Archive for the ‘Rangers’ Category
This is Diddy. The last few weeks have been very difficult, with more pressure than ever being placed on those of us who are based in the park, trying to prevent the forest destruction. Inspite of the difficulties we have had quite a lot of success, with charcoal supply being reduced to about a third of what it was. Also our rangers are now very present in the park, and regularly make arrests of poachers and teams going in to clear the forest. Three days ago, one of our patrols seized a group of poachers with snares and poison.
Poison seized from poachers in the Nyamulagira Sector The impact of poison on wildlife can be devestating, and we are very concerned about its increased use near the gorilla sector. Again, one incident could destroy a whole family of mountains gorillas, and so we have to be incredibly careful. Snares have also had a terrible impact on our gorillas. You will remember Karema, who was killed at the beginning of last year, had also lost his hand to a snare when he was a young juvenile black back. A second troop of 15 rangers of the Advance Force has been deployed in our area. They are here to strengthen the existing patrols and road blocks. We have also been carrying training with the rangers, to continuously build up their skills and update them on new techniques. Yesterday we trained them in using GPS. We have been donated a GPS by Andrew C, in Colorado, which will be extremely useful in the remoter parts of the park.
GPS training
I’ve been accompanying an important patrol in the southern part of the gorilla sector, around Kibumba, the only functional patrol post in the sector. It was a regular patrol with 12 rangers on the southern slopes of the Mikeno and Karisimbi Volcanoes.
Kibumba Patrol Post It was quite an eventful patrol. We tracked some poachers who were laying snares (a very unpleasant way of killing wildlife). 13 wire snares were dismantled.
Ndeze with some of the snares that we recovered While we were doing this, we heard a silverback chest-beating, and tried to locate the gorilla. It was fairly obvious that this a solitary. The gorillas quite rare in this area, but a small group of 4 unhabituated gorillas are known to range in this area, but because of that they’re almost impossible to see. Still, all the more important to have removed those snares.
The patrol, on our return We heard another group on the slopes of Mt Karisimbi, near the Rwandan border. We didn’t take the patrol in that area because we had seen tracks of other groups in the area. We know these tracks to be those of Rwandan military, who often come into Congo in that area. Last month, the rangers laid an ambush to some poachers in the park. Some of the poachers escaped and while they were being pursued by us, they got caught by a Rwandan patrol, and taken to Rwanda. We’ll be going back into the park tomorrow to double check to make sure that there are no more snares. Anyway, this patrol happened thanks to funding from this blog, so we’re extremely grateful for your support Ephrem, at WildlifeDirect
I have been reading the discussion between Francis and Nicholai with considerable interest, as it has dominated our thoughts for some time now. Incase you haven’t read them, they exchange comments on the last post on how appropriate it is to visit the gorillas under the current circumstances. I don’t want to sound judgemental, everyone has their own reasons for taking a strong position in this conflict and it is indeed a complex situation. The politics of North Kivu are not straight forward, and no side in the conflict comes out entirely clean. However, at WildlifeDirect, we have made the decision not to engage with CNDP (Laurent Nkunda’s rebel movement) under the current circumstances. In this respect, our position is 100% in line with that of ICCN, as the legitimate Government institution. Let’s start with some simple facts: - Many of the schools and other essential infrastructure around the Gorilla Sector have been destroyed. The International Criminal Court currently has a file that lists the evidence that Nkunda forces have been forcefully recruiting large numbers of child soldiers, some as young as 9. - Over half a million rural people, the poorest on earth, have be forced out of the homes by the CNDP rebellion, and into displaced peoples’ camps around Goma. They are living in atrocious conditions. - Senior CNDP officers have declared that they will execute any of the Virunga rangers who enter the territory that they hold. We are desperate to get back to the Gorilla sector, and indeed, have been invited to do so by the parallel rebel administration (in exchange for funds). However, we cannot under any circumstances play a part in the atrocities of North Kivu by helping to fund the rebels. Unfortunately, tourism revenues at Jomba are used to fund the rebel troops. While we can’t stop anyone from paying $300 to the visit the gorillas, I would urge you to think very carefully about the consequences of funding the rebel administration before doing so. Emmanuel at WildlifeDirect
This is Innocent, I just wanted to report on the charcoal campaign efforts around Mikeno. We still can’t get back into the sector, because the rebels have said that they will execute any rangers who go to Bukima or to Jomba. We don’t have enough support to face up to the rebels, who number in their thousands. We are only a little more than 100. That said, the reports that we have been receiving informally are that there have not been any gorilla killings, and that two baby mountain gorillas were born during the war, which is really encouraging for us. The other important thing is that we are finally making real headway in our efforts to stop the charcoal trade. A section of the Advance Force (the elite Rangers who are based in the north of the park) have come to join us, and in many ways, we have never been stronger. We have now seized over 100 tons of charcoal, which is being redistributed in the Internally Displaced Camps. We reckon that the flow of charcoal is now less than a third of what it had a couple of months ago. The problem is that we are making many enemies, especially among the military. Some of them have been making a lot of money from the charcoal and they are not happy with our efforts to stop the illegal trade.
