By Jean-Yeves Kamale and Carley Petesch
Kinshasa, Congo: Ndakasi, a mountain gorilla who famously posed for a selfie with a ranger at Congo’s Virunga National Park, has died at 14 after a long illness, the park said.
“It is with heartfelt sadness that Virunga announces the death of beloved orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, who had been under the care of the park’s Senkwekwe Centre for more than a decade,” a statement from the park said.
“Ndakasi took her final breath in the loving arms of her caretaker and lifelong friend, Andre Bauma,” said the statement, adding that she died on September 26 following a prolonged illness in which her condition rapidly deteriorated.
Ndakasi, lies in the arms of her caregiver, Andre Bauma, before her death.Credit: Getty Images
Ndakasi was just two months old when rangers found her clinging to the lifeless body of her mother who had been gunned down by armed militia in 2007. Bauma comforted her that first night by holding her to his bare chest and he continued caring for her. She was transferred to the Senkwekwe Centre after its creation in 2009 and lived with other orphaned mountain gorillas viewed as too vulnerable to return to the wild.
Her life was featured in shows and in the documentary film Virunga, and she gained internet fame in 2019 for a photo that featured her standing relaxed on two feet, with her belly out next to another gorilla, Ndeze, and another ranger, Mathieu Shamavu, in the foreground taking the selfie.
Mathieu Shamavu, a ranger and caretaker poses for a photo with female orphaned gorillas Ndakasi, left, and Ndeze, centre, at the Senkwekwe Centre for Orphaned Mountain Gorillas in Virunga National Park, in the DRC in 2019.Credit: AP
“It was a privilege to support and care for such a loving creature,” Bauma said in a statement. “It was Ndakasi’s sweet nature and intelligence that helped me to understand the connection between humans and great apes and why we should do everything in our power to protect them.”
Bauma said he was proud to have called Ndakasi a friend.
“I loved her like a child and her cheerful personality brought a smile to my face every time I interacted with her,” he said in the statement.
Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to some of the world’s last mountain gorillas. Neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda also have some mountain gorillas and together their population is more than 1000.
Nearly 700 rangers in Virunga park risk their lives to protect its wildlife in a region that has seen more than two decades of armed conflict and instability.
AP