Thoughts on Sunday’s Attack.
Category: Out on Patrol, Virunga National Park | Date: May 25 2007 | By: admin
1 Park Ranger Killed, 4 critically wounded, and 1 kidnapped from Burusi Patrol Post
Category: Out on Patrol, Virunga National Park | Date: May 20 2007 | By: admin
This morning the Mai Mai rebels attacked one of our Patrol Posts. The Advance Force have been deployed immediately to rescue our man as well as to secure the safety of the Lowland Gorillas.
The following post is taken from Atamato’s blog:
At 4h00 this morning Mai Mai rebels attacked the Burusi Patrol Post here in Virunga, leaving one park ranger dead, four critically wounded, as well as kidnapping Officer Monya. There were 10 Park Rangers stationed at Burusi, including the Conservateur and the Conservateur Communicateur.
Rangers and Trackers in Tshiaberimu
The Burusi Patrol Post is the sub-station and also the entry point for the Tshiaberimu area in Virunga, where there are lowland gorillas.
It was reported on this blog that only 10 days ago the Mai Mai in Muramba, of the Jackson group, were rumoured to be around 50. But following meetings between the Mai Mai and the farmers of Mulango wa nyama, with plans to attack ICCN Patrol Posts in order to continue cultivating within the park, there numbers were able to quickly swell. This information was reported on several occasions to the Commander Brigade and MONUC, but to no effect.
ICCN have deployed two troops of the Advance Force of Congo Rangers to track the attackers, as well as contacting the military authorities of the eighth, based at Butembo. It is feared that the Mai Mai have plans to attack the lowland gorillas as they are now heading towards the Patrol Post of Kalibina, where the gorilla monitoring takes place.
We urgently need funds to support the Advance Force, as well as money for the hospital bills for the Park Rangers who are critically wounded. Please donate now, all money received will go directly to this cause.
Technorati : Congo, Mai Mai, Virunga, WildlifeDirect, gorilla
Keeping Watch in Ishango
Category: Out on Patrol, Virunga National Park | Date: May 14 2007 | By: admin
For the moment I am in Ishango with Troop 3 of the Advance Force of Congo Rangers.
We are here to patrol and create a presence in Ishango, so that the nearby Mai Mai know that they are unable to enter the area.
To read more about why the Mai Mai are in Muramba I urge you to go and look at Atamato’s blog as he is in a position to talk about the situation in more detail.
Technorati : Congo, Ishango, Rebels, Virunga, WildlifeDirect
In Ishango
Category: Out on Patrol, Virunga National Park | Date: May 10 2007 | By: admin
I am in Ishango at the moment with Troop 3 of the Advance Force. Find out why over on Atamato’s blog.
Back soon.
Dangerous Jobs on Discovery Channel, Tues 10pm
Category: In the Press | Date: May 09 2007 | By: admin
I went through my photos and have found some of Ben Anderson from the Discovery Channel.
When he was here, he actually did very well as a Ranger as he is a very strong man.
I have done some looking around the Discovery Channel website and it appears that the show starts on May 15th and is on every Tuesday from then at 10pm. I think for now it is only being shown in the UK, and I would appreciate it if anyone knows how to get a copy of the program.
Technorati : Congo Rangers, Dangerous Jobs, Discovery Channel, Virunga, WildlifeDirect
Congo Rangers, most dangerous job in the world?
Category: In the Press, Virunga National Park | Date: May 08 2007 | By: admin
Jules Aloma brought back these photos of his troop training in the jungle around here at Mutsora.
Even though the troops are now nearly always out on patrol, it is necessary when they are back at Mutsora for them to regularly undergo more training while in a safe zone.
This way we are able to monitor the rangers and make sure that they are following all procedures correctly.
As while we’re out on patrol there is no room for mistakes, one wrong move could spell a potential disaster, which may be why Discovery Channel has labeled being a Congo Ranger as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
They were filming part of their series here in Virunga last year. I know that I have some photos somewhere of the filming and will try and dig them out for tomorrow.
Technorati : Congo, Discovery Channel, Mutsora, Virunga, WildlifeDirect
Military Camp to be illlegally extended in Virunga
Category: Virunga National Park | Date: May 07 2007 | By: admin
Some terrible news for the park.
