Ndakasi

Mountain gorillas represent one of the world’s most endangered great ape populations, with fewer than 1,000 remaining in the wild across central Africa’s volcanic mountains. Born on 17 April 2007 in Congo to parents Nyiransekuye and Kabirizi, Ndakasi entered the world as part of this critically threatened subspecies.

Her early years were spent in her birth location before arriving at the Senkwekwe Orphan Mountain Gorilla Center in December 2009, when she was just two years old. The center, which specializes in caring for orphaned mountain gorillas, became her home for the remainder of her life.

She lived at Senkwekwe for nearly twelve years, growing from a young gorilla into adulthood within the facility’s care. Mountain gorillas like Ndakasi face enormous pressure in the wild from habitat loss, poaching, and human encroachment across their limited range in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ndakasi died at the center on 26 September 2021 at the age of fourteen. Her life represented both the challenges facing her subspecies and the dedicated efforts of conservation facilities working to protect mountain gorillas for future generations.