillas. He recalled the night in July 2007, before he became a park warden, when he and Innocent heard gunshots in the bush. DE MERODE: So, the next morning we went out and walked through the rain for several hours and eventually came upon a terrible scene, which was the massacre of the Ruwenga group of gorillas. And basically, we found four bodies of the mountain gorillas, and theyd been killed. The fifth one was found several days later. Theyd all been shot at very short, close range. One of them had been shot and doused in petrol and set alight. It was a very brutal, very vicious killing. LOWE: De Merode says the massacre was the work of charcoal traders. Theyd been cutting down trees for fuel at an alarming rate. The Congos charcoal trade is worth millions. Thats a lot of money here, where the average annual income is $120 dollars a year, and the militias are getting a cut. Park rangers were getting in the way of business. DE MERODE: The rangers really are on the front line trying to prevent the forests from being destroyed, in particular the gorillas habitat. So by killing all the gorillas, these militias were betting on the fact that it would discourage the rangers and stop them from protecting the forest, so that they could access it and make money. It was a very, very violent scene. It was extremely brutal. And for Innocent, it was all the more terrible because that was his lifetimes work, and it was also his fathers lifetimes work. His father died protecting those gorillas. LOWE: At the time of the massacre, de Merode was working with a conservation group and Innocent was leading the rangers. Corrupt officials were blaming him for the attack. Spent shells collected by rangers from fighting in the bush with rebel groups and charcoal traders. The shells are kept at a patrol station only a 45-minute walk to the Humba troop. (Photo: Karen Lowe) DE MERODE: And he actually went to prison for it. They were trumped up charges. They accused him of resisting arrest. And they tried to turn things against him, and they tried to blame him for killing of the gorillasof negligence, of not protecting them adequately. And so, he was arrested and quite badly beaten when he was in prison. We were able to get him out after a few days, and eventually we able to demand an inquiry into the whole thing. And the real people responsible were eventually arrested. [WALKING WITH BIRDS CHIRPING IN DISTANCE] LOWE: After that incident, the Congolese government wanted someone who was not caught up in local rivalries to run the park. That meant bringing in an outsider; they offered it to Emmanuel. That was an interesting choice, given that Belgium ruthlessly exploited the Congo when it was a colony. Emmanuel became the only foreign national to have judicial powers in the Congo. His first mission was to find out what was happening with the gorillas. But rebel fighting made it too dangerous to go in. Ultimately, he brokered a deal with all the warring parties to let the rangers back into the gorilla sector. Conservation Rangers from an Anti-Poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorillas killed in mysterious circumstances in Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo. (Photo: Dawai Ding; Flickr Creative Commons 2.0) DE MERODE: We had been away for a very long time because of the war. We crossed the front line and went up into the hills, into the forest, right up into the mountains, and finally saw the Humba group, which we hadnt seen for fifteen months. And they immediately went to him. So, Humba himself, the silverback, immediately went right up to Innocent, walking past me and the others, and straight to him. So there is no doubt in my mind that he has a very unique relationship with the gorillas. LOWE: That kind of relationship between the rangers and the gorillas is key for tourism, and if Emmanuel just had to contend with poachers and rebels, his seven-hundred rangers might be able to hold the line. But the prospects for oil in the DRC have dramatically ratcheted up tensions over the past few years. In addition to the shootings, there have been recent death threats against conservation activists. Emmanuel and his rangers took huge personal risks. Innocent has not only buried his father and his brother, but now one of his sons has told him that he, too, wants to be a ranger. Another view of the spend shells collected by the rangers in Virunga National Park (Photo: Karen Lowe) Asked if its worth it, Emmanuel is unequivocal. DE MERODE: Thats not a question you can ask yourself. If you start to ask yourself that question, then it becomes an impossible situation, you know. We have to do our job. Its just the decision we made when we decided to become rangers. [WALKING SOUNDS] LOWE: When we walk back down the mountain out of the park, we stop at the rangers post. Its hard not to notice the spent rocket and mortar shells heaped in a pile on the ground from past combat over the Congos riches. One of the great potentials in that conflict is the robust biodiversity of Virunga National Park, and that includes the mountain gorillas. From the Democratic Republic of Congo, Im Karen Lowe. CURWOOD: Karen's trip to Virunga National Park was supported by the International Women in Media Foundation, and she's still on the line with us now. Karen, it sounds like things are pretty tense on the ground there in the Democratic Republic of Congo. What exactly is going on? LOWE: Right now there is a sense of euphoria among the park rangers and conservationists because SOCO oil has agreed to suspend exploring in the Virunga National Park or any UNESCO World Heritage site around the globe. It is a victory for conservationists, a big one, at least for now. But SOCO will finish what it set out to doseismic testing for oil on Lake Edward. It is one of East Africa's great lakes and it supports about eighty-thousand people. What this agreement means is after the seismic testing is done, any