African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) live mostly in rain forests of Africa. The fact of working hard for over 30 years in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) allowed me to watch them live a sympatric life with gorillas, chimpanzees and other wildlife. Being bigger and tougher than other mammals, elephants opened paths for other mammals
Skulls of Animals at Tshivanga Station: For the Next Generation
Some years ago, during the hard time of the war, almost every day we used to hear gun firing in the hills from the park headquarters. We multiplied patrols inside the park and collected skulls of slaughtered animals from 45 different sites in total. One day, we heard gun firing and we knew there was
Bukavu: A Place to Relax After Visiting Gorillas
Bukavu, our home town is at 30 km of distance to the Kahuzi-Biega National Park where you can see the Grauer’s gorillas. It’s the capital of the South Kivu Province. It is a hilly town facing Lake Kivu with a beautiful view. It was built in the 1901 by the Belgian authorities with a name
The Tea Plantation: a Buffer Zone
There is no proper buffer zone between the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the surrounding communities. This is one of the reasons why there are some conflicts between the park management and some local residents. But interestingly, there are some small patches of green areas, extending to about five kilometers long, that are beautifully maintained by
Juichi Yamagiwa and Ian Redmond Visited Kahuzi-Biega
Professor Juichi Yamagiwa at Kyoto University, the member of honor of the Pole Pole Foundation, recently visited the Kahuzi-Biega National Park as it is his annual custom for over three decades. He loves the eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) and he is the single primatologist who contributed a lot of scientific papers about this