Ruhondeza, one of the oldest
silverbacks in Bwindi national park has died. It was also the leader of the
first group that kick-started habituated gorilla tourism in Uganda.
Believed to have been over 50 years
old, Ruhonza was until recently the leader of the reknown Mubare gorilla family
whose successful habituation in 1991 kick-started gorilla tours.
Over 50 community members converged
to attend Ruhondeza's burial in Buhoma. He died on Friday last week
and preliminary findings from a postmortem done by the Mountain Gorilla
Veterinary Project (MGVP) suggest that he died of old age.
Lillian Nsubuga, the Uganda
Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokesperson, said a comprehensive postmortem report
would be released later.
“His body had no injuries but the
teeth were completely worn out up to the gums which meant he could not feed
properly. He was also very thin and his muscles had greatly weakened,” Nsubuga
explained.
UWA staff in Bwindi for
several weeks were monitoring the health and movements of Ruhondeza together
with community members and veterinary doctors.
Nsubuga said UWA would
construct a monument at Ruhondeza's burial site and provide wide literature
about his life and times in recognition of his contribution to the country's
tourism industry.
“His life will always be celebrated
for having contributed to the birth of gorilla tourism in Uganda,” Nsubuga
stated.
“Although we are saddened by
Ruhondeza's death, we are at the same time happy that he was able to live to a
ripe old age in the face of the numerous challenges facing gorilla conservation
today and gorilla trekking activities.”
Ruhondeza's Mubare group has enabled
gorilla eco-tourism to grow and flourish in Uganda. Currently Uganda has eight
habituated mountain gorilla families, receiving between 55 and 64 tourists
daily and yielding over $11m (about sh26.7b) annually.
UWA charges $500 (about sh1.2m) per
foreign non-resident tourist and sh250,000 from east Africans for gorilla trekking.
Early this year, Ruhondeza's family
(Mubare) had a fight with a wild unhabituated group, which caused the Mubare
family members to scatter. Ruhondeza remained alone while his son Kanyonyi
escaped with three family members.
The number of children Ruhondeza
fathered in his lifetime is not known but at the time of his family's
habituation in 1991, it consisted of 17 family members.
The Mubare family is now headed by
Kanyonyi and has seven members including one juvenile, three sub-adults and two
adult females.