actual drilling must be done with UNESCOs blessing. But this victory came at great cost, and we have to remember SOCO's activities have only been suspended. We still dont know how things will play out in the long run, and the DRC government still hasnt said what it will do. Humba casually nibbles on vines and leaves. (Photo: Karen Lowe) CURWOOD: What about the conservationists? What kinds of concessions have they made, and how did things change so quickly? LOWE: As part of the deal, the World Wildlife Fund, which lobbied mightily against SOCO, has agreed to drop its demand for a probe of SOCO. The oil company's publicly traded, and the WWF had alleged SOCO had breached global corporate responsibility standards. It took a long time to get to this point, and there's been a lot of violence over the park. But the thing that probably forced SOCOs hand was the shooting of Park Director, Emmanuel de Merode. CURWOOD: What he got shot? LOWE: Yeah, he was hit four times as he was driving through the park, and he was only five-hundred meters from a military post. Hes okay now. He was treated in Nairobi, and hes back in the park. But SOCO has condemned the shooting and denied any responsibility for it. De Merode was shot just a few hours after he had delivered to the Congolese prosecutor the results of a three-year investigation. That probe was approved by the Congolese court in 2010. The document contained allegations of intimidation and bribery carried out by those who wanted to open the park to oil exploration and drilling. The investigation is a separate matter from the World Wildlife Fund allegations; so, all of this doesn't just go away. CURWOOD: What are some of the specific allegations that were in the report delivered by de Merode to the prosecutor? Baby gorillas keep a curious watch on human visitors. (Photo: Karen Lowe) LOWE: Basically, that elements of the Congolese government and military, who favored drilling, allegedly used bribery, torture and death threats against activists and park staff. Those threats go back for years and had been getting progressively more violent. The report also says that park authorities found that a SOCO oil representative paid a senior park official several thousand dollars to support SOCO activities. And then that park official later threatened to fire rangers who didnt go along with the oil development plan. There were also instances of torture. There were some pretty horrific elements too. When the head of the parks central sector resisted pressure to open the park to oil interests, he and his brother were badly tortured; then their captors paraded the park official through his neighborhood and snuffed out burning cigarettes on his heada not too subtle message to others. CURWOOD: What role did international attention play? LOWE: There was tremendous international pressure applied. The showdown got widespread media coverage, especially after a movie "Virunga" was released. The producers managed to catch on tape some of the shady dealings, and recently Human Rights Watch called on Belgium to investigate the attack on de Merode, who is one of its own nationals. The Human Rights group also asked the U.K. to investigateunder the UK Bribery Actwhether any of the alleged acts of corruption and bribery might have led to attacks on rangers and activists. If there are violations, SOCO and its officials could face criminal prosecution. CURWOOD: It seems pretty clear that someone wanted de Merode dead. Who do you think? LOWE: Yeah, there are a number of parties aside from SOCO who wanted oil drilling to happen, including elements of the military and rebel groups. They always profit from resource extraction in the Congo, and they're not so worried about whats legal. So they just might have just seen de Merode as someone whos getting in the way of business. Most of the time, Humba leads a relaxed life with his family. They spend hours eating, preening and playing. (Photo: Karen Lowe) CURWOOD: So what does de Merode do now? LOWE: For de Merode, Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and hes determined to protect it. Hes driven by what he sees as a perfectly achievable ambition: get the park functioning as a tourism and agricultural enterprise, and a lot more people will benefit from that than they will from oil. And he's got proof right next door: Rwanda endured a horrific genocide fifteen years ago, and its pretty much recovered. And a big part of its economy is tourism. It makes about $430 million dollars a yearmostly from tourists who want to see gorillas. So de Merode figures the DRC can do this too, especially since Virunga has more natural attractions. CURWOOD: So what kind of help is he getting pushing ahead with this? LOWE: For one thing, the philanthropist Howard Buffet is a huge supporter. Hes an avid environmentalist, and he's also the son of multi-billionaire, Warren Buffet. Hes poured $20 million dollars into hiring park rangers, and getting the lodge ready for luxury tourism and hes also developing hydroelectric power. The idea there is that if people get electricity theyll be less likely to burn the forest for charcoal. When I asked Howard Buffet how long he can keep supporting de Merodes efforts, heres what he told me. BUFFET: This is one of those things where there is no second chance. There is no Well, if it doesnt work, well go to Plan B. There is no Plan B; so, you cant let them do this. Mountain Gorilla in Virunga National Park (Photo: LuAnne Cadd/ Wikimedia Commons 3.0) CURWOOD: One last question Karen: Hows Humba doing? LOWE: Oh, Humba. He suffered a setback. The other silverback in his group challenged his dominance, and as we know, Humba doesnt like to fight. So that must have been hard on him. Somehow hes making do with six of the troops sixteen females though. CURWOOD: That's Karen Lowe, just back from the DRC with a tale of its gorillas, the people trying to look after them and the threats still facing them.