BUSHMEAT 5 : Ashley Goes South, Up the Lomami
Category: Places, Threats, bonobo, wildlife | Date: Jun 17 2008 | By: teresehart
And what do they find? More of the same. Alas.
Ashley, Bernard, Kahindo, Dino with all their field teams , headed south in both dugouts.
The teams heading south to do inventory circuits in new areas.
They stopped at the village of Ngoma Myuli, in the Province of Kasai Orientale and within the new Sankuru Reserve. It is a small village of just over 30 people. The ethnic group is Balanga.
Ngoma Myuli is a small pleasant village.
Ashley says this:
“They are friendly and open, but have no scruples about hunting. That’s how they make a living.
They proudly showed us yesterday’s catch. It includes monkeys and among them a bonobo.
They caught two black mangabeys, a black and white colobus and a local variety of blue monkey.
There is a 12 gauge shotgun. That is what killed all of them. There are no military weapons: No AK47, No FAL and no outlaws or brigands terrorizing the population.
The headman demonstrated his old 12-gauge for me — that was all he needed to make a life from bushmeat.
The bushmeat is carried to the village of Kindu. It takes at least 3 days to get there: pirogue and bicycle.
Sold in Kindu, the dead monkeys are each worth 8000 Francs Congolais or $14.50 That is more than twice the mark up from selling them here to a traveling merchant . But the bonobo – now that is real money – if smoked whole and sold in Kindu, it could get 50 US dollars, maybe even a bit more.
Head of male bonobo killed in same hunting trip as the primates pictured above.
This is the challenge to conservation. How do you turn good people away from a good living with no alternative of equal value to offer ??
How can the hands of these two species be made more equal in our use of this land?
For more information about bushmeat hunting in the TL2 landscape:
http://lomami.wildlifedirect.org/2008/03/09/bushmeat-4-tl2-in-the-middle/
http://lomami.wildlifedirect.org/2008/02/26/bushmeat-3-the-history-of-hunting-in-tl2/
http://lomami.wildlifedirect.org/2008/02/03/bushmeat-2-not-for-pot-species/
http://lomami.wildlifedirect.org/2008/02/01/bushmeat-1-a-healthy-lunch-from-the-tl2/
About bushmeat trade – general:
http://www.bushmeat.org/portal/server.pt
http://bushmeat.net/links.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080122-refugees-bushmeat.html
http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/ioz/projects/bushmeat.htm
Different views of bonobo:
http://lolayabonobo.wildlifedirect.org/
http://bonobo.wildlifedirect.org/
http://bonobohandshake.blogspot.com/
Welcome to Losekola and the Mystery Monkeys
Category: Places, bonobo, people, wildlife | Date: May 05 2008 | By: admin
Those Puzzling Primates of TL2 !
Waiting for the UNKNOWN. Conveniently this unknown is a ground monkey (Lesula) so John’s comfortable position is appropriate with a cup of coffee to keep the eyes keen.
There are monkeys out there between the three rivers that no one recognizes. They are not in our field guides. We’ve sent photos to the most renown of African Primatologists. Result: a lot of raised eyebrows. And the more we find out the higher our eyebrows go.
The field teams cover hundreds of kilometers on each exploration circuit, and always with limited supplies and limited time. If they see something bizarre, unidentifiable, they will write it down, try to get a photo but then move on.
The mystery monkey, ngoyi-blanc, looking down on the field teams.
If we suspect something really unknown (and we do), we have to be in one place to watch, to record and to watch some more. We have to send samples for genetic analysis. Are we sure these primates are not just a handful of hybrids? What do they eat? How do they forage? How social are they?
Losekola has a great field team. Kahindo, standing, has been receiving dawn to dusk training from John who says he is well on the way to being an inveterate naturalist.
The following is from John’s notes:
We explained our needs in Obenge. Jean Mutetela , a local hunter-fisherman, suggested we set up a study area at his camp in a stretch of forest, west of Obenge, along the Losekola river. When we described our two biggest mysteries – he said we would find them there.
Jean Mutetela holding Lesula-shedded stems of their favorite Marantaceae food
The two mystery monkeys are Lesula – a secretive ground monkey and Ngoyi a confusing canopy species. We eventually realized that the confusion came from the fact that the same local name- Ngoyi - was given to two different monkeys. Ngoyi 1 is a little known variety of the blue monkey and the other -Ngoyi 2 - well, whatever it is; it is certainly less known than Ngoy1.
