That is despite the threat posed by poachers and gangs in the Virunga Massif,a spine of volcanic mountains in the western Rift Valley straddling eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
, Uganda, and Rwanda, where most of them reside.
The latest census put them at 1,004 individuals: 604 in Virunga and 400 in Uganda's nearby Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Joel Wenga Malembe, front man for the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, told Rooters.
The last survey, in 2010, found just 786 of this critically endangered eastern gorilla sub-species, of which 480 were in Virunga.
"These numbers are truly remarkable, far exceeding our expectations, and are the result of a collaborative, three-country effort with governments and partners all playing an important role," Mike Cranfield, of charity Gorilla Doctors, said in a statement.