Forest from Above

Its way more than just broccoli! Here is a photo taken from a Cessna piloted by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) for the purposes of Law Enforcement Monitoring in the Okapi Reserve.
I was lucky to participate in one survol which had the goal to locate illegal activities and human installments seen from a pre-defined flight path. We took a 2 hr flight over a mixed-species primary forest. It is incredibly diverse from the air as seen in this photo. The diversity of colors due to flowering and leafing - different heights, shapes, and dimensions of crowns, make for a hypnotically stunning viewing-experience.

We located 3 existing villages and 1 new village - very very deep in the forest. The largest one had about 20 houses while the smallest was one isolated hut! It is amazing that these villages survive so far from roads. What is their method of subsistence? Who helps them out? These questions will have to be followed up by launching ground patrols. One village was mining gold and had recently been confronted and dispersed by park guards. We didn't see anybody down there, but maybe they were hiding in their houses. Telltale signs of water-filled pits, houses, and even an orange tarp made it easy to spot.

Also we located some edos which are clearings maintained by animals - typically large and mammalian - such that the vegetation is significantly reduced. Edos are attractive because of water, minerals, and eventually became a sort of social scene perhaps? We saw a series of 4 each of which were over 100m long...no animals down there at the time of our flight, but its interesting to know that activity is or has been significant there. Not much is known about how edos are used.

Two Park Guards killed

There is horrible news from the Okapi Wildlife Reserve this Christmas. Two park guards, James; command officer, and Didi, were killed by poachers. They were on a patrol deep in the forest. Didi died of injuries, so his brave colleagues were able to remove his body from the forest today (4 days after the incident). James was killed immediately, and his body is still at least 2 days away from being removed from the forest. His body is being attended to by other courageous guards, who are helping to move it out of the forest and towards the road.

It is tough for all their colleagues, the park guards - who daily act bravely to protect the natural heritage of the Congo - knowing that death is an uncertain reality. It is much worse for the families of these two men. I don't know if they left widows or children, but assume they both did.

Will post more info when it becomes available. We hope now that they can both be properly buried as soon as possible.

Gorilla Tracking!

Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern DR Congo, is a World Heritage Site, due to its universal value to conservation. It used to harbor 75% of the eastern lowland gorilla (gorilla gorilla graueri), which is only found in DR Congo. The range of these gorillas was literally invaded by warring and anarchy over the last 15 years. Kahuzi-Biega was the scene of massive mineral exploitation - invaded by as many as 30,000 miners, all of who had to eat!
These gorillas were even hunted for bushmeat - killing many of the groups which had been habituated to tourism...very very sad.

However, park management has worked hard to counter negative forces - mining and rebel groups in the park, to protect its gorillas. Kahuzi-Biega was the site of the first gorilla group habituated to tourism - and here I am with the old man who was there at the beginning - Bwana Pilipili (basically his name is hotsauce or pepper :-).

Now tourism is open, and there are 2 groups habituated - including Chimanuka's group. His name means Eureka! - because after the war, park guards feared that all silverbacks had been lost, but he was found. He now is the silverback leader of 37 individuals! He and his 16 females very productive - now with 20 children, including 4 sets of twins! It is an amazing experience to spend a few minutes with gorillas - thinking about how they've resisted, how their Congolese protectors have persisted, and just watching them eat, play and watch you! Truly an international treasure.

Polar opposite neighbors

I'm currently in Goma - the gory- or hollow-named Congolese city on the shores of Lake Kivu. It is on the border with Rwanda, and filled with people, vehicles, and lava! Just 15 km from the city stands Mount Nyiragongo - one of handful of the world's active volcanoes which has a permanent lava pool in its center. It is a mirror image of those baking soda volcano sets that you should buy for Christmas, and people live ALL around it. On clear nights, a bright red glow can be seen from Goma and clear days reveal a constant steam.

In 2002, Nyiragongo erupted sending most of the city's residents fleeing as lava covered much of the city. To the west of Nyiragongo, and also in Congo, is a younger and even more active volcano Nyumalagira. As you move east, Congo shares two dormant volcanoes - Mikeno & Sabyinyo - with Rwanda. Then Rwanda & Uganda contain the 5 oldest volcanoes. All these dormant volcanoes comprise one of two blocks of the mountain gorilla's range!

Goma has horribly bumpy roads - hardened lava waits to be smoothed as people trip continuously. Goma has dealt with a lot in the last few years - receiving massive influxes of refugees from continuous conflicts. However, the huge UN presence has held up the hard-working, endurant local economy. Lava-block walls encircle new manses and there are many more under construction. There is not a lot of quiet around town. But one shouldn't expect quiet in Congo anyways!

Goma and its neighbor border town; Gisenyi, Rwanda; are nearly perfect metaphorical synonym's to the reputation of their respective countries.

As soon as you arrive in Rwanda, there is no more lava (did a volcanologist draw these borders?) and calm and order is restored. Where Congo has roads paved with lava' Rwanda has paved roads. Rwandan taximen hand a helmet to passengers! Gisenyi is a quiet resort town - very few people compared to the gigantesque, crowded Goma. There are artificial sandy beaches formed on its beautiful shore. Locals hit the beach and swim - boys practice flips off of hills, couples cuddle in the park, and expats and local middle-class go to resorts to swim in pools and water-ski. It has a very calming feel to it as opposed to the dirty, claustrophobia-causing, and intimidating Goma. Relations between the two countries are quite good now, and the border is open 24 hours a day. But given the choice, Congolese stay in Goma, and Rwandans stay in Gisenyi!

RIP - Papa Jeepay

November cruised by with lots of force (French for "strength") with Thanksgiving and preparation for a long voyage, on which I've already departed. Finally I've been lended a quiet night alone at the hotel - a good time to drink some red wine and give a little update.

My organization lost Papa Jean-Pierre JeePay last month - he was a veteran chauffeur for the last 18 years. He plied the sometimes impossible Congolese routes, the often impracticable logistics - to become the longest-lived employee in Epulu. He was 55 years old, a husband, and father of 3 boys, and friend to many. I didn't know him very well - but he was always polite, an exemplary worker, had a great laugh, and looked really cool in his Puma sweatsuit. His Swahili dropped off his tongue like oranges from a moving truck. The real heroes in conservation are people like Papa Jeepay - the people who commit to their job - not for glory - not for making a name for themselves as a scientist - but for their family and for their country. They grind everyday, don't really imagine what else they'd do, and don't complain too. He simply worked because that's who he was.

Last November, when Epulu's bridge collapsed, Papa JeePay was one of the unfortunate who flipped out of the crossing canoe on his way to work. I thought "Oh, thank God it was JeePay - he is strong as a horse, and could probably swim even Epulu River's mightiest rapids". He probably could - but maybe all the work seemed to catch up to him eventually.

Earlier this year, he had problems with a nerve in his leg. The morning of the day he died, he asked somebody to pray for him, saying his health wasn't very good. He worked so hard in a difficult environment, that he must have become very tired. He died suddenly of a heart attack on Nov 19. RIP JeePay - may you take a well-deserved rest. You should know you are missed and you did a great job for your family and your country.

Monster Trucks

As soon as one arrives in the Congo, its impossible to ignore the size of the trucks.  Immediately after crossing the border from Uganda, I saw the tallest truck I have ever seen.  It was piled maybe 25 feet high with clear plastic bags of clear plastic bottles.  My boss explained that the bottles are being brought to a local beverage factory.  EEK - whose gonna recycle all thos bottles???

Also, there are huge, huge petroleum trucks which ply the routes far into interior Congo.  It would be interesting to know how far petrol actually travels in from the east Africa coast (Mombasa, Kenya is the deep water port).  Surely to Kisangani, but maybe further down the Congo River?   It is far - which is a bit of ironic, because the mouth of the Congo River is on Africa's west coast which is extremely rich in oil resources (Angola, Republic of Congo, Gabon). 