We were first alerted to the unknown, Lesula, when we saw this captive in Opala.
Not only was Jean Mutetela happy to come on as a guide, he quickly agreed that there would be no further hunting on the study area. “I’ll stay busy with my fish traps on the Tutu River, when I am not with you looking for monkeys.”
Mama Madawa from Obenge tends the Losekola kitchen and about everything else that needs tending in camp
Over the past week Kahindo and I, accompanied by Washie, local guide and experienced monkey hunter, have developed a profile of the Losekola monkey community. Eight species of monkey along with the bonobo roam the 4 km2 study area.. The red colobus is the most spectacular with startlingly bright russet coat. They travel in large loose groups of up to 75 animals or more, invariably accompanied by one or two other species spread through the tops of many trees. Because of the thick fretwork of branches and leaves, it takes a lot of watching to see who all is above us.
The red colobus taking a closer look
Washie uses hunters’ tricks to excite the animals into calling, so that we can locate and identify them. One of the more effective is his imitation of the rasping squeal made by fighting monkeys, which invariably elicits “comment” from other monkeys hidden in the treetops.
My favorite though, is Washie’s imitation of the shrill call of the Crowned Eagle, Africa’s largest raptor, and a monkey-hunting specialist. Using a leaf blade to gain the proper cadence and tremolo, Washie produces a remarkable eagle imitation that raises a chorus of alarm from dispersed monkeys. Amazingly, they don’t flee.
Washie in perfect imitation of the Crowned Eagle
Sometimes Washie will rapidly whip a thin branch, with a tuft of leaves at the tip to imitate the sound of the powerful wing beats of the eagle. His finale (performed only rarely so as not to habituate the monkeys to the “cry wolf”) is his combination of wing beats, foot stomping and the anguished cry of a monkey in the talons. The sound of the combat is irresistible, especially to the red colobus, some of whom swing down close to peer at us.
Terese: Can you tell from the above? John is very excited. As he says, these new discoveries send his old field naturalist blood racing. HOW IS IT THAT THESE NEW MONKEYS WENT UNDISCOVERED. John’s assessment : this area is so remote that we are the first binocular sporting biologist to venture into the depth of the TL2 and any primate specimens from Obenge arrived as heavily smoked and unrecognizable bushmeat in centers like Kisangani.
And here is the thrill: I (Terese) am on my way to Losekola tomorrow. First to Kisangani, then a very long day on a motorcycle to Opala and three days in the dugout to Obenge, then a day on foot to Losekola. This will be my last post until the end of the MONTH but then – a first-hand account!
A beaming John sending me an email from Losekola via Bgan. “Make sure you and Ashley bring chocolate and good coffee”
The Crimes They Commit in the Lomami Wilderness
Category: Places, Threats, bonobo, people | Date: Apr 23 2008 | By: admin
This reflective bonobo has no doubt seen a bit of the evil side of human nature, how else would he have been orphaned and finally ended up at LolaYa Bonobo
Elephant poaching and bonobo hunting were a major concern for us since we started exploring the TL2 river basins a year ago. We congratulated the military, and even ourselves, for managing to take off the worst offenders. But what we are discovering now leaves no room for self congratulation. A decade of anarchy and occupation by militias has led to a culture of rape, extortion and trafficking in military weapons. It is not just elephant lives and bonobo lives that are cheap – human life too, is cheap.
Poaching is a symptom of a deeper disease. And I fear that something must be done about that deeper disease to make the poaching controllable.
The Opala delegation in Obenge
When John came down from Opala he brought with him representatives of the “people”, what is called société civile here, including three well-respected men. This was the first such official visit since before the long civil war, more than ten years ago.
The visit of the delegation was also the first time that villagers in Obenge felt empowered enough to speak openly of some of what they have suffered. Five recent cases of rape, perpetrated by associates of Col Thoms were brought up. While some of the solutions proposed (“marriage” of one 12 year old victim to her teenage assailant) scarcely felt like justice, we have to accept that perhaps it is the best solution possible. And some families are indeed asking for public recognition of the crime with retribution.
The chef de secteur from Opala, wrote this in his report (my translation):
We have identified with the help of the community leader in our delegation, five recent and critical cases of rape. One case requires medical examination followed by psycho-social and medical care.
