In spite of all the negative vibe from around the world, Uganda is now celebrating the birth of two mountain gorillas born in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The love affair between the environment and the wildlife in Uganda is yielding great fruit even as we the humans take in the cost of the lockdowns.
The Bakiga, one of the people who live near the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, say: “Abakundana baraara aharuhu rwakame” (those that love each other will lie down and fit on a rabbit skin). No matter how the #covid19 pandemic has disrupted our lives, there is still enough for us to celebrate – enough that even a small rabbit mat will do.
So, in this smallness of the world, wherever you are join us now and celebrate with the gorilla families of Muyambi and Nshongi the arrivals of two cute babies. There is enough room for us all to rejoice in this “birth-day” of the mountain gorillas.
The infant gorillas, may have been born between April 25 and 1 May 2020. The date mark on the photo shared by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, which manages the national parks, shows a date of 07 May 2020. Expert conservationists put the baby at just about a week or so old. The gender of the baby gorillas is yet to be established as they are very closely guarded by their family groups. Gorillas tend to be very aggressive when they get a baby.
Kabagyenyi (see photo), one of the new mothers, joined the Nshongi family from a wild group when she was a sub adult. At about 10 years, this is her first born baby gorilla. The proud and protective dad of the mountain gorilla baby is Bweza the silverback and head of Nshongi group. Nshongi was the first gorilla group to be habituated in Rushaga section of the Bwindi national park. The family is made up of 9 individuals and the infant brings the number to ten.
The second baby was born in the Muyambi family, which is the newest group to be opened to tourism. The first treks with this group was in 2019. This group has six family members having been started by Muyambi who split from the Mubare family. The mother of newly born mountain gorilla baby joined the Muyambi family from the wild group. She is yet to be named.
At 459 gorillas in Bwindi, the national park holds about 43.2% of the endangered great mountain gorillas.
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Download Kwezi Outdoors press release with editor’s notes and more detail.