GORILLA SANCTUARIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21667, 10 June 1932, Page 16

GORILLA SANCTUARIES

JUNGLE EXPERIMENT HOME OF TWO MILLION ACRES TOURISTS BARRED. The Belgian Government has made a loan of 2,000,000 francs, I learn, to the administration of the Pare National Albert, with which to begin at once the construction of the headquarters station for zoological and other scientific research in the Congo, writes a correspondent of the London Observer. The chosen site of 20 acres is at the Government post at Rutshuru, on the" bank of the river. At Rutshuru will be placed a library containing all available scientific treatises relating to the fauna, flora, and geology of Central Africa; a students’ museum, for which will be collected all the creatures of the region; laboratories equipped for the use or zoologists, geologists, botanists, and seismologists; and a photographic wing and chemical laboratory. Though only one degree from the Equator, the station has a temperate climate, owing to its 5000 feet elevation. It commands a view of both active and extinct volcanoes.

There are to be a group of these huge Congo wild life sanctuaries, which will ensure the protection of the already fastdwindling numbers of gorillas. Gorilla life is to be filmed, as well as studied. HALF A MILLION ACRES.

The Parc National Albert is already in being, with a strict code of protective laws. It is half a million acres in extent. Parc Leopold and Parc Ruwenzori, the new projects, will comprise respectively 1,000,000 and 500,000 acres. Still more pares may be established. The King of the Belgians ..is enthusiastic over the creation of these huge wild Nature preserves and has personally taken an important part in their planning. Unlike wild life preserves in other countries, the great Congo pares will not be thrown open to tourists, lest the habits of the animals become changed and they become in time semi-domesticated. Nor will grazing or agricultural development be permitted. 1 Certain areas, moreover, will be absolutely _ closed, even to scientists on the administrative staff and their visiting colleagues. At least one quarter of the 500,000-acre Parc National Albert, | for instance, is absolutely private, mainly to prevent the gorillas becoming accustomed to the sight of man and copying his ways.

A royal decree forbids, under penalty of penal servitude, or a heavy fine, or both, the pursuit, capture, killing, or molesting in any way of any kind of wild animal, including creatures reputed to be harmful, the taking or destroying- of eggs of wild birds; the cutting down, destroying, or temoyal of any uncultivated plant; or the making of any excavation, embankment, boring or any operation of a nature to change the aspect of the ground or of the vegetation. Unless provided with a special permit, no one but officials and others properly qualified may enter the pare, or circulate, camp, or sojourn there, or introduce dogs, traps, or fiieanns, or possess or transport or export skins or other parts of wild animals or uncultivated'vegetable products. Lauds now occupied by natives or other private persons are to bo taken over, at a valuation, by the authorities. Even in neighbouring territory, attacks on the gorilla are forbidden. Around the P arc . I . it . se ,, a Protective zone has been established, in which nobody, native or white, may hunt, fish, or hew down trees. An exception ,is made in the case of a few natives living in this zone, but they are not allowed to use firearms in hunting their food. The Belgian Government paj s the administrative expenses of the pare, maintaining a corps of conservators and native police. The money for running the research station at Rutshuru is being privately subscribed by contributors in various countries. The Parc National Albert is in the Kivu region of the Belgian Congo, almost in the centre of Central Africa. It includes the home of the rare mountain gorilla (6 berengei). A PICTURESQUE SCENE.

This gorilla forest is found at a height of 9000. to 12,000 feet above sea level, on the cool slopes of a group of extinct volcanoes—a very picturesque vista of giant gnarled trees, often festooned with ferns, vines, and lichens, with brilliant-hued orchids flourishing on the mossy branches. It is in the forks of the lower limbs of these great trees that the gorillas make their homes, on dumps of leaves, branches, and dry grass, which look like huge birds' nests.

When Dn Chaillu was trekking after gorilla he was told that they had been known to abduct women and carry them home to live in their nests. They also, he was assured, have an unpleasant little way of crouching on the lower branches of trees when they hear men approaching, suddenly lowering themselves by their long arms, and stranging them with their feet. Other native informants told him of a party of men, taken captive by a company of gorillas, who were presently set free—after their finger nails and toe nails had been ripped out.

Through the gorilla forest range herds of elephant, and in the vicinity are numerous leopards which sometimes prey on gorilla children. On the sandy plain, some thousands of feet lower, and along the swampy verge of Lake Edward, are herds of zebra and antelope, and hippopotami frequent the lake itself and the Rntshuru River.

The new Parc Leopold is to be created near the northern border of the Congo. North and east of Parc National Albert will be Pare Ruwenzori, in the Ruwenzori Range, adjoining the Uganda frontier. These additional - 1,500,000 acres of preserve are of particular interest, as they comprise the homes of many white rhinoceros, okapi, lechwe, and giant Derby eland. Among the birds of the region are the Gelo River crowned hornbill, the Ruwenzori lour ie. the secretary, Stegmann’s hornbill. the Uganda brown parrot, the southern little bee-eater, the Rmvenzori wood hoopee, and the Swahili wood owl.