Gorilla gazette: Issue 9
Sunday, January 1, 2023 at 2:13PM It’s Christmas again…
No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that one, the 25th of December, I meant me, Christmas, of the Xmas family, who was born on 25 December a few years ago. I’m very sorry that we gorillas haven’t been writing our Gazette recently. No excuses, but we’ve had a lot visitors in the dry season and even though they only come for an hour, it breaks up our usual routines and, of course, sometimes we're just a bit lazy. But as you can see, I’m a silverback, and nothing pleases me more than having nice, fresh, young leaves to eat.
Anyway, be that as it may. It’s been a busy time in Bwindi with the arrival of several new members of our families. Amazingly, there have been at least EIGHT babies born this year. Many, many more than in previous years. Their mothers have been occupied in looking after them, and we males also help and play with them. Personally, I’m very happy to say that I am the proud father of this little one, whose mother is Kanyindo. You can see her on the left and the photo to my little one is below her.
Sometimes, we see members of the Batwa, who don’t mind also being known as ‘Pygmies’. They used to live like us in the forest, but have been settled in villages, like the one in the Nkuringo area, near to the NCENT women, who will be receiving two more water tanks in the coming months. The Pygmies are 'forest people' and we like to see them when they come into the forest. Here is Jennifer, with her children, Onesmus and the little one, Colletta.
We have shared Bwindi with interesting animals, as well as the Pygmies, for generations, but they have not been moved out as the Pygmies have. Living here there are many different animals, including elephants that took over the Gorilla Gazette in Issue 5. There are chimpanzees, as well as numerous other species, that may be endangered.
We hope that you and everyone else will protect us and also make sure that the Pygmies in particular are properly looked after with access to clean water in the dry seasons and electricity for cooking and lighting as it’s much easier than doing it yourself and making fire with dry sticks. And, of course, we look to you to continue to help the women and their families that live near our forest.
Dancing to music is not one of our particular talents, though we do move about a bit, but we’d like the women of the NCENT group to dance for us to wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year, and please do come to see us sometime!
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