BBC News reports that fire fighting crews in Rwanda have contained wildfires that were set off accidentally by a beekeeper, who was smoking bees out of a hive to collect honey. Reports said groups of gorillas had been seen fleeing the flames, but they don't say whether it it was Lowland (probable), or Mountain Gorillas that were affected.

Rwanda's tourism chief Rosette Rugamba said 4,000 people had taken part in the emergency response - including local officials and government ministers.

She said the fires were under control but not completely extinguished.
[...]
"He tried to put it out by himself but he failed. He is the one who broke the news about the fire," she said.



In a story getting a lot over coverage around the web, researchers reported today that an estimate 125,000 Western Lowland Gorillas have been found living in a swamp in northern Republic of Congo. Truly, the Lost World of gorillas, and its an astonishing boost for their numbers, as it effectively doubles their known population worldwide. CNN and MSNBC are just two of the news outlets with coverage.

"It's pretty astonishing," Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN Tuesday.
[...]
Acting on a tip from hunters who indicated the presence of gorillas, Rainey said that the researchers trekked on foot through mud for three days to the outskirts of Lac Tele, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the nearest road.

"When we went there, we found an astonishing amount of gorillas," said Rainey, speaking from the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The CNN post also includes video footage.

Here's a map of the general area...