There is already a small military camp illegally within the park, but we have just found out that this will be extended to house 4,000 men and maybe their families too.
You can read more about it on Rob’s blog here.
It is going to have a major impact on the park and there are still many questions that need to be answered, for example why are the Dutch Government wanting to illegally fund a camp inside a park?
I will keep you posted when we receive more information.
Technorati : Brassage, Congo, Military, Virunga, WildlifeDirect
Photos from Paul, World Picture News
Category: In the Press, Out on Patrol | Date: May 04 2007 | By: admin
Last week Paul from World Picture News was here in Virunga taking photos of the Advance Force both here in Mutsora, out on patrol around Djuma, as well as some photos of the Kabirizi family of Mountain Gorillas. He has been kind enough to send a few of these pictures for us to share with you on our blogs, and so you will find some over on Joseph Aloma’s blog, and a few more here. Enjoy.
Technorati : Congo, Congo Rangers, Virunga, WildlifeDirect, World Picture News
My Studies in Tanzania
Category: Back Then, Outside of Virunga | Date: May 03 2007 | By: admin
Following on from yesterday, here are a few more photographs from my past that I would like to share with you.
Back in 2001 I spent a year in Tanzania doing a certificate course in Wildlife Management at Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Above you can see me with fellow students at the Mkomazi-Limba Game Reserve, outside the Information Centre. We came here to do some research on the fauna and flora and the local community.
In this park they protect the black rhino, as well as dealing with the problems of Tourmaline (both green and red) mining. Local communities complain about the presence of the park and that the park has taken land from the peoples. From this, when I was there, a story was going round that Mr Tony, a white man, was killing people by shooting them from his aeroplane. Of course this story is unfounded, but that does not stop the story from preventing a good relationship forming between the park and the local population. It is a common problem in many African parks.
Here we are during the exercise of animal capture, and the animal that we are catching is a dik-dik, which we captured by using nets.
Once we examined it’s health, we then attached a ring on the ear for future studies and then let him free. Using a net is one of of many methods to catch an animal, other methods include either a dart or to use a hole like trap for a large animal such as a hippo or a rhino, which is a method often used for translocation.
You can see me at the bottom on the left, with a Maasai lady on the right, and a man from Tanzania on the left. For the moment then, at Tanzania, the Maasai were studying how to take on modernisation. Before that they lived in isolated tribes, but now they are being integrated into conservation methods, and learning how to adapt with that.
This photo was also in Tanzania, taken in the Museum at Olduvai. The bones on display are extremely ancient, and also there was the skull of the Olduvai Man.
Here is where they found his skull.
And finally, here I am in front of the President of Tanzania, Benjamin Mukapa, with the Military Colonel on the left. He came to visit the college and I gave him a short presentation on the bones of animals. The event was filmed by Tanzanian television, and it was really such an honour to get to meet the president as I had never met a president before. I hope one day to do a similar thing with our new president here in Congo. That is a wish of mine.
Technorati : Benjamin Mukapa, Congo, Conservation, Olduvai, Tanzania, WildlifeDirect
Pictures from the Past
Category: Back Then | Date: May 02 2007 | By: admin
After writing Monday’s post on the rehabilitation work that’s taking place on the Rwenzori trail, my thoughts turned to the past and of the time I climbed the trail with my friend Charles Gahuma.
This was back in 1991 before the war, with me on the left and Charles on the right. Sadly Charles died in a traffic accident with his uncle, who was the first Director of ICCN and named Kabirizi, and is from where the Kabirizi Silverback gets his name. The photo was taken at Muhango, which is the second gite as you climb the Rwenzori trail.
I want to share with you another photo, also taken in 1991, where you can see a group of us on Plateau Stanley in the Rwenzori mountains.
This was part of our training which was funded by the EU, or the EEC as it was then. On the far left is the man who is now the accountant at Mutsora, with me next to him, and on the far right is Shyaira and also present is the Chef of Mutsora, Monsieur Clause. Apart from the man in yellow,who is no longer with us, and the white man who was there to train us, we are all still guards and rangers here in Virunga.
Technorati : Congo, ICCN, Kabirizi, Mutsora, Rwenzori, Virunga, WildlifeDirect
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