Seizing Charcoal at Kibati. Because we have been successful in stopping people transporting charcoal, the military have started to use military trucks. Last week we had several incidents of military trucks smashing through our road blocks to get the charcoal through. We brought the Advance force in, as well as 5 military police officers, and managed to seize two military trucks. The soldiers couldn’t believe it and were really mad at us. They followed us all the way back to Goma. We offloaded the charcoal, and handed over the trucks to the military tribunal, who had them seized. Morning Parade, preparing for operations So the rangers won the day, but we have a load of really annoyed soldiers and we have to be quite careful. Fortunately, the local politicians have decided to support our cause, and we have a letter of support from the Governor, instructing us to seize all illegal charcoal. Slowly slowly attitudes are changing, and maybe, just maybe, we will be able to stop the forest destruction for charcoal before the gorilla’s habitat is permanently destroyed.
National Geographic Magazine is currently visiting us in Virunga National Park to cover our story - that is us, the Rangers. Mark the writer and Brent the photographer are spending a few weeks here. We think the story will finally come out in about 6 to 8 months.
Coincidentally Brent is also the photographer who was here last July when Rugendo and his family were massacred. So he was kind enough to bring us some photos that we can use on this blog. Here are some of our favorites. Diddy & Innocent
I am currently at Rumangabo park headquarters working on the anti-charcoal patrols and other duties. Since the signing of the peace accord a couple of weeks ago the security has improved at our park station. We have not yet brought back any of the equipment we evacuated in November and December, but at least we cannot hear shelling or bombing in the Gorilla Sector. So all in all things are looking a little better.
Here is the Mikeno volcano rising up. The gorillas live on the flanks of the volcano. The house here is in our park station. The first door on the right you see is Innocent’s house. My house is just opposite.
The Rangers’ children play football in the afternoons after school.
Rob Muir from FZS is doing some construction up at Rumangabo because he wants to move his office up here and leave Goma. The truck had a bit of an accident!
While on patrol we came across this recently slaughtered bushbuck. The animal had left the forest just briefly, and was killed by local villagers. The head had already been cut off by the time we got there.
Augustin with the slaughtered animal.
The anti-charcoal patrols have continued relentlessly. We are now up to 56 tons of confiscated charcoal, up from 40.8 last week. We are very proud of this achievement. The fight against the charcoal mafia is one of the main threads of WildlifeDirect and a new blog called Ending Charcoal has been started up by Rob in the US who is helping out enormously to find a solution to this fuel crisis. We continue to await news of the Gorilla Sector. We are still waiting for peace to become more of a possibility (or even a reality) before we venture back in. On Sunday it will be FIVE MONTHS since we were last in there checking on the Mountain Gorillas. It is years and years since that has happened. Diddy (PS here I am with my wife Justine and 2 of my children)
This is Diddy & Innocent. During the last 4 weeks we have been intensifying the anti-charcoal patrols in the southern sector of Virunga National Park. You will recall that we spoke about the increase in charcoal burning as a result of the insecurity in the area caused by the war between the rebels and the army. We estimated in mid-December that there had been a 10-fold increase in the illegal charcoal trade since September.
