BWINDI MOURNS AS OLDEST MALE, REHONDEZA MOUNTAIN GORILLA PASSED AWAY.

Friends of the highly-coveted mountain gorilla’s world over were devastated to learn of the death of Ruhondeza, the most celebrated and oldest male gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Ruhondeza, believed to have been well over 50 years of age, died in his sleep on June 27, according to communication from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
The silver back was an integral member of the Mubare family, the first of the Uganda mountain gorillas to be habituated in 1991.

He was laid to rest at Buhoma (near the Visitor Information Centre) at a funeral attended by tens of hundreds of his ‘human friends’, some of whom even broke into tears seeing the tourism icon’s remains put to rest. When UWA announced Ruhondeza death on their Face book account on Wednesday, the page attracted lots of comments from animal lovers around the world.

Condolence messages
Jen Feuerstein from Michigan, US said: “I am so sad to hear of his passing. I had the pleasure of trekking to observe his group 10 years ago. It was gracious of him to tolerate our presence. Rest in peace, Ruhondeza.”

A one Julie Wolf baby wrote: “RIP and know you contributed greatly to the safety and wellbeing of all of your kind by your leadership in allowing humans to be around your family. It’s like you understood they could help you keep your family safe.”
Uganda relies on her wildlife, especially the mountain gorillas, for tourist attraction and Ruhondeza was an icon symbolizing what gorilla tourism has done for Uganda and the Bwindi communities.

One such achievement is the development of the Buhoma-Mukono Community Development Association and Buhoma Community Hospital as a result of viable tourism.

The Acting Chief Conservation area manager at UWA and former chief warden for Bwindi –Mgahinga Conservation Area, Mr. Charles Tumwesigye, said: “Ruhondeza Mubare group has enabled gorilla eco-tourism to grow and flourish in Uganda and the entire tourism community is saddened by his death.”

A postmortem has been conducted to ascertain the exact cause of his death but by the time of his death, Ruhondeza had resigned to a solitary life in Rubona village where authorities monitored him on a daily basis, according to UWA spokesperson Lillian Nsubuga.

Before he involuntarily relinquished the grip over his throne after his family was attacked and scattered by a wild un-habituated group in March, Ruhondeza had grown frail due to old age. He had so much character as one of the most caring, peaceful and laid-back gorillas around, hence earning his name Ruhondeza which is Rukiga for “the one who loves sleeping.”

But the mystery behind Ruhondeza attitude gets as thick as a jungle creeper, given that he was also a jealous leader, who robustly defended his family against intruders.
But over the past few months, his caretakers became concerned when he started to lose weight.

The silver back is survived by a male descendant capable of taking over his position. His son and only loyal black buck called Kanyonyi, has, besides safeguarding the remnants of his family, grabbed four other members from other groups to keep Mubare viable. http://wonderuganda.co.ug/14daysbestuganda.php