The Bwindi-Impenetrable Great Ape Project (BIGAPE) was begun in 1996 in Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. The primary goal of the project is the study of the sympatric ecology of the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees that inhabit Bwindi. Gorilla research in Bwindi has lagged far behind that in the Virunga Volcanoes, with the result that in spite of a major eco-tourism program, even the most basic details of the ecology and behavior of the 300 gorillas that inhabit the park are little known.

In its early stages, the project goals have included 1) collection of data on habituated and unhabituated gorilla diet, ranging, and nesting behavior from dung and food samples, 2) collection of the same sorts of data on the chimpanzee population, along with achieving a degree of habituation in order to identify individuals and study chimpanzee community size and composition, and 3) forest ecological research, including phenological data and detailed mapping of the study site. The study site is an area of approximately 15 sq.km. in the Nkuringo section of the park, about 12 kilometers from the eco-tourism center at Buhoma. Within this area there are at least four unhabituated gorilla groups, one habituated gorilla group, and a chimpanzee community of unknown but considerable size. In addition, the project supports the work of a Ugandan Ph.D. student, Nkurunungi John Bosco, who is studying the ecology of the habituated research gorillas in the Ruhiza section of the park.

During 1998 and 1999, BIGAPE made good progress and also suffered a major setback. In 1998, a research station was built, Camp Kashasha, on land immediately adjacent to the park. Land acquisition and camp construction were funded by the National Geographic Society and the University of Southern California. More local staff were added and continuous data collection was begun using both Ugandan and expatriate field assistants. We have recorded chimpanzee foraging parties up to 19 in size, and collected data on the height, distribution, and tree species choice of over 500 chimpanzee nests. Between July 1998 and February 1999, approximately ten hours of contact time were spent with chimpanzees, based on numerous sightings of varying lengths.

Tracks and nests of unhabituated gorilla groups are sought on a daily basis, and once per week field assistants visit the habituated tourist (Nkuringo) gorilla group to collect dung and nest data. This habituated group is now spending most of its time outside the park boundary in farmland (during the six-month period from September 1998 through February 1999 the group never entered the forest proper), and its diet is increasingly divergent from forest groups. The diet of both ape species is strongly tied to seasonal fruit availability, although gorilla dung consisting of 100% fiber during periods of low fruit availability indicates that they rely on terrestrial herbaceous vegetation (THV) during non-fruiting periods.

In addition to research on the animals, a transect of food trees of both apes species is being set up, and will eventually consist of ten individuals of each known food species. The use of hand-held GPS units allows us to map stands of fruit trees and their seasonal use by gorillas and chimpanzees onto digitized GIS maps of the study site that have been prepared by the GIS laboratory at Makerere University in Kampala.

Shortly after Craig Stanford’s departure from the study site in late February 1999, the Buhoma tourism center was attacked and destroyed by more than 100 Hutu rebels. These rebels had apparently targeted Buhoma as a means of damaging Uganda’s tourism industry in revenge for Uganda’s support of the Rwandan government and the anti-Kabila rebels in neighboring Congo (D.R.C.). During the attack, fourteen westerners staying in the tourist camps were taken hostage and marched toward the nearby Congolese border. Among the western hostages was BIGAPE’s Canadian field research assistant, Mitchell Keiver of Calgary, Alberta. Mr. Keiver was on his way to Camp Kashasha and was spending the night in the tourist camp en route. After a day-long ordeal, six of the hostages were released unharmed, and eight others were brutally murdered. Thankfully, Mr. Keiver was among those released, and he is currently home in Canada making plans to return to Uganda and Bwindi on a contract with the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. The attack and hostage-taking made international headlines for several days, and its severely negative impact on gorilla tourism revenue in Uganda may also have serious consequences for gorilla conservation.

Although BIGAPE’s research camp 12 km away was not directly affected by the attack, we suspended fieldwork for the immediate future until the security situation can be better ascertained. There is some concern that the rebels intend to continue to wage a war into Uganda and perhaps to target westerners as a means of obtaining international attention. We hope to be able to continue daily data collection later in 1999.

BIGAPE is sponsored by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, the Ugandan Council for Science and Technology, and the Institute for Tropical Forest Conservation.