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?

Epulu - the most historic village in DR Congo

The Congo is probably the last place one might think of as a vacation
place - or even historic place for that matter. But it is (or has
been) both! These days, you'd be hard-pressed to find any good news
about Congo in the international media to make you think so. But it's
just coming out of quite a rough patch. Things were pretty bright
around Congo in the era just before independence from Belgium in 1960.
Before going downhill - fast!

I'll just discuss Epulu before this time as its interesting enough for
a whoile post. This village was founded (not sure what that means)
when an eccentric American anthrolopologist named Patrick Putnam,
moved here in 1927 with his wife. He started building a hotel,
capturing animals and interacting with pygmies. He stayed in Epulu
until his death around 1953. Epulu is referred to as Camp Putnam on
old maps.

In 1952, a Portuguese named De Medina established the Okapi capture
station, managed for the Belgian colonial authorities. They started
capturing wild okapis to export to zoos round the world, while
maintaining a zoo in Epulu, which had 28 okapis, more than double now
here (13). Some savannah species were even imported to Epulu's zoo.
One American man who grew up as a missionary kid in northeastern
Congo, apparently got rid of their pet lion when it started to show
its wild instincts. It came to Epulu's zoo in the 1950s.

The only African elephants that have been successfully domesticated
for tourism come from Gangala-na-Bodio in the Garamba National Park.
(Aside: Garamba, a World Heritage Site, is in the northeast corner of
Congo - most recently famous for being the hideout of the Lord's
Resistance Army under Joseph Kony; and the simultaneous disappearance
of the last wild northern white rhinos). Anyways. 14 of these
elephants were brought to Epulu's zoo for some reason - apparently, to
consolidate the Belgian administration's domesticated or captured
animals. Verbal accounts say that these elephants were kept in cages
where my organization's offices are currently. The elephants would be
brought down the road a few kilometers and released into the forest to
eat for a few hours, then someone would blow a whistle and they'd
return to the road. I have no way of validating or disproving this
story of how they fed, but if its half true, its amazing.

A Belgian man named Davids biult Hotel Okapi - at a picturesque spot
along Epulu River, which drew crowds of Belgian colonial authorities
every weekend in the 1950s.

Colin Turnbull, renowned anthrologist and author, came to Epulu in
1958 or so, spent 3 years living with pygmies before writing his
seminal work "The Forest People". Turnbull's main wingman Kenge was
famous for years afterwards as a forest guide. His son Colin was one
of my most recent guides in the forest near Epulu.

After independence in 1960, Congo sunk quickly into political turmoil.
It became Africa's most important theater in the
Cold War. Patrice Lumumba was the first elected Prime Minister, and
quickly began courting the Chinese and Soviets. He was quickly
assassinated with complicity of Belgium, USA, the UN, and other
Congolese political factions. Lumumbist communist-leaning loyalists
did not disappear, rather they waged war throughout the eastern part
of Congo - the Mulelist Rebellion. The Belgians were long gone
already, but any intellectuals had assumedly cozied up to the Belgians
and were sought out and killed.

In 1968, the Okapi capture station along with all animals - was
destroyed. The okapi capture station and zoo was rehabilitated in the
mid 1980s under the Gilman International Conservation's Okapi
Conservation Project. It weathered periods of strife during Africa's
World War. It was twice occupied by rebels - 1996 and 2002 - who
allowed zookeepers to care for and feed the okapis. The population is
now 13 - and 2 okapis should be born next summer. Its not easy to
maintain anything in Congo - but all the efforts of brave Congolese
and conservationsts throughout the years have kept the Okapi Wildlife
Reserve and the okapi zoo - a site of national pride and world
heritage.

My view of this history is certainly seen through a western lens -
which I admit, is far from telling the whole story. But the story of
this village - even the western view - deserves to be told. Come and
visit and feel the magic and mystery of a the most historic village in
DR Congo.

Signe de vie (Sign of life)

Dear Friends, Family, and followers of my blog,

Please excuse my long hiatus from my blog.  I'll resume it shortly.  For a long time, I had nothing to say, just due to my inability to express my feelings about my experiences.  But I think its better for me to say what I can, even if its not profound, so you can know what's going on in DRC.  I get emails from friends sometimes which say - why don't you make any more sign of life (signe de vie)?  I hate to hear it really - but one thing I've learned is that keeping in touch is quite difficult despite the enabling technology.  To correct this, here is at long last - a signe de vie!

