Elie Mundima

Category: Funds Needed, Out on Patrol, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 29 2007 | By: admin

Hello, Will from WildlifeDirect here.

Elie left very early this morning to patrol the Mikeno Sector, where the gorilla killings took place. I was not awake when he left but he did leave the following message outside my tent, to post up here on his blog (English version below)

C’est avec tristesse que la Force Avancée a reçu la mauvaise nouvelle sur la écocide de gorilles de montagne dont le nombre jusque la se lévè à 7 gorilles habitués de famille Kabirizi et Rugendo tuées par des inciviques.

Ainsi pour sauver les restes qui peut-être traumatisés par les coup des bals des inciviques. L’urgence nous oblige de préparer ce qui suit:

1. 2 Troupes des Rangers (Troupe II/III) dirigées par moi-même. Total 33 rangers et 2 chauffeurs.
2. La ration et autre accessoires sont déjà prets

La Troupe I reste pour sécuriser la station de Mutsora.

Nous serons à Rumangabo pour 3 mois sur-ce il n’y aura pas beaucoup sur mon blog.

Pour plus d’information visiter le site Gorilla Protection.

Kwaheri tuonane tena baadaye

Elie

In english:

It with sadness that the Advance Force received the terrible news on the killings of mountain gorillas, the number of which has risen to 7 habituated gorillas from the Kabirizi and Rugendo families.

In order to save those that remain, who may still be traumatised by the gun shots, it is with urgency that we must arrange the following:

1. 2 Troops of Rangers (Troop II/III), under my command. Total: 33 Rangers, 2 Drivers.
2. Rations and other accessories that must be made ready.

Troop I will remain at the Mutsora Station, to keep it secure.

We will be stationed at Rumangabo for three months, and because of this you will not see much activity on my blog.

For more information please visit the Gorilla Protection site.

Kwaheri tuonane tena baadaye

Elie

As most of you would have seen from Paulin’s blog, a strategy is being put into place to protect the remaining gorillas. This will involve constant patrolling of the park, both within and along the park boundaries, as well as a small group of rangers providing around the clock protection to each family of gorillas:

“This approach is extremely intensive, and unfortunately depletes other parts of the park of their rangers, but given the crisis, we will have to maintain it for at least three months. The approach is also extremely expensive (maintaing 33 rangers on operations will cost close to $5000/month), and your donations have played a huge role in making it possible (we can fund this operation for about 3 months). We’re extremely grateful for that help.”

If you are reading this and you want to help further we here at WildlifeDirect have put together some campaign material. Send an email to gorillacampaign@wildlifedirect.org, and simply put in the title of the email, “I want to help campaign for the Mikeno Gorillas” and we will send you further information.

Thank you.

Technorati : Congo, DRC, Mikeno, Mountain Gorilla, Virunga, WildlifeDirect

9 responses so far

Category: Life in Mutsora, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 25 2007 | By: admin

Yesterday we found this viper snake right in front of my house. They are very colorful and robust, and they live in wet places and also in small caves in mountains. The colorful skin of thier body helps them to survive and camouflage.

The bite of the viper snake is so powerful you would need instant medication because you would lose a lot of blood. The enemies of the viper snake are the birds when the snake is small because the birds eat small snakes, rats and humans. The viper snake is endangered because of their soft skin, because it is so smooth that people like to wear it and also have it. They are also endangered because they are interesting and also because people have them dissected. The viper snake is an animal that can have a lot of babies.

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Category: Life in Mutsora, Meeting Elie... | Date: Jul 19 2007 | By: admin

I would like to introduce you to my wife Beatrice, my 7 children, plus one on the way. In my tribe Nyanga, big families are respected. Those having only one or two kids are considered to be weak.

Beatrice is due next month. We don’t know the sex, but I would like to have a baby girl. Beatrice is 37 years old. I am 41. She will give birth in Mutwanga Hospital, wich will cost us u$s 20 approximately.

Rachel is my oldest daughter, she goes to secondary school. We pay u$s 20 for the first trimester, and then two more trimesters of u$s 12 each. Sitting next to her is Tony wearing a red shirt. He is eleven years old, and goes to primary school. It costs a little bit less: u$s 8 for the first trimester and then two more trimesters of u$s 5 each. Beside him is Didier, he is 6 years old. Next to him my daughter Olga, 12, who wants to be a ranger! In the pink dress is Lydia who is 7 years of age. Beside Beatrice, with the blue shirt and green stripes, is Richard who is 4 years old. And last but not least, Jose, 2 years and a half. He wants to be a ranger too.

Every chance Jose has, he will grab my boots, hat and radio to dress up like a real ranger!

Down below in the next picture you will see my kids with their friends (sons and daughters of other rangers).

6 responses so far

Category: Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 15 2007 | By: admin

There are hippos, elephants and above all crocs in the Semliki River that runs out of Lake Edward north to Lake Albert.

But once in a while we go for a dip, to cool off after patrol.

Here I am with Kiabumba, one of my Rangers.

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Category: Life in Mutsora, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 13 2007 | By: admin

Today I went to visit Kambale Mulonda, the Ranger who was shot in the Mai Mai attack on the gorilla sector of Tshiaberimu at the end of May. Kambale is from Mutsora, