Congo and Gabon

Republics of Congo (Brazzaville) and Gabon
Ecosystem Restoration and Management on the Batéké Plateau

Since 1987, The Aspinall Foundation has been working with the governments of the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) and since 1998 in the neighbouring state of Gabon to protect nearly one million acres within the unique savannah ecosystem of the Batéké Plateau that spans these two countries.

These projects, named "Projet Protection des Gorilles", (PPG) work with local partners and national governments to develop a three-pronged approach to stop the rapid decline of critically endangered western lowland gorilla numbers (down by 60% in the past 20-25 years).

The projects work within globally accepted conservation strategies (IUCN and Great Apes Survival Project - GRASP) and routinely disseminate reports and results at conferences and in international publications, while popular articles have featured in many high readership publications such as National Geographic, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Africa Geographic.

The projects have also featured in two BBC produced television documentaries as well as the award winning ‘Gorilla Gorilla' documentary for Animal Planet.

The Aspinall Foundation funded park rangers work to protect this biodiversity hotspot where species such as forest elephants, servals, Debrazza monkeys, red river hog and forest buffalo are found. The success of the anti-poaching activities has been widely praised by national government and NGO partners, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Orphan gorilla sanctuaries, law enforcement and education

The PPG projects provide an essential step in allowing wildlife trafficking laws to be effectively enforced by government authorities in their respective countries. Without a facility to provide long-term care and rehabilitation for orphaned gorillas confiscated by government officials, the issue of where to place these animals would ultimately hamper this process.

However, in order to decrease the number of animals that are killed or traded, a targeted education and awareness campaign is necessary. Using young orphan gorillas as ‘ambassadors' for their species provides a great opportunity to touch the hearts of people on a local and national level.

Gorilla reintroduction to areas where the species has been hunted to extinction

The Batéké Plateau region that spans southeast Gabon and central Congo-Brazzaville was probably the first large wilderness area to see the extirpation of gorillas in these countries. The primary aim of the PPG reintroduction programme is to re-establish viable gorilla populations within this area. From 1996 to 2006, a total of 51 gorillas were released; 25 in Congo and 26 in Gabon.

Of these animals, 43 are wild-born orphans from the confiscation and rehabilitation programmes described above, and 7 are hand-reared individuals originating from the highly successful captive breeding programme at The Aspinall Foundation's Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks. In 2008, a further 3 hand-reared gorilla were sent to Gabon from the parks for eventual release into the wild.

Kwibi, was raised by Damian Aspinall at Howletts Wild Animal Park in England and then released into the wild in Africa when he was 5 years old.  Damian was reunited with Kwibi after 5 years living wild in the forest.

Overall survival rates of released gorillas have been very high; 84% in Congo and 84.6% in Gabon. Since the first birth to a reintroduced female in 2004, there have been an additional 16 births across the two projects. This level of success was not widely expected and both populations will benefit from further releases over the coming years.

June 2011
We are very sad to announce that Tiya, a three year old female gorilla at The Aspinall Foundation's Gabon gorilla project, has died. Despite rapid medical intervention by project staff it is believed she succumbed to a stomach parasite, to which young gorillas are particularly susceptible. She will be sadly missed. Kouki, Oudiki and Lekoko, the other gorillas in the group, are in good health.

Tiya was one of a group of four gorillas at the Gabon project. The group have been undergoing a slow reintroduction process since 2008 to teach them how to live free in the protected reserve. She was showing good progress and behaviour during this reintroduction phase despite having been the smallest member of the group. In recent months she had started to climb and forage normally and was considered to be beyond the ‘tipping point' when a gorilla is deemed ready for full reintroduction. Her two companions and another wild-born female in their group are in good health.

While we fully accept the risks, reintroducing any species back into the wild is a difficult and sometimes dangerous process. The mortality rate for the reintroduced gorillas is slightly lower than that of wild gorillas of the same age, nonetheless we a deeply saddened by Tiya's death. However, Tiya's death has not changed our belief in John Aspinall's dream of reintroducing gorillas back into the wild. She will be sadly missed.

Long term protected area management

A major factor determining the success of a reintroduction program is the extent to which the release site is protected and managed in a long-term, sustainable manner.  The PPG projects have facilitated the creation of protected areas and associated management projects in collaboration with the respective national governments and NGOs (including the Wildlife Conservation Society in Gabon). 

The overall aims of these projects are to protect the wildlife and habitat of the sites, to support local community development projects, biodiversity research and tourism development, and to encourage the participation of local communities in integrated sustainable resource management.  Local communities benefit directly from employment and, in Congo, from the revenue generated by the project staff purchasing fruit for captive gorillas from local weekly markets.

The Batéké Plateau supports a fragile ecosystem that has been degraded through years of deforestation and over-hunting.  The management projects are in effect ecosystem restoration programmes, with the reintroduced gorillas acting as a flagship species.  They also act as a keystone species, playing a vital role in forest regeneration within the sites.  The associated habitat protection allows for recovery of wildlife populations. 

Wildlife Law Enforcement

The Aspinall Foundation identified an ongoing problem with the lack of enforcement of national wildlife laws in Congo and, in a bid to tackle this problem, a collaborative wildlife law enforcement project named PALF was initiated by The Aspinall Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society in late 2008.  The project has four key areas of activity; investigations, field operations, legal action and media reporting.  Over the course of 2009 the PALF project has been instrumental in a number of arrests, prosecutions and seizures; including ivory, gorilla body parts, live apes and wild animal pelts.  In June 2009, the PALF project was selected by the UNEP 'Year of the Gorilla' for a targeted fundraising campaign.