Tragedy Strikes up the Lomami
Category: people | Date: Mar 28 2008 | By: admin
This is an Appeal
Maga’s wife and child have drowned. We need your help.
Maga accompanied Ashley last year on the first trip up the Lomami. He is from distant Monkoto, the center of the Salonga National Park. He came as part of the “bonobo” team that had worked with Ashley to census the bonobo of the Salonga in 2005 and 2006.
Nancy and Maga on the day of their wedding. Photo by Ashley who sent it to me.
Nancy was pregnant when they were married. The baby was born while Maga was surveying bonobos in northeast Salonga
The heart of the team, Bernard, Maurice, MAGA and Sabine, has stayed with our project, but Monkoto was too far away. Maurice and Sabine have already moved their families to Kisangani. Maga’s wife , NANCY, was doing the same with their baby boy, born in 2006 and named after ASHLEY. We had left money in Kinshasa for the trip by airplane from Mbandaka to Kinshasa and then Kinshasa to Kisangani. The families of Maurice and Sabine waited in Kisangani to welcome Maga’s wife and baby.
But that will not be. The first stage of the trip was by dugout, without outboard, from Monkoto to Mbandaka. It is a trip of five days, 24hr days. The dugout was traveling by night. It turned over. NANCY and BABY ASHLEY drowned and their bodies have not been recovered.
The news came via WWF satellite email from Monkoto. I communicated it to Ashley (our Ashley) by satellite thuraya. He was with Maga in the new primate camp west of Obenge.
Maga in August of last year. Happier times. Beating the rhythm on empty jerry cans while the porters dance in the dugout
This is what Ashley sent me via his Rbgan email several days later:
“After you told me the news I decided that it was best to get out of the forest right away and when back in Obenge tell Maga .
Yesterday after getting back I told him and it was awful of course. He was screaming and crying for quite some time and I was crying as well. His child was named after me (Ashley) so it feels particularly difficult but maybe I’m just being selfish.
African villages are amazing places at these times and by the evening dancing around a huge fire and tom toms were in full swing. This went on for many hours.
It was really amazing and very beautiful to see. So different to the English who all just sit around feeling uncomfortable and wanting to get away as soon as possible!
Of course Maga was still subdued and quiet but at least looking a little better.”
Now Maga is with me (Terese) in Kinshasa. From Obenge he took our motorized dugout to Opala. He rented a motorcycle through the Lengola to Kisangani. From there he flew to Kinshasa and we are now looking for a flight to Mbandaka at the first possibility and then on up to Monkoto.
Maga is here in Kinshasa now. He will now continue on to Mbandaka by the next plane, and then by pirogue to Monkoto
THIS IS AN APPEAL. There is NO INSURANCE in DR Congo. No life insurance and no medical insurance. The project must rise to the occasion:
We hope to raise 200 dollars to cover the mourning in Monkoto
We hope to raise 500 dollars for the family of Nancy
We hope to cover all MAGA’s travel and expenses and have him back with us as soon as he is ready.
And we will use any donations in that order. Mourning first, Nancy’s family second, Maga third.
In total we are looking for 1300 USD. If any more than that arrives we will put it into a local health and life insurance resource fund for the field teams. If you are donating for this cause please just signal in the comments “My donation for the MAGA FUND”
Below is the first message that came by satellite email from WWF Monkoto — thankyou Lidjo:
“J’ai les remords indescriptibles de vous annoncer la double triste nouvelle de la mort de l’épouse de Maga, Mme Nancy et son enfant, hier la nuit lors d’un accident de navigation.
En fait, Nancy devrait rejoindre Maga (à Kin et/ou Kisangani) via Mbandaka. Elle avait pris place à bord d’une pirogue. Celle-ci a chavirée hier 13/03/08 la nuit vers 2 heures du matin à quelques cinq courbures avant d’atteindre Wafanya. L’accident s’est produit entre Lokofa et Wafanya.