So we have been trying to stop the illegal making of charcoal in the park, on 2 fronts. We have been doing sporadic patrols into the park, but security has been very precarious because of the presence of rebel groups. So we have focused more on stopping the trucks actually transporting the illegal charcoal to Goma for sale.
This is an example of one of such trucks. Absolutely packed with illegal charcoal.
Sometimes the trucks are SO overloaded they simply tip over.
We have to stop all trucks on the road because often there may be potatoes or cabbages in sacks that are visible, and in the middle there is charcoal. This was the case with this truck.
So we have been organizing ourselves - about 36 of us in total - at the Kibati patrol post which is about 15km north of Goma on the main road to Rumangabo and Rutshuru. Some of us are also at Kibumba. So we are split into 3 teams of 12.
We have legal permission to stop the trucks full of illegal charcoal from the National Prosecutor of DR Congo. This is the legal document that states that we are entitled to protect Virunga National Park, according to Law 069-41 of 22 August 1969.
This is the same law under which we are working to bring to justice those responsible for the July massacre, and the death of the baby gorilla in September. There is a blog post about this here.
Since about the 20th December we have confiscated over 240 sacks of illegal charcoal, which is equivalent to about 20 tons. These have been brought to Goma and will ultimately be distributed to orphanages, schools and hospitals.
The charcoal, once confiscated, is brought to Goma.
We have to store it while the judicial process is underway.
And then we will be able to distribute it.
All these patrols that we are talking about have been led by Augustin Kambale. He has been promoted to Head of Anti-Poaching. This is a significant promotion from head of the Bukima patrol post as he now heads up over 80 to 100 Rangers. He has started this job during a very very challenging time.
Jean Bosco, head of Community Conservation, & Augustin, earlier this week in Goma.
Late on Monday afternoon Rangers stopped a truck, that had illegal charcoal in it, at Kibati.
The truck driver knew that we had set up this barrier at Kibati to stop the illegal charcoal.
The driver tried to drive very quickly through the barrier. Because the roads are not even, he veered too much to one side and the entire truck ended up tipping over.
Heated arguments followed between the local people, the Rangers, and the military who were also present. The situation got totally out of control amid the shouting, and the local population beat up 3 of our Rangers. There was absolutely nothing we could do among all the people. At one point there were at least 15 people kicking the Ranger Asumani. Once the people had stopped beating up the Rangers, the military stole their boots & berets. A local man also stole one of the Ranger’s guns. Remember with the long war here everyone knows how to use a gun. There were so many people around, all shouting at once, it was absolute chaos.
Once we were able to gain hold of the situation we took the 3 Rangers to hospital in Goma where they spent 2 nights. They came out this morning.
Afterwards the local population also pushed our car off the road.
This morning Maniroho, Ndayumujina & Asumani went back to the Kibati patrol post, and will then go on to Rumangabo to rest for a few days and continue receiving treatment. Asumani’s leg, as you can see, is in plaster as a result of the beating.
Now Director Mushenzi is following the judicial process with the lawyer Maitre Mathieu to deal with the confiscated illegal charcoal to date and the debacle of Monday afternoon. We will keep you posted.
Diddy & Innocent
I have been following Mapendo’s progress these past few days like you all, and lamenting the death of Vumilia. It always affects us. When you know these wonderful creatures, you simply cannot help it. Before it gets a little late in 2008, I just wanted to share some pictures with you of my Christmas Day at my home in Kiwanja.
We woke early and went to church. This is my local church. We went with all the family.
There were lots of people there. So many that some had to stand outside.
Julien & Osee, 2 of my sons, came too.
Sara their sister wanted to wear her pink dress.
And then we went home. We enjoyed a meal with chips and beef with our friends and family. Justine cooked it all. The children had soft drinks, which is a treat for them, and the adults had beer. Here is a short video clip outside the church. I apologise but the sound is not that consistent! This week I am also going to post about our anti-charcoal patrols and confiscation of charcoal that has been successful in recent weeks. This is one of the actions we do to protect the park and its wildlife. We need to fight as hard as possible to prevent more orphans like Mapendo, Vumilia, Ndeze and Ndakasi. We need to protect the wild mountain gorillas and their habitat. Diddy
Last month I blogged about why I became a Ranger and I talked about the influence of my father, Sylvestre Mburanumwe. At that time I didn’t have a picture of my father. But now I do!
Sylvestre Mburanumwe, born 1947
He has been a Ranger since 1968, mainly in the southern sector of Virunga National Park in the Gorilla Sector and other places like Kibati. He has been head of the Bikenge patrol post in the Gorilla Sector for a year, and before that he was head of the Jomba patrol post in the Gorilla Sector for 14 years. There are 5 patrol posts in total in the Gorilla Sector.
Me & my father at Rumangabo 10 days ago
He was one of the first Rangers here to work on the habituation of Mountain Gorillas in 1985 with Conrad Aveling. First he was part of the team habituating the Rugendo family, and that took about 2 1/2 years. He also worked with the Rugabo family, who took only 6 months to be habituated.
My father is currently evacuated from his patrol post because of the fighting. Today the situation has calmed, but for the last few days it has not been good and security has worsened because of fighting between the army and rebels.
Innocent
This is Samantha.
I have just met with Innocent and Diddy and fighting has broken out again between the rebels and the army at Rutshuru, north of Rumangabo. Innocent’s mother is literally hiding under the bed, and has been for several hours. She is eating raw bananas because that is all there is. And Diddy is unable to get hold of Justine, his wife.
This information is quite literally hot off the press. It should calm down, fingers crossed, by the end of the day. I will let you know when I hear any news.
On a similar note, on Saturday I went to Rumangabo with Innocent, Diddy and other Rangers. Diddy was actually in Kiwanja, north of Rumangabo, so came down on the motorbike (that takes about an hour) while Innocent went up from Goma at the same time as me. Goma to Rumangabo takes about 1h30. Diddy has been in Goma now since Saturday pm, which is why Justine is up at Kiwanja, next to Rutshuru where the fighting is going on.
As you know Rumangabo is the headquarters for the southern sector of Virunga. For a map of this go here.
So the 70 Rangers from the Gorilla Sector are camped out there for the most part, unless they have somewhere else to go. Some of them are with their families, which can mean a lot of children.
I saw Jean Marie Serundori, who is the number 2 of the Bukima patrol post after Augustin Kambale. You will remember Jean Marie from previous posts.
His wife had just given birth to their eighth child - who has yet to be named. She was born 4 days before I got there, so last Wednesday.
Jean Marie and his wife and the newest addition to the family.
She will be named soon!
Jean-Marie was in good spirits despite being away from his patrol post - undoubtedly the birth of his daughter had something to do with this.
This is where Jean Marie is living - it is temporary accommodation for the displaced Rangers. It is extremely challenging at this time for everyone. Amid the insecurity and the uncertainty of how long the conflict will go on, it is very difficult to plan and accommodate. Today’s events show this very clearly.
I actually went up with Daniel Pepper, a freelance US journalist for a bunch of publications who had come to cover the Mountain Gorilla crisis that has been evolving since September 3rd. As you know that is part of my job - to get this issue in the international media. Daniel will be writing the story for US News and a couple of other publications. I will let you all know when it comes out.
Innocent and Diddy, with Daniel at the gorilla cemetery, explaining about the July massacre. I also met Innocent’s father, Silvestre, who is a Ranger too as you know and head of the Bikenge patrol post. That was the first time for me so it was fun to see them both together.
Innocent and others had also been on patrol the day before and detained some people who were making charcoal in the park. Innocent has lots of photos on that and wants to post over the next few days. About 30 people in total were detained.
The atmosphere at Rumangabo is one of frustration. The Rangers are trying to do what they can - as shown by the one-day patrol on Friday to stop charcoal burning. But there is really not a lot they can do other than wait it out. It is beyond the Rangers and beyond conservation organizations. We are all reliant on the political will of the government and the armed forces, which today does not seem to be working too well.
I can honestly say that the Rangers appreciate all the support they can get - moral and financial. They want to speak to journalists when I take them up to Rumangabo, because they want to have a voice in all of this mess. And the Rangers, like us and other organizations, are poised to start working as soon as we can get a foot back in the Gorilla Sector.
Let us hope this recent spate of fighting stops soon, and that progress can be made toward finding a solution.
Samantha
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