We also note that two of these cases were very recent, having occurred during this month of April.
One of Major Ranger’s gang and one of the rapists being interrogated. In the background the Lomami flows on.
John wrote, “Even more shocking were the revelations emerging today about the mass grave that we were shown at the edge of the village where the remains of ten people are buried who were massacred in 2001 by a Congolese rebel militia led by a commander with the sinisterly appropriate nom-de-guerre of Commandant Dracula. The interviews undertaken by our visiting delegation documented unimaginable barbarity. The fact that the perpetrators, including Dracula, remain not only at large and unpunished, but vested with posts in the national police force in Kisangani, does not give confidence that complete social recovery will happen quickly.”
John is sending on the Chef de Secteur’s report concerning the story of the mass grave. I will translate it and put it out in the next few days.
So, I am wondering: where does a conservation and development project such as ours go from here?
These problems are community problems and the Obenge villagers know, that to heal, they must find community solutions themselves. But they also feel that in a very basic way we have become part of this community – and indeed it does feel that way.
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 2 : Not-For-Pot Species
Category: Threats, bonobo, wildlife | Date: Feb 03 2008 | By: admin
All animals are vulnerable, but some more than others.
A hundred years ago, even fifty years ago the bonobo, the forest elephant and the okapi were among the least hunted species in Congo. A fortuitous, but unfortunately short term “right to life”. These animals do not withstand pressure from poaching. They are an extreme contrast to rabbits and mice: they birth only one young at a time, they have long intervals between births (>4yrs for bonobo), each pregnancy is many months (>20 for the elephant and >14 for the okapi), and they do not reach sexual maturity quickly (elphant at 9 to 12 years and bonobo have their first young between 13-15years). So, once their populations are reduced they don’t bounce back and, alas, they are easily reduced right down to local extinction. In TL2 these are our most vulnerable animals.
This traditional monkey trap, made entirely of natural forest materials, would not catch bonobo
Even fifty years ago guns were scarce in DR Congo and metal wire for snare traps was a rarity. These, the Big Three, bonobo, elephant and okapi, were abundant, each in its own area of forest. Local people, forest people, understood their special status. In some areas they were taboo –custom forbade killing or eating them –and in other areas, where they were hunted, it might be only older men who were allowed to kill them.
A traditional hunting camp of the Mbuti pygmies in the early 1980s. They set off daily for net hunts, with nets made from the local forest liana they call Kusa. No nylon, no wire.
This was the case in the Ituri Forest where young men risked too much by killing a potent animal like the okapi. The forest might get angry and then they would only have themselves to blame if their wife had a miscarriage or the toddler “lost his breath” and died.
This wire is used to make snare traps. Traps don’t choose. Any animal that steps into it is caught.
Even where taboos did not exist, the means for killing the Big Three required a maximum effort for a minimum success rate. Much easier game was the little antelope or the monkeys that moved in large troops. These smaller animals could be caught with a bow and arrow or in the hunting net; they were also less vulnerable to extinction. To capture elephant or okapi a deep pit had to be dug, covered and disguised, then checked regularly. Occasionally, an okapi or elephant was pursued on foot and speared. To actually kill one was unusual, a cause of celebration, for song, for appreciative quiet. If an elephant, okapi or bonobo was killed, then the familiar spirits of the forest had to be placated.
Passing military marked their presence deep in the Lomami forest on this tree
But, with the long civil war that ended the last century and started this century, military with assault rifles have invaded even the most pristine areas and have changed the vulnerability status of the Big Three. Strangers, unfamiliar and insouciant of local custom, saunter through villages, hungry, unpaid, but with weapons of war slung over their shoulders. Now AK-47s are widely dispersed, hunters move huge distances in search of elephant. They are transients with no use for local taboos. They have no ancestral attachment to the spirits of the forest.