Jusqu’ici, les corps ne sont pas encore retrouvés. Il y avait 12 personnes dont 07 survivants et 05 morts. C’est tout Monkoto qui est endeuillé.
Au nom de tous les miens et du mien propre, je présente à Maga et à sa famille nos condoléances.”
Two Down for the Lomami
Category: Threats, bonobo, people, wildlife | Date: Mar 20 2008 | By: admin
And gone their guns and ammunition…
The forests are quieter, the forests are safer and that is thanks to a massive united effort including collaboration from the village of Obenge all the way to the top military, hundreds of km further north in Kisangani.
And none too soon. We had gotten One Maimai Down but there was One Central Pin left behind.
Major Ranger, wearing his hallmark “99″ t-shirt, in the central Obenge baraza where he was arrested.
Ashley left Obenge in December fearing the worst. And the reports that we received back from Lambert, who was planting and tending the gardens, were not good. From December ’07 through February ’08 Major Ranger and his boys were responsible for the killing of fourteen elephants and two bonobos. At least that is how many we know about; we fear the Obenge forests may well have lost more.
True to his word, General Kifwa in Kisangani acted.
One of his men, Major John, wearing plain clothes, accompanied Crispin of TL2 to Obenge in order to verify the presence of illegal military arms and terrorism of the population. With the report from his own man, the general sent Major John back with 70 military to clean up the territory of Opala.
Seventy troops were chosen in Kisangani. Major John in the red beret with hands on hips.
Fourteen from this unit, including Major John himself, continued to Obenge to apprehend Ranger. Ashley arrived to find them already present.
Major John, I presume?
This was Ashley’s assessment:
“ Major John has done really well down here including good control of his troops.
No one in Opala or Obenge has any problems with him or his soldiers and he
has got rid of quite a few undesirables that were big time hunters and their guns.”
A group of Obenge women assured that the military were well fed. They too benefited from the TL2 gardens.
The whole village joined in to help Major John’s unit find the various military weapons hidden in the surrounding forest.
The chefitaine or woman village chief with Major John (arms crossed) and some of his unit in Obenge
A total of 10 Kalachnikovs were removed from the village. Another 11 military arms, included two FAL along with the usual AK-47s, were taken from the same inter-connected band of poachers in Opala.
A last photo opportunity for a few members of the unit and Kahindo (TL2) before Ranger is taken off to Opala and then to Kisangani.
We hope that this is the end for a while of the worst high-end elephant poaching up the Lomami.
Ashley saw them off:
“The pirogue left this morning for Opala with the military and Major
Ranger. So it is goodbye to him forever.
The village is understandably very happy.”
And so is the forest…….
BUSHMEAT 4 : TL2 in the Middle
Category: Places, Threats, wildlife | Date: Mar 09 2008 | By: admin
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A Geographic look at bushmeat hunting in DRCongo.
Are there safe sites for forest animals in DR Congo ? It is, after all, a country of many protected areas. Are these parks and reserves safe?
Information from the recent war and post war period is not reassuring. Protected areas were/are very permeable to arms and bushmeat trafficking.
The quotes above are from the period of the war and ensuing anarchy. The protected areas shown are those most likely to be successfully protected (see bottom of post for a map with a more complete coverage of Congo’s protected area network and for translations of the above quotes)
Don’t be discouraged.
The very fact that there are people to quote, means that there are people fighting to assert the integrity of these areas. Major setbacks have been followed by major steps forward.
Park guards in the Okapi Reserve arrested, and are transporting this poacher to the Park Center in the Ituri Forest.
We CAN have a future WITH Congo’s forest animals. The promise lies in formal protected areas. Although far from problem-free, these can make a big difference that we are now beginning to witness. How so?
1) There is a legal basis to arrest and prosecute not only elephant poachers but bushmeat hunters in protected areas.
2) There is a national institutional structure with wardens and park guards, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN).
