Archive for the ‘Our Work’ Category
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.
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 3 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 2 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.
The other day we found a dead serval on the path down to the lake from the patrol post. It had sustained serious injuries to the right eye. For those of you who are not familiar with servals, they are beautiful wild cats with long legs and big ears that live in the savannah. People hunt them for their fur. Servals, like many other animals, have also suffered in recent years from a destruction of habitat.
This photo gives you an idea of the size compared to a man.
We examined the serval and as you can see by the last photo we did an autopsy. We concluded that the serval died from the injuries to the eye that he probably got from fighting with another animal. We do not believe that the serval died as a result of poachers. It was a very sad day for us because there are not enough predators - lions, hyenas etc - in Ishango. And servals are just beautiful, delicate and elegant creatures that we rarely observe here in Ishango.
After writing about the elephant suffering and dying in the torturous trap last month, today I am going to write about some happy elephant sightings that have happened recently, basically involving live elephants as opposed to dead ones.
In this photo there are 7 elephants - but we actually saw about 20! This is one of the highest number of elephants we have ever seen together in Ishango, a sure sign that the animals are starting to return from Uganda & Queen Elizabeth Park.
There were just at the edge of the Semliki River and did not seem particularly scared.
This elephant was standing to one side. You can see it has a broken tusk, the opposite of Vita, the elephant called War. Vita’s left tusk is broken, whereas this elephant has part of the right tusk broken off. I am not sure how this elephant sustained this injury.
And this is a solitary elephant that likes to move around an area called Senga, about 10km from Ishango patrol post.
My Rangers took this photo the other day. They made a quick run for it afterwards! You can never be too close to an elephant…
This is Samantha. I recently visited the illegal fishing village of Kavinyonge. Illegal because it is in Virunga National Park. And it has about 20,000 inhabitants.
I took this aerial photo a couple of months ago. Some of you may remember. Kavinyonge is the settlement you can see and Ishango is at the mouth of the Semliki River.
We set off in the boat from Ishango. It takes about half an hour. Atamato is there in the grey t-shirt.
This is what it looks like when you get there. Blissfully quiet. And with a definite smell of fish about it. Really just a little paradise on the edge of Lake Edward.
And then people come out of the woodwork. Kids are clearly not used to out-of-towners like me.
So they all crowded around, utterly curious to see the “muzungu”.
We were going to Museya. That is where a patrol post is being rehabilitated and I wanted to take a look. It’s about 10 minutes away on a bike. We had to get gas first.
By this point all the kids were overflowing with curiosity!
And although they don’t get many visitors, they definitely knew the deal with digital photography. They all wanted to see their picture after I had taken it.
So this is the old patrol post. It is one of 6 overseen by Atamato and has up to 6 Rangers based there.
And to the right you can see the new construction. It will be very smart when it’s done and much more waterproof.
Some Rangers sleep in the tents there that were donated through this blog. These are behind the new construction.
And then we drove back down the main road of the town. The blue plastic bag was covering the wing mirrors of the motorbike I was on, for some reason. There isn’t actually much traffic there so I wasn’t too worried.
And then when we got back to the lake edge more kids had arrived. They had literally come to see me. They all looked healthy children on whole, as compared to so many you see here who are suffering from malnutrition.
This little guy on the right was the most daring of them all!
We got a warm goodbye.
And so headed back to the tranquility of Ishango’s hippos. Bliss.
Samantha
I have blogged before about my Rangers and I finding illegal boats used by fishermen who seek to fish in the spawning grounds of Ishango’s waters, which is illegal. It simply means we will run out of fish. And I have told you before about the nets & cages used by these illegal fishermen.
Well in the last month we have found quite a few illegal boats, nets and cages. Feast your eyes!
These are the cages that we find in the shallows of the Semliki River. All kinds of fish can be caught with these cages, made from metal wires.
Here are 2 illegal fishermen with their cages. The fish swims in, and then cannot get out, but can happily swim around for a couple of days until the fishermen get back.
