gorilla.cd

This is Atamato. As you have already seen on the Gorilla Protection blog, a group of rangers from my team were attacked on Monday as they traveled on a WWF truck between Lulimbi and Ishasha. I had seen them leave my station at about 4 PM- there hadn’t been any problems on the road that day, so there was no reason to expect an attack.

The spot where the attack took place

Blood on the ground

The first I heard of the attack was from a phone call at 7 PM from my deputy at the Kasusu patrol post. It was too late by then for me to travel safely, so first thing the next morning I went down to Ishasha to find out what happened. This is what I was told:

At about 5 PM the truck approached a man on a motorcycle who had been stopped by a group of about 15 men. As they stopped, the group suddenly turned their attention to the truck and starting shooting without warning. A second group of men came from the right side of the road and fired shots as well.

Kambale, the driver- see the bullet holes in the windshield.

The bullet holes on the right side of the truck. This is where the women killed were sitting.

The rangers were caught completely by surprise and heavily outnumbered, but were able to return fire before escaping. The 18 year old victim died on the spot and Kasereka Matembela’s wife ran away into the bush before dying of her injuries.

Others hid in the bush or under the truck itself, as the bandits stole everything in the truck, including phones, money, and GPS equipment. They even took the mattresses that the WWF staff had brought to sleep on in Lulimbi.

As the bandits escaped with their loot, the man on the motorcycle was able to flee. He drove to the nearest military base to inform the army, who came immediately to rescue the survivors and take the injured to the hospital.

Ranger Kasai’s wife was hit by three bullets.

Ranger Kakuru was hit in the arm- see the bullet the doctors removed.

One of the WWF staff, Methode Uhoze, was also hit by a bullet in the foot and lost a toe. The press are reporting that the bandits were Mai-Mai, but we are not sure if it was them or the FDLR who also terrorize this area.

Thank you everyone for your concern and kind words.

In most of Africa, wild buffalo are seen as very dangerous animals to be avoided.

In Lulimbi however, the locals do not seem too concerned by the herds of buffaloes that regularly come to graze very close to their houses:

Buffaloes at the Ranger Station

Buffalo on the soccer field

Children trying to impress me!

I am sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but the security situation around Lulimbi has made it difficult to for me to travel to access the internet. Two weeks ago, three people were killed by rebels on the road between here and Ishasha.

However, I am starting to appreciate the incredible amount of wildlife here in Lulimbi- last week a herd of about fifty elephants came past the Ranger Station.

The Herd

The rangers’ houses in the background

I would also like to acknowledge the Andrea & Michael Banks Nature Fund, who have committed to donate $150 a month towards our conservation work at Lulimbi. THANK YOU!

Well I am quickly realizing that we face many of the same problems at Lulimbi that we used to face at Ishango. Here you can see we discovered the very same baskets used by illegal fishermen. The fishermen are also targeting the spawning grounds - totally forbidden.

People can also be quite industrious and dig entire canals to fish illegally.

Finally, very sadly, we found this dead hippo floating in the water. You can see the wound from which we believe it died. We are still not sure if it was accidental or deliberate. The fact that is was found floating means that no poachers were around when it died. But we do not know how the wound was inflicted.

Thank you everyone for the following donations for March and April 2008. The amounts below came through the website, and are in addition to the $350 from the Andrea and Michael Banks Nature Fund and $5000 from the Alexander Abraham Foundation that we received in March & April.

March Donations

Cherish W $40, Anonymous $100, Maximilian H $20, Pirjo I $20, Anonymous $25, KARNUM S $100, Beth A $35, Noah McC $100, Anthony G $15, Pirjo I $30.

April Donations

David R $50, Pirjo I $20, KARNUM S $100, Noah McC $100, Anthony G $15, Pirjo I $30.

It costs $690 to keep Ishango going - as I know I have said many times before. Godefroid Wambale is now receiving $150/month from donations, and I continue to receive my $150/month while at Lulimbi. This means that between Godefroid and myself we need to raise $840/month now.

Thank you sincerely for all your continued support.

I have finally had time to settle in to Lulimbi, the park station that I now head up in Virunga National Park.

This is now my new home.

So far I have been very impressed with the hippo life at Lulimbi. As you can see by these photos I took, there are definitely some hippos to protect and the situation is not as bleak as I anticipated. There is still a great deal of adjusting to do, but I am making progress and getting to know my new team of rangers.

Meanwhile Godefroid is also settling in at Ishango - please go to his blog to see how he is getting on with boat patrols and buffalo!!

I have lots of important news to tell you. My bosses at the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) have decided to move me for a short period to Lulimbi park station. This is still in Virunga National Park, about three hours by boat across Lake Edward. If you go to this map, and head south/south-west from Ishango you will see it. Right next to Uganda.

So why the move? Well the rangers are short staffed at present in Lulimbi, and need urgent assistance with anti-poaching patrols. My bosses decided I was the most appropriate one for the job.

In Lulimbi, there is fantastic wildlife as much of it is returning to Congo over the border from Uganda. But poaching is a significant problem too. I have just been sent these two photos below which are pretty grim of poached elephants. It was the military who killed them. So we need to reinforce the area and prevent these atrocities. My experience and successes in Ishango will help.

Who will replace me during my absence? Godefroid Wambale, whom you all know. He returned only recently from studying in Tanzania, and will be excellent for my job.

Regarding donations, please keep the donations coming. We still need the same funds for the work to go on - the patrols, the salaries for the Rangers, the rations - all of it. The monthly salary of $150 that I used to receive from donations will temporarily go to Godefroid, and he will continue to provide information on this blog. I will try also to provide you with updates from Lulimbi, but there is no internet access there and it is very remote so that is going to be difficult.

I cannot reiterate enough how much your support has meant to me over the past year and few months. This has been such an amazing experience.

Finally, I would like to thank Nancy from the Alexander Abraham Foundation for the recent $5,000 donation. So so generous. This will make a big difference to anti-poaching patrols in Ishango. Godefroid will provide details of how this money is being spent.

Thank you everyone!

-Atamato.

I last posted about the Museya patrol post construction about three weeks ago. Now it is almost done which is very impressive considering how isolated we are. The materials must travel far along bumpy roads. Some materials, for example bricks with holes in for ventilation, have to be flown, brick by brick, from Goma to Beni to then be transported by road for several hours. We are very grateful to the European Union for funding this via WWF.

I would also like to extend a special thanks to The Andrea and Michael Banks Nature Fund. WildlifeDirect has just told me that Andrea and Michael have sent a check for $360 to fund the conservation work at Ishango. This amount is what I am still missing on a monthly basis to reach the $690 monthly target - ie the amount that keeps Ishango going. Thank you Andrea & Michael for this.

Clue: there are two involved in this activity.

Yes - you guessed it! And right in front of our patrol post just the other day.

Elephants have a gestation period of 22 months - the longest of any land animal (they are of course also the biggest land animal alive today). Elephant calfs weigh about 120 kilos. So I hope we will see one in the not too distant future!

Here are the latest photos of Museya patrol post - one of the six patrol posts (or “pps” as we call them) that are under my responsibility.

Samantha blogged last month about the construction that is going on there - it will be transformed from mud huts to brick buildings! The EU is funding this, and the building process is being overseen by William from the French organization Soderu who comes to visit us regularly. He also oversaw the schools in Mutsora, and the other buildings here in Ishango. We are very very excited! As you can see the European Union funds many projects in eastern DR Congo - and we are grateful of each one.