3) There is an international interest in Congolese protected areas and nature conservation. This international interest brought key protected areas through war with borders intact and animals inside. And it is that international interest that is allowing ICCN and the protected areas to reconstitute post-war.
4) Finally: new areas. There are remote areas that retain rich faunas. The ICCN is committed to protect these. Effective protection will depend upon discovery of the most crucial areas and effective support from local populations. Then national and international backing must be brought to these areas so that ICCN can build a park infrastructure from ground up.
During the war in Maiko Park, Maimai and Simba rebels lived off the park.
Inside protected areas today, animals have a far better chance of NOT dying at the hand of man, than they do outside. This is despite the slackening of protection during the war.
In the Okapi Reserve, uncontrolled military, using automatic weapons, were the elephant poachers. Here Crispin (now in TL2) holds up an elephant ear left by poachers in their camp.
Our exploration teams marched through some forests in the west and north of the TL2 landscape that had been emptied by bushmeat hunters, showing how important it is to manage – and protect – forests like those of the east and south of TL2, that have abundant and rare animals.
In the Rubi Tele Reserve there are over thirty small scale diamond mines (100 or fewer miners) with one very large one (several thousand miners) outside. All the miners live off of bushmeat from Rubi Tele.
Protected Areas hold a potential that can be made real. It is a potential for Congo’s animals
• to persist into the next generations,
• to drive a tourist industry,
• to support traditional lifestyles …..
Traditional hunting in the Okapi Reserve can continue to be viable because a part of the Reserve is protected from all forms of hunting and thus acts as a reservoir and breeding ground for the larger area where only traditional forms of hunting are permitted. (Kim Gjerstad photo)
This is the smallest forest antelope of the Ituri Forest, the hunting net still around its legs.(Kim Gjerstad photo)
This is one of the medium-sized antelope, the hunting net from liana fiber visible below. (Kim Gjerstad photo)
A completely protected area, a national park, would mark off for our nearest animal relatives (bonobo) their own corner of the world. TL2 should be one of those corners – or rather a commons for apes right in the middle of Congo.
TL2 is right in the middle. Let it be a bonobo commons. And within it, let there be a national park.
And soon , more about protecting the TL2: Challenges and Solutions.
Translations for Map 1 (a bit more complete than on the map):
World Heritage Sites –
Garamba: “The Sudanese horsemen have killed almost 1,000 elephants in the past year and are on the verge of eliminating the last wild population of northern white rhinos.” Norton. Interior Secretary of USA, 2004
Okapi Faunal Reserve: “…I have the honor of informing you…a poacher, known as Master, was arrested by park guard of the Okapi Reserve in February 2004 and was transferred to Beni from where he slipped away a couple months later and is now again poaching in the Okapi Reserve.” Inventory team leader, Okapi Reservem July 2005.
Virungas : “…four buffalo shot down, 14 colobus shot down, four elephants shot down, one lion shot down, 29 hippopotami shot down.” Virunga park guard report 2004
Kahuzi Biega : Rebel activities continue in the lowland sector where the main gorilla population existed before war. It has been off limits for ICCN activity through the war. Thus, unable to confirm reports of extensive gorilla slaughter. NGO report 2004
Salonga: Large scale bushmeat hunting started rather recently (southern Salonga). Hunting with automatic weapons changed from mainly elephants for ivory to monkeys for the lucrative bushmeat trade… reasearcher 2007
Other protected areas—
Maiko: “honor to bring to your attention that the slaughter of animals happens systematically in the central sector of Maiko national Park, mainly carried out by Maimai rebels….” park warden, ICCN, 2005
Bili Uere : “disturbing news…zones of Bili are invaded by hundreds of gold panners…this can have a disastrous effect on the fauna.” Researcher 2007
Rubi Tele : “…the big hunters come from elsewhere. They use 12 caliber rifles as well as snares…” environmental Impact Study 2007.
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