More about the Big Three of the TL2
Bonobo: Found only in DR Congo, and only on the left bank of the Congo/Lualaba River. They are Great Apes along with gorilla, orangutan and chimpanzee. There is only one national park protecting bonobo, the Salonga. Bonobo do much of their traveling on the ground. Mainly vegetarian, they do eat some meat.` An interesting aspect of bonobo social structure is that it is dominated by female coalitions. Although smaller than males, they maintain their social status through cooperation, maintaining strong bonds between unrelated females. Adult males are caring and affectionate with all infants. Sexual access to females is not limited to one male and paternity for young is uncertain. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species : Endangered
A pensive bonobo from Lola ya Bonobo near Kinshasa. Photo by Eleanor Hart
Okapi: Found only in DR Congo, mainly in the northeastern forest but also on the west bank of the Congo River in the TL2 area. They are the lesser known members of the giraffe family and are rarely seen despite their large size (that of a small horse) because of cryptic coloration and long periods of immobility. Okapi are solitary. In relatively rich forest, females have the smaller home range, four to five square km, while males, although smaller, have larger home ranges overlapping those of several females. Okapi are ruminants. They eat only leaves, and only leaves of specific species, stripping the young leaves from branches with their long prehensile tongue.
Okapi at park headquarters in the Réserve de Faune à Okapi. Photo by Kim Gjerstad
Elephant: Of the Big Three, the forest elephant is disappearing fastest. Recent surveys have shown that in the last fifteen years it has been essentially eradicated from areas where it was previously abundant including some national parks. The forest elephant, now generally recognized as a separate species from the savanna elephant, is the lesser known, but this has not protected it ! With each individual eating more than 150kg of leaves and fruit per day, walking long distances and digging for minerals, elephants are the great sculptors of the African forest. When their highways are overgrown, there is a particular silence that settles on the forest. IUCN Red List of threatened species : Vulnerable
Elephant bones scattered on the floor of the Lomami forest show where poaching occurred. We found in the Ituri that such sites were often visited for years afterwards by surviving members of the elephant family
Officially each of these animals has national protection. Our hope is that we can help make that a reality. Everyone who hunts for subsistence or for gain in the forests of the Big Three can avoid killing them easily. A forest in which any of these three animals is allowed to exist in peace – is a forest of hope.
Portents for the New Year from up the Lomami and throughout TL2
Category: Threats, bonobo, people | Date: Dec 27 2007 | By: admin
« Vraiment l’inquiétude est très grande »
That disquieting message was written by Crispin just before he left Obenge two weeks ago
Obenge “high street” on a busy day. Obenge is the biggest village on the mid-Lomami which makes it a bushmeat capital for central Congo.
John and I are in snowy upstate New York where we wait for the New Year to come round the globe. We are uneasy. Ashley just sent us a message from England written five clock hours closer to the New Year. He is uneasy. And we are in regular touch with Crispin who has now arrived in Kisangani. He, too, is uneasy. He is a couple hours closer to the New Year in steamy Kisangani. More importantly he is closer to the military. Will they help us ?
A few weeks ago. Major Ranger, the main elephant and bonobo poacher in Obenge, is between Ashley in the middle and Crispin on the far right
What is the source of this “inquiétude” , of this disquiet ?
- the fast-disappearing elephant..who carries its own doom – ivory – in its mouth
- the bonobo whose small range is already criss-crossed by poachers and whose “safe” islands are ever fewer, ever smaller.
The threats are immediate.
HERE ARE SOME BAD SIGNS
Crispin wrote: the day after Ashley left Obenge, Major Ranger killed two bonobo “They killed them just as night fell and they were on their nests. They left the corpses in the forest overnight.”
Up in the tree on the left. The bonobo nest the next morning.
This time I will not show the laid out corpses…but only a hand so like our own and a foot so much more sure in the trees than our own.
Lambert, who is still in Obenge, wrote : Colonel Thoms wife is bringing a load of munitions up the Lomami to Major Ranger. Major Ranger gathered the youth of Obenge and fired thirteen shots in the air. Lambert’s fear is the New Year. It is a time of major celebration in Congo. Money is needed for celebration. Ivory is money.
Most hunters, like these, in the Lomami forest are killing forest antilope and monkeys. It is different to hunt for bonobo, the Congo’s own great ape, or the forest elephant. It is not only illegal to kill these but also malicious.
BUT – HERE ARE SOME GOOD SIGNS
Crispin has been in touch with the military in Kisangani. They say that they will mount an “operation” to Opala and on to Obenge.
A successful operation could stop major destruction before it is too late for the forest elephant of the Lomami and the bonobo of Obenge.
We can facilitate this military mission. Their deployment is often delayed for lack of resources. We facilitated the last mission that got Colonel Thoms out of the forest with just 300 USD. Can you help us facilitate this one.
