November 21, 2011
Seventh Day for Gwiza in Titus's Group; Irakoze Still Missing
On Saturday, lone silverback Gwiza was still interacting with Titus's group (for the seventh day in a row). Karisoke Research Center tracker John Ndayamba reports that Gwiza followed the group all day, sometimes 5-10 meters away, sometimes 30-40 meters. Trackers found his nest in the morning and it was clear that he had slept within the group. Gwiza displayed four times towards Rano, but no real aggression was observed. Rano ignored the displays completely. Female Fat still seems reluctant to go with Gwiza. They group traveled more than 700 meters that day.
Kuryama's group was out of the park from 6:30am – 10:45am. They were 500 meters from the edge of the park at 6:30am when trackers began the push. The group slept within the park borders.
Irakoze was reported still missing from Pablo's group on Saturday. His night nest was not found. We hoped to send out trackers to search for him Sunday, as the anti-poaching team was on an overnight shock patrol and was not expected to return until late Saturday afternoon.
Jessica Burbridge, Field Communications Officer