Free mobile game

The game was originally developed in 2003 by Fauna & Flora International. Ken Banks, creator of www.kiwanja.net, helped develop the game. In 2006 the game was taken off-line where as Banks says it “sat on a virtual shelf, gathering virtual dust”. He has now brought the game back in the hope that it will renew interest, and awareness, in the plight of the mountain gorilla.

It was the recent tragic events in Virunga National Park that led Banks to resurrect the game. The park lies in the embattled Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC has suffered two civil wars in two decades.

The last war ended in 2003, yet instability and sporadic fighting continues in the country. Rebels have taken refuge from the government in the park. In 2007 rebels shot five gorillas execution-style to intimidate both park wardens and the DRC government. They left the bodies where they were shot, making it clear that the killings were not done by poachers—who would have sold the bodies for food. Endangered gorillas have not been the only targets by the rebel groups, rangers have also been killed.