Dancing on the Dugout, Crying in the Forest
Category: Places, Threats, bonobo, people | Date: Aug 31 2007 | By: admin
On the return trip the dugout turned into a disco as it approached Opala, home of the porters. That’s Maga on the pot turned tomtom on the right.
This note is from Terese. Ashley is closing down our little depot in Kisangani where we have stored all of our tents, outboards, cooking pots, and remaining fuel. He’ll follow me today to Kinshasa.
This past week in Kisangani was very successful, but that is not what I am going to write about here. Next post.
Here I want to underline the urgency that Ashley and I both feel about this “forgotten landscape” to the south of Kisangani.
Obenge, little village four days by motorized dugout south of Opala (about 300 river km), is THE hunting outpost for two big, bustling commercial centers : both Kisangani, much farther to the north, and Kindu to the southeast. Although they seem on the map to be a mere 200 to 300 km away, this is by winding river and forever meandering footpath.
Neither Ashley nor I is opposed to locally controlled hunting of small antelope, even primates, but that is not what is being staged from Obenge. Hunting with weapons of war and hunting that targets rare species such as the rapidly disappearing forest elephant and the endemic bonobo, our closest animal relative, is something else. Bonobo live ONLY in the forests south and west of the Congo/Lualaba River, they are social, curious, communicative and vulnerable.
Ashley did not send me the two pictures below of a freshly killed pregnant bonobo. He found them too depressing, but I did appreciate seeing them. It helps me understand what we are up against. And for that reason, I am posting them.
Female bonobo, just killed and brought into Obenge by the dugout in the background.
She was pregnant, they later removed a nearly grown fetus.
I want to emphasize that there is no sadism in the hunting of these animals. Greed of the few that really profit – yes. But these few are not the ones who handle the guns and “own” the forest. What is needed: community outreach, information and alternative sources of income.
We will keep you posted.
Three Hundred Bonobo Nests Where Forest and Savanna Intermix
Category: Places, bonobo, people, wildlife | Date: Jul 31 2007 | By: admin
A bongo in the fore ground and forest in the background
Twelve days walking through forest and savanna and more forest and more savanna. It is a circuit I will never forget. I have always read that forest/savanna borders are particularly rich with species because you get both forest and savanna animals coming together.
First time on the savanna for many of the porters
This circuit certainly was my best ever for observing animals. In the savannah we saw buffalo, bongo, a jackal, and quite possible a black fronted duiker. Lots of buffalo.
In the forest we saw a dead fully grown male sitatunga (pictured here). It had only recently died. No gun shot wounds so we think it was a snake bite. Blood coming out of its mouth and ears was the only clue. A beautiful huge magnificent beast.
A few monkeys were seen but not many. A few snakes also that caused the usual panic by everybody. But the best by far was Bonobo nests. Over 300!! Four locations were exceptional. One had about 100 in just a few kilometres and another had about 80 over four kms. Never seen places like this before. Salonga national park has no corner of forest this rich with bonobo.
One of many bonobo nests that we found. This one was old.
Sadly no sign of elephants or okapi. Hunted out?
The downside, this was physically very demanding. Marching 5 hours in burning sunshine across savanna is a killer and then to arrive at the other end into forest and find no water is demoralizing. It is the dry season and most of the rivers have dried up. We ended up drinking red stagnant water from the few pools we found for 4 days and one day of no water! Luckily no one got sick from this. Not sure how. Back in UK, I’m definitely going to visit the doctor! 
A much needed and much appreciated drink on the savanna.
Getting “water” from a liana for a much needed drink in the forest.
We are all back at the base camp along the Lomami now and it is sort of like a Red Cross camp. A lot of walking wounded, me included. One of my feet is a little swollen with a patch of bites from I think some insect that had a field day when I fell asleep one night in my forest chair (see below).
Right after this great supper I fell asleep and some creature made his supper of my foot
One of the porters got a cut on his leg, from a liana, just above his foot. His foot has swollen up like a balloon. He has started on an anti-biotic and we are hoping to see a change soon. He probably cannot carry on but his village is 300km away. What do you do?
Weary team at the end of the 12-day forest-savanna exploration circuit
Have just heard from a few locals of a location a few days march from here where there are Bonobo and Okapi. Going to have to go there and check it out. It will also mean that we can check out a bit further south of the rapids where the locals say there are hippos and crocs.