The funniest truck I saw, was this huge truck stuck in the middle of the road - with a huge mudflaps that read "OH!!! GOD".  Its not really funny when I think too hard about the broken down truck...it really sucks.  But maybe I think broken down trucks are kinda funny like some Africans think people getting injured is kinda funny - looking at the other point of view is probably quite appalling in either case.  A goofy mudflap message, thats what made me laugh.  Though some of the old trucks still plying routes here ought to have been retired decades ago. 

Last year, an overloaded truck carrying illegal timber collapsed the bridge in Epulu village - cutting a National Road for a few days (until a crossing-method was devised), causing many delays and added costs for a whole month, which impacted the entire regional economy.  It was a lot shorter than the bridge-downing that lasted for almost 2 years and had been resurrected a mere month before Epulu's bridge-downing.  With a little luck, 2010 has seen no bridges falling down!  But the trucks are stiill huge! 

Differing viewpoints on leopards

Last week, a leopard was caught in Epulu. It weighed about 30 kg, and
was lured into a cage by a small puppy during the night. It had been
roaming around the village the previous nights. The population
demanded intervention from the traditional chief and park guards. A
trap was set and less than 24 hours later - voila, the leopard.

I rode up to see the leopard, hoping to see it alive, but it had been
shot by park guards. The entire village of Epulu nearly came to see
its carcass. Why all the intrigue? For a villager, the leopard
represents mystery and sorcery. The leopards are controlled by a
sorcer, who keeps them in his house, where to other villagers, they
appear as a dog. The sorcerer walks around with his leopard at night,
and if you seem him with it, he'll tell you the leopard is a dog. The
keeper of this leopard will die soon - within a week or two, but not
more. Finally, everybody will know who was the keeper.
Their viewpoint is that the leopard is an opportunistic hunter, who
will kill anything, even a man. The village chief had some sort of a
witchcraft cleansing ceremony with the leopard, before it was examined
and measured by the park guards. The meat was distributed and I don't
know what was done with the skin or body parts.

The leopard is the biggest cat in the tropical forest ~60kg, and the
top of the foodchain. Even for a conservationist, leopards are
mysterious - they are poorly understood because they are solitary,
shy, and moving all the time. Leopards routinely patrol their
territory - walking 25 or more km every night. Leopards are the only
predator (besides man) of the okapi and other large mammals of the
tropical forest. Of the 13 okapis in Epulu, the animals born in
captivity have shiny coats, perfect striped patterns on their
hind-quarters and well shaped ears. Those animals which had been
captured often have scratch marks which interrupt the striped
hind-quarters, ragged ears, and dull looking coats. The scratch marks
certainly come from a leopard - these swift predators stalk prey which
can be more than 4 times its size, ALONE - not in a pack.

This animal had a grave wound on its right front paw - he or she had
pulled himself out of a metal snare. The right front paw was
gruesomely mangled - maybe fractured, very tender and open to
infection. He or she was maybe three years old - 5 years away from
being mature. Leopards live at very low densities - and there may be
a few hundred total in the whole of the Okapi Reserve - which is
larger than the state of Connecticut.

The forests are growing emptier and emptier as a result of
commercialization of bushmeat hunting. Leopards are lured to villages
where they can opportunistically find a loose chicken, dog, or goat.
Near villages, risks for leopards are also increased - from being
trapped or injured by snares. They'll certainly survive most snare
wounds for a while, but they are then forced to stay close to villages
in order to survive.

Since ages and ages ago, villagers have fear of leopards as dangerous
man-eaters - and controlled by sorcery. They justify the killing of
the leopards to assuage their fears. It is difficult to cross this
gap in viewpoints - from conservationist to villager. Normal human
activities - or dark sorcery - could be responsible for leopards
searching for their death near villages. A hunter who let out a metal
snare will see the leopard's fur in his snare or will find that his
snare has been destroyed. Will he be able to acknowledge even to
himself that he caused the early death of king of the forest? If yes,
will he care? Or his he caught up in the sorcery rumormill too.
Rumors of other leopards persist - more sorcerers? or just more kings
of the forest in danger?