Description
We trekked to find the “Sousa group” in the Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda as we had heard of the birth of a new gorilla.
We found the group with mom sitting alone with her new baby cradled in her hands. It is an image I immortalised in my head rather than on camera as we sat and waited for her to be comfortable with us. Sometimes one needs to put down the lens and selfishly soak in the moment for yourself. Eventually mom picked up her baby and put it on her back. She came strolling past and graced us with one quick viewing, then disappeared into the dense forest.
The Volcanoes National Park is a shining light to conservation efforts. They have involved local communities, built schools, hospitals and empowered farmers on the fringes of the park with funds from the Gorilla tourism. It is a model that has elevated the Gorillas to iconic status in the local community and seen their numbers recover dramatically. The population, although still critically endangered has grown so dramatically that the area maintained for the gorillas has reached capacity leading to much conflict between the different family groups. The government of Rwanda is currently expanding the national park as loss of habitat is now a greater hurdle than poaching.
This baby is a symbol of hope and success where animals and people benefit from a successful model. I urge people to support destinations such as this.