This is one illegal boat we found. It has rather a lot of flip flops in it! Usually the fishermen would sink it and cover it with grass so we could not spot it. But in this case they were careless.
And another illegal boat. This is not a very stable boat, and you can easily tip over.
This boat - the only one of this lot we did NOT destroy - was full of illegal fishing nets too. We ended up painting it and we use it to get across the river.
Here are some of the fish that had been caught with the nets above in the spawning grounds. This is actually a lot more fish that they used to catch - which is a sign that the fish are coming back.
Illegal boat number 4. If you look closely on the side you will see the boat is called “Avion de Guer” - Avion de Guerre is translated as War Plane. This one was chopped up too. So much for their War Plane.
More nets and fish were in this one.
As was this illegal fishermen. We made him carry his fishing nets up the hill to the patrol post, where we fined him, and then destroyed the nets.
And illegal boat number 5.
This is all the result of a month’s work - and again possible because of your donations. Thank you.
Thank you Linda at G4G and Simon at Maushausoptiks for the donation of binoculars. Samantha brought them to Ishango last weekend. We received 6 pairs in total, and this will greatly help our work on patrol. As you know Ishango and the surrounding area is savannah - so lots of vast open space we need to keep an eye on. Asanti Sana!
Testing!
Rangers always sign when they receive equipment
As do I!
I have some sad news. We found the rotting corpse of an elephant in the park. The Rangers came across it when they were out on a 5-day patrol.
The elephant had been dead probably 1-2 weeks. Decomposition and discoloration of the skin was well underway.
The worst part is how the elephant died. We all know that traps and snares are a cruel way to kill wildlife. Often the wrong animals get caught - we hear how gorillas in the wild sometimes are missing a hand because they got caught in a snare intended for an antelope.
Often the very poachers who laid the snares fail to return to the scene quickly enough, and so the animal suffers a slow, solitary and painful death. And by the time the poacher gets there, the meat is no good anyway. So a total waste of a life.
In this case the elephant was caught by what we call a “jaw trap”.
The “jaw trap” is the one on the left - in several sizes. Here there is also other equipment and traps we have collected in the park recently - 49 metal necklaces for snaring antelope and waterbuck (far right), machetes to cut wood, hoes to cultivate illegally.
The elephant was caught in one of these “jaw traps”. The trap is opened and when the animal walks in the center the metal jaws slam shut. The trap itself is usually tied to a tree so that the animal cannot get away, even if it were able to move with a heavy metal object attached to its wounded leg.
If you look back at the photo you can actually see that the elephant’s leg was almost cut in two with the “jaw trap”. And that is certainly where decomposition started first.
The actual foot of the elephant is separated from the rest of the leg. You can also see the maggots.
This was a very sad day for all of us. The elephant could have taken up to 2 weeks to die.
When the Rangers first saw the dead elephant, there were many other elephants standing around the body. It was only when the decomposition started that the elephants left. They had finished mourning. And the Rangers were able to approach.
Then we took out the ivory tusks, and brought them to the station. We do not want poachers to get them.
The tusks will be kept by ICCN and used as evidence if and when we find the culprits.
We are still in mourning.
Atamato
My Rangers & I have remained busy over recent weeks with anti-poaching patrols. Although the Mai Mai have left the area, we still need to be on our toes as there are still threats. Katembo Kisoko recently returned from patrol with 5 metal snares taken from the edge of the Semliki River. He was patrolling for 5 days, and went to the area where we had found elephant carcasses previously. I am pleased to report that we come across less evidence of poaching than we did a year ago. I hope we can sustain this momentum.
Katembo shows his prize On this same patrol, on the way back, the Rangers also came across a boat hidden in the undergrowth, about 1km from the station. These illegal boats are used by fishermen to fish in the spawning grounds, which as you all know is illegal.
So Sawadi (in red) and Florence, 2 of my student, destroyed it!
Does anyone know what this is?
I found it the other day not far from the river.
I think it is a canine tooth, not a molar. And I think it is from a carnivore. I know last time Louise was able to help me. But if anyone knows I would love to know. Thank you!
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