Dr Congo: Ndakasi, the gorilla who became famous with a selfie, died

by

Published on : Modified :

She had become an emblem of the difficult safeguarding of mountain gorillas in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ndakasi, a female gorilla whose selfie with a ranger toured the world in 2019, died on September 26 after a long illness, the Virunga National Park where she lived, announced on October 5.

The photo published by the Virunga National Park with the announcement of the gorilla’s death is particularly moving: we see the ranger André Bauman sitting on the ground, Ndakasi lying on him. This is how she died, explains the park in a press release : “On the evening of September 26, following a long illness, his condition deteriorated rapidly and Ndakasi breathed his last in the arms of his guardian and lifelong friend André Bauman”.


Two years ago, it was with another ranger of the park, Mathieu Shamavu, that the animal was made famous: a selfie of the ranger with Ndasaki and another gorilla who were standing, with a posture and an expression reminiscent of the very close kinship between the gorilla and the human, had earned the cliché a worldwide virality.


>> READ ON THE OBSERVERS : Congolese ranger selfie with two gorillas goes around the world

Ndakasi was born in 2007, and was quickly orphaned after her mother was shot dead by militiamen. Too vulnerable to return to the wild, she lived in a center with other orphan gorillas, notably with André Bauman. It was he who, from the day she was rescued, took care of her and forged a unique relationship with the animal.


The ranger reacted on the site of the Virunga National Park:

It was a privilege to care for such a loving creature, especially knowing the traumas that Ndakasi suffered at a very young age. (…) It is Ndakasi’s gentle character and intelligence that helped me understand the link between humans and great apes and why we must do everything in our power to protect them. I am proud to have been able to call Ndakasi my friend. I loved her like a child of mine and her cheerful personality made me smile with every interaction with her.

The story of Ndakasi intertwined with that of the violence in North Kivu

Virunga National Park is located in the heart of a region, North Kivu, where numerous armed groups circulate, which regularly attack towns and their inhabitants, and some of which engage in poaching. In his press release, Virunga National Park notes that the story of Ndakasi’s survival “is linked to that of the Park”. “The massacre of his family, along with other gorillas in 2007, led the Congolese authorities to undertake broad institutional and security reforms in the Park. These have considerably strengthened the protection of the mountain gorillas of Virunga and activated the conditions which have contributed to the ongoing recovery of the species “.

So while the mountain gorillas were critically endangered at the time of Ndakasi’s birth, the park estimates that in 14 years, the number of these gorillas “has increased by 47% – from 720 individuals in 2007 to 1063 individuals estimated in 2021 “.

>> REVIEW OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE PARK RANGERS: