Welcome to iGorilla! The first app dedicated to supporting the plight of Africa's endangered mountain gorilla. Now you can follow the daily lives of the gorillas and stay up-to-date with the efforts of the park rangers as they protect the gorillas and the habitat that is so important for their survival. Select a gorilla family, find out about their individual members and follow them through written reports and videos directly from Virunga National Park. .BE THE DIFFERENCE - JOIN THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE MOUNTAIN GORILLASVirunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo may seem like a world away, but you can help save its last mountain gorillas and other amazing treasures right from your iPhone or iTouch. Without the help of people like you, the gentle mountain gorillas of the park will be lost forever, and that time is drawing near. Join the gorilla.cd community today. This is your chance to help protect them - right here, right now.VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK: A WORLD HERITAGE SITE IN PERILVirunga is truly the crown jewel of Africas national parks. The park contains over 50% of sub-Saharan Africas biodiversity and is home to about 200 of the earths last 720 critically endangered mountain gorillas. Virunga is also the second oldest national park in the world, behind only Yellowstone. Despite this, the forests and amazing animals of the park, most notably the mountain gorilla, are in a desperate fight for their survival.THE TEAM BEHIND iGorillaThe blogs are written by the rangers of Virunga National Park, and by others who are active in running programs on the ground in the park. If you have visited the park's website gorilla.cd, watched CNNs Anderson Cooper or read National Geographic, then youre probably familiar with many of the key contributors, such as Innocent, Diddy, Augustin, and Norbert - to name just a few. Emmanuel de Merode, who was appointed Chief Warden of the park in August 2008, also contributes regularly to the updates.HOW YOU KNOW YOU ARE SUPPORTING GOOD CONSERVATIONWe have been working on the ground in Virunga National Park since 2006 and have managed over $400,000 in funds via the web. All of these funds were spent on vital conservation programs in the park (minus a small bank fee). We have paid over $75,000 toward ranger salaries, $40,000 on ranger uniforms, $40,000 on advanced ranger training in Belgium, $10,000 toward the care of Mapendo, the orphan gorilla, $20,000 toward fuel wood for refugees living next to the park (until the proper supplies came through from the UN), and two 44 vehicles (nearly $50,000 in total) for the rangers - to name just a few.We spend most of your donations directly to carry out our mission, but sometimes we make grants to our partner organizations operating on the ground in Virunga National Park to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and to maximize use of resources. In that case, we retain discretion and control over the use of those grants and they will be made for specific projects which further our mission and carry out the purposes indicated by you in making your gifts to us.FEATURES Select a gorilla family to follow Read individual profiles and stories Save family member pics for wallpaper Read the gorilla family blogs or the general park blog Watch videos from the field Join the Gorilla.cd community Give directly to the Virunga National Park
