BBC Mountain Gorilla Page #4

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over 130 have lost their lives

in the line of duty.

One of the biggest battles

is against the illegal charcoal makers.

Every year, hundreds of tonnes of charcoal

are taken from the forest.

For the local population

it's their main cooking fuel.

Demand is high, and some of it comes

from within the National Park

where the gorillas are found.

It's the rangers' job

to shut down these illegal

charcoal-making operations.

But it's no good cutting off the supply

if the demand is still there,

so, ingeniously in Congo,

they have come up with

an alternative cooking fuel -

briquettes.

The briquettes can be produced

from all sorts of materials,

including wood chippings, cardboard,

even unused husks of rice.

The process is simple,

and just requires a pressing machine

to create the briquette.

It's environmentally friendly,

and gorilla friendly.

So far, 600 briquette-making machines

have been distributed,

producing over 3,000 sacks

of briquettes each month,

and creating more than 3,000 jobs.

It's a great success story,

and one that will help secure

the future of people and gorillas

in Congo.

In Uganda, Martha's gorilla group

is travelling deep into the forest.

Gorillas can have a home range

of up to 20 square kilometres,

and Rukina's group is nearing

the very furthest boundary of their range.

This is a four-hour hike

for Martha and the team.

But it's the only way

for Martha to see

if young female Twijiki is still

causing chaos in the group.

They finally settle,

and Martha gets a chance

to look for the young troublemaker,

Twijiki.

She finds the younger members of

the group playing in the undergrowth.

But it's not just the juveniles

enjoying this game.

Twijiki is also there

and all three are chuckling in delight.

It's really nice because Twijiki,

the young female, was playing

and so, again, just how she's not quite

an adult, but still not quite a kid.

So some days she's a young lady,

but today she's trying to be a kid.

Twijiki's venture into adulthood

is temporarily on hold.

And with that, the temptation for

the blackbacks to misbehave has gone...

for now.

The group has travelled close

to the very centre of Bwindi

and the great swamp

from which the park got its name.

As the light starts to fade,

the smaller gorillas take to the trees

to build their nests.

They make a fresh nest each night.

A springy bed of folded branches

makes a great natural mattress.

Nothing beats a newly made bed

in your own home.

But for tonight,

it's Martha and her team

who will be without

their creature comforts.

Instead of trudging home,

they decide to camp out for the night.

Martha always enjoys

a night under the stars,

but tonight there's another reason

she wants to be near the gorillas.

There's a milestone coming up,

and Martha can't miss it.

Daybreak in Uganda.

Martha is first up.

For her, this is an eagerly awaited day.

She's just a 20-minute walk

from the gorillas' nesting site.

And here's what Martha has waited

all year to see -

at last little Ponoka is one.

This is sort of a milestone for Ponoka.

About one in three infants

don't live past age three,

so there's very high infant mortality.

But most of the deaths occur

in the first year.

So now that Ponoka's reached one,

the likelihood of him surviving

goes up dramatically.

The population of mountain gorillas is so

small that every single individual counts.

It's nice to think that in 15, 20 years,

he might be a dominant silverback

of his own group.

I hope I'm still here then.

I won't be running up these hills

quite as fast, I guess. I hope so.

Reaching his first birthday

is the first

of many challenges he will face

growing up as a male gorilla.

But with a successful silverback leader

like Rukina heading up his family,

things are already looking good

for his future.

Under the watchful eye of Martha,

Rukina is proving to be both a good father

and a strong leader.

My hopes for Rukina

and the rest of his group

is that they live a natural, normal

life span in a well-protected park.

At the moment, Bwindi is quite well

protected, so I have reason to hope.

In Congo, it's also a big day

for the orphaned gorillas.

At last they're on the move.

Having been passed healthy by Magda,

they are driven two hours

to their new home.

It's this kind of commitment

to the last few hundred mountain gorillas

that's essential if they are to survive

into the next century.

Now they are finally able to enjoy

living in a much more suitable home.

They can never go back into the wild,

as it's unlikely they would

be accepted into a group.

But they have each other,

and their new home is as close as can be

to the forest they came from.

But what of the brave

silverback leader Rano,

living on the slopes

of the Rwandan volcanoes?

Has the group finally accepted him?

They certainly seem a lot more relaxed

and at ease with each other.

Maybe Rano's heroic stand

against a larger, stronger group

has convinced the others

that he might be a leader worth following.

But what of his future?

They all need each other.

Rano, as the dominant silverback,

needs all the support

he can get from these guys,

so let's, you know, give them some time,

three, four years, they will grow

and they will start to interact,

having these encounters

with other groups,

and they will eventually attract females.

My hopes for Rano,

I really hope, you know, he does

get some more females

in the future.

I do like Rano.

He still has

a long way to go

before he reaches

the status of his father,

the legendary Titus.

It would certainly help

if he could attract more females,

but with the hard-earned support

of his fellow gorillas,

at least he has the chance

to follow in his father's footsteps.

Rano is also lucky

because, as well as his group,

he has the support of

a dedicated team of scientists...

...trackers...

...and vets...

all working to ensure

the future remains bright

for every gorilla

in this precious mountain kingdom.

Rano, in his forest home

in the heart of Africa,

is one of the last 700 mountain gorillas

that together

are a species in intensive care.

But it's exactly this kind of care

and attention

that has ensured that,

for the past 20 years,

mountain gorilla populations

haven't dropped, or just stayed still,

they've actually risen.

Could the last few hundred

mountain gorillas

finally be safe in our hands?

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