Better put those shoes back on, swollen feet or not…
Bonobo Poaching: I Find Bushmeat Market in the Middle of Congo
Category: Threats, bonobo, people | Date: Jul 11 2007 | By: admin
Adult female shot near Obenge, on the Lomami River. Lack of fishing is a sign that the locals aren’t originally from here. Did they come with the Belgians or the Arab slave traders?
When I asked where he had killed her, Jafari, the hunter, waved in a general sort of way to the northeast, across the Lomami (see it in Google Maps). I did not say much else. He was proud and let me take a picture.
Jafari killed this adult female with his old Belgian gun. Over the last few days I have heard other shots from the village. I have also seen monkey snares in the forest nearby. These, too, could catch bonobo.
There is much more hunting than I recognized at first. Yesterday a pirogue came back with an elephant chopped into hunks. There are war guns, lots of them, left in this country after the long rebellion. An AK47 is just 300 dollars in Kisangani. That is the weapon that was used to kill the elephant.
There are many more animals killed than are needed to feed this small village. Apparently a few women-traders travel across the forest from villages on the Lualaba. They bring salt, sugar, cloth and probably shotgun shells. Then they carry back bushmeat.
How often are Bonobo Killed? I don’t know. How far away do Jafari and his friends hunt? I don’t know.
Strange that they can be so poor here and yet they can empty the forest of what the world considers its greatest riches. And still they stay so poor. The kids in this village don’t go to school – there is none – and, of course, there is no health center at all.
Is it possible to make a difference – for the bonobo and the people? I am sure it is.
Jafari with his gun
Here I Am in Primate Paradise
Category: bonobo, wildlife | Date: Jul 08 2007 | By: admin
This Blue is not “supposed” to be here, but he looks like he thinks I am not supposed to be here.
Just back from a four day circuit in the forest on the west side of the Lomami and I am real excited - I mean EUPHORIC. If any of you were here we would be toasting with mugs of coffee and Nido milk! And hey, I could offer you tea if you prefer that.
First off – the forests are different here from the low-lying forests of the Salonga national park where we did bonobo surveys a year and a half ago. There is a lot of red clay soil rather than the sandy soil of Salonga. It is more like the high forests I know from the east (Ituri) and the north (Cameroon).
Also different: there is lots of fruit and, therefore, -no surprise- lots of monkeys. In fact this is going to be a monkey-fest post because there is just so much to say about monkeys.
For instance:
Just two kilometers out of Obenge, yep, you guessed it, Bonobos again. And a mother and her baby just sat and stared at us… This is the third time I’ve seen them and, I’m not bored yet.
And then there is the more unexpected, for example, this:
The photo posted at the top here looks like a blue monkey, right? But, there’s not supposed to be any blue monkey on the west side of the Lomami River, or at least not according to the best information available anywhere and that is in the African monkey-bible: Histoire Naturelle des Primates d’Afrique Centrale. This Blue does look rather like the monkey that is supposed to be on the east side of the Lomami, Cercopithecus mitis heymansi, but wouldn’t you say that the Blue in the photo above has an awful light-colored back?
And get this: We not only saw the “expected” Black Mangabey (Lophocebus a. aterrimus) and the spectacular mona monkey (Cercopithecus wolfi wolfi) - alas we saw it being eaten by an eagle - and the expected De Brazza’s monkey (Cercopithecus neglectus), but I am hearing rumors of several other monkeys.
The local guide that was with me and is from this area insisted that they have the owl-faced monkey here. He pointed it out in the book (that same monkey-bible). If that is true it is a first.
And then there is a monkey that I only glimpsed this morning and did not recognize. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo, nor did I see it long enough to really describe its characteristics. Just wait, though, I’ll get a good look real soon.
And then there is the “unknown” monkey that we found in captivity in Opala - John will write about that one, right? Because I did get pictures of it and he sent them around to several primatologists who have commented on it (without agreement).
This is getting ridiculous and I love it. I’ll be wondering around near Obenge tomorrow with my camera. Who knows, maybe I’ll see a mountain gorilla or an orang-utan… well ok, that’s a wee bit excessive.
Here is the majestic center of Obenge and its only “road”. This is the last village until the savanna, five days steady motoring in the dug-out.
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