I was born in Kanombe in 1955 and I’m married to Anonciate Mukundufite – we have nine children. I began work in Virunga on December 19, 1988 and was involved with the gorillas from the outset. When I started at Bukima there was just one habituated family - the Ruganda family, named after Ruganda Hill on which the Bukima Patrol Post still stands.

At the time this thirty-one strong family was led by the Silverback Samuel but later, when he died, his son Ndugutse took control. Then the black backs Rafiki and Gasore left to start their own families: Rafiki moved to Gasurusuru, at the foot of Visoke; and Gasore moved towards the Kanyendama zone, on the approach to Mikeno. A few years later Ndungutse was murdered by soldiers and the two black backs Buhanga and Karatega were left in control of the family. It was a difficult time for everybody: the war raged around us, fighting was intense, and we couldn’t keep the forest tracks open. It was hard not to get caught up in it - the soldiers tried to press gang us into carrying munitions and supplies and so on – but we just quietly got on with the job of tracking the gorillas. The work kept us out of the worst of the trouble and may well have saved our lives. Two years after Ndungutse’s death, poachers came to Mikeno in search of baby gorillas and killed Gasore, leaving his family of eight in the control of two black backs who fought regularly for control. When they became Silverbacks things got even worse. We were lucky enough to witness one of their spectacular interactions.