May 05 2008
Introducing Pierre
This is Pierre. I am the newest member of the WildlifeDirect team, and I will do my best to continue the fantastic work that Samantha did over the past year.
I have just moved to Goma from London, where I was working for the BBC making documentaries. One of my goals will be to put more video on the Virunga blogs, and I welcome any suggestions you have in terms of what you would like me to film.
In the meantime, here is some footage that I shot last week at the Rumangabo Station, where you can see the smoke coming from charcoal kiln fires burning within the Virunga National Park.
Later this week, I will post footage from the Kibati charcoal roadblock, where we looked on as the Rangers confiscated about 30 bags of illegal charcoal from a single truck.
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Welcome Pierre! I look forward to your posts!
Hi Pierre…thank you for filling us in! Looking forward to reading your information! Take care!
Hello and welcome Pierre. I too look forward to you posts.
Hi Pierre, welcome!
cool to have footage of the area! I so want to visit the area, and I will at some point. Until then I’ll inhale all the footage that you post.
Hi Pierre. Welcome to WD. We’re glad you’re here.
I’m a little surprised that the charcoal mafia is burning forest in site of Rumangabo station, but I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. They’ll do anything, hurt anyone, for the sake of profit.
I started reading this blog more than a year ago and I had zero knowledge of mountain gorillas and the DR Congo. We’ve all learned a lot in that time, and I’ve come to care about what happens in Congo as much as I care about what happens here in the U.S. The rangers have proven time and again their passion for conservation and willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good. That’s damned inspiring. Let us know what little things we can do to help.
s.
Hi Pierre
Im a HUGE BBC fan! I am an avid collector and watcher of every documentary they make.
I wish you all the best with your work with the gorillas.
One question - confiscating the illegal charcoal is great, but it is of course still being made and the good people are not getting to it until AFTER the damage has been done.
I sure hope there will soon be a way to totally halt the charcoal trade.
Welcome Pierre and thank you for playing such an important role in wildlife conservation. We all look foward to hearing your thoughts.
Welcome Pierre.
Hi Pierre. Welcome! Like everyone else, I’m looking forward to your posts. I’m positive that you will do an outstanding job. I have been reading this blog for just shy of a year and I too have learned a great deal in that time. I think we’ve all learned that helping the human population is interconnected to helping the wildlife and it’s habitat, not just in DRC, but around the world. Having said that, I would like to see video footage of the local people in their daily lives, if that’s possible. Or possibly video footage of the Rangers at work and in their daily lives. Of course, when access to the Gorillas is obtained, I’m sure we are all anxiously awaiting footage of them as well. Whatever the case, I’m really looking forward to an active Gorilla Protection blog again. Lisa
Hi Pierre, I hope that you will also prioritize helping Diddy and Innocent to get their voices back. I’m sure that they have had the wind knocked out of them with all the trouble over there, please ge them posting again, we really miss their posts. Thanks
Pierre welcome in the team of Diddy and Innocent. Each day I look at your site and I appreciate the videos and the comments. Thanks to my blog I try to keep my readers informed of your situation. It is my way of helping you a little. I admire your courage, your will and the work which you made and I address all my congratulations to the team. Tkanks. Jean-Claude
Hi Pierre,
I look very much forward to reading your missives and watching your videos.
Do take care
Jessie
Welcome, Pierre!
Pierre, we welcome you with open hearts and minds. Paula, you put it so eloquently…these rangers have been fighting for this worthy cause for so long now. How alone and discouraged they must feel, at times. This video clip provides a glimpse of Virunga, how beautiful and fragile it is. How vulnerable all the species are, who make it their home. Please give us some guidance, that is all we ask. Thank you for joining the WD family!!!
Hola Pierre,
I am looking forward to reading your blogs and seeing your videos, while learning more about the important work WildlifeDirect is doing.
Salut, Pierre!
It was great reading your first blog and watching your first video from Goma! I am looking forward to many more. Best of luck to you and the WildlifeDirect team, as well as to the rangers: you are all doing important work there, in more ways than one.
Iris
Pierre,
The whole fam is keeping up with you and I am spreading the word to my friends about what is happening in your new home. You and the people you work with, are in our thoughts and prayers.
Cognitive news., brother
WELCOME PIERRE!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!