Kidole means “finger” in Swahili - she was so named because the index finger of her left hand was missing. She had an eventful life. It began in the Rugendo Family (in which she gave birth to Baseka), and continued in the Mapuwa Family (in which she gave birth to Gourba), and then the Lulengo Family and, when it ended, she was with Mareru.

Her long and dramatic life came to an end in 2009. In February of that year she went missing following an interaction between silverbacks. Rangers found her shortly after and tracked her for several weeks until she found and rejoined the Lulengo Family. She seemed to be doing fine but then, in May, Rangers found Kidole dead in her nest with Mareru holding an agitated vigil over her lifeless body.

After a while the Rangers drove the big silverback away and recovered the body. They rigged up a harness with a bamboo pole. Two men hoisted her up, carried her back to the patrol post and handed her over to the MGVP veterinarians, who conducted a thorough post-mortem.

The vets estimated that Kidole was about 40 years old when she died - they can tell from the condition of the teeth. In general she was in bad shape: she was very thin and had probably not eaten for about 36-48 hours before her death; she had lost a great deal of hair from all over her head and body; and both her kidneys were badly scarred by disease. Whatever the opinion of the vets the Rangers felt that Kidole died at least partly from a broken heart: she had a miscarriage in 2008 and was never the same again.

After the post-mortem the Rangers took Kidole to Rumangabo and buried her in the mountain gorilla cemetery. They had known her well and they felt her loss keenly.

Kidole and Mapuwa