Since my last update in April, a lot has happened:

May:
-trip to Bunia, capital of Ituri District; between Epulu and Bunia, there is a rather abrupt transition from forest to savannah in Bunia, the elevation makes nights chilly

-visit from American friends to Epulu (Brandon, Chelsie and Megan) who teach at Christian Bilingual University of Congo in Beni; we visited the okapis, got attacked by ants, played bananagrams, hiked to the local inselberg, ate like kings & queens (thanks to two mamas doing the cooking!)  - They got to see another part of Congo and I got to share Epulu living with them.

June
-visit from the Myhres to Epulu - the Myhres are a missionary family who have lived in western Uganda (5km from the Congo border) for the last 17 years.  All four of their kids grew up in Uganda.  The two youngest - Julia (13) and Jack(12) came with Scott & Jennifer to help Jennifer complete one of her life goals - to visit the okapi.  Having lived through scary years of 1996-98 when a Ugandan rebel group attacked their home area of w. Uganda and then slunk back into the jungles across the border in Congo - it was nearly impossible (and uninviting) to visit eastern Congo.  They will soon be moving to Kenya, thus limiting this time as literally the only possible window for the visit. We had a perfect visit. Again, visited inselbergs and ate well courtesy of Mamas Asumpta & Marceline.
 
-we visit Nyankunde near Bunia - a mission station set up by African Inland Mission and other missionaries - which thrived as a nursing school, hospital, and well-known primary and secondary schools.  Nyankunde was destroyed in 2002 by an ugly massacre during the civil war (or African World War) - one of the only places in Congo where there was actually Congolese tribes fighting each other.  An older American couple carried out some of the early construction in Nyankunde between 1965-85, raising their kids there.  Now long after their kids have grown, they're back to rebuild some of the same buildings they built in the first place.  Amazing people - Rich and Ruth Dix.    

-leave Congo with the Myhres, watch world cup, go chimp-tracking, visit friends Carol, Zaituni, Godfrey, and Evelyne in Kampala

-arrive back in the USA after one full year away.  Back with Dad & Mom again!
-meet Brayden Haringa, newborn son of Matt and Samantha.

July 5 - Aug 6
-Spent 5 weeks studying French in La Ville de Québec, which quickly become one of my favorite cities.  Exploring old Quebec and making new friends gave me lots of practice opportunities.  My level was Enriched Intermediate - maybe a little to high for someone who has never taken a French class, but it pushed me and now I have a higher level of confidence.  In Quebec, I have found my new favorite vacation spot. Its got its own lovely and proud culture - not European or American.  I'll return there frequently to practice my adopted (and loved) second language - French. 

August
- visit from college buddies: Cory W, Steve & Emily - and young Henry! - we did Boston like it was their FIRST time!  Duck boat tours, fighting some redcoats, dunkin' donuts, perfecting the Boston accent, Boston creme this and that, lots of catching up and rehashing the days past
- trip to North Carolina to visit my dear sister Leah.  We hit the beach and slapped the bass big time.  Also got to meet Asher Frey, son of friends Craig and Rachel
- trip to New York to visit the big bosses and sleep a few nights in the Bronx Zoo - an odd place to navigate at night!.  Also I picked up 8 trunks which were my responsibility all the way to Congo. 

September
- back to Africa!
- back in Epulu, not much has changed -
-Minnie, our little cat had a little kitty of her own - called Kidogo, which is Swahili for "small"
-Ashley, a British chap, will be my roommate all year - he's great company!
-Joelle, our cuisinière's baby is 11+ months old, has a little ponytail, and is readying to walk and talk

Now I'm glad to be back.  There's a lot of work here in Epulu!  Also, my life here is pretty simple and I don't have the responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, or doing comparison shopping, buying piles of equipment!  I just work and enjoy village life.

Thanks for reading!  More soon - about Epulu, my home village; which is easily one of the most historic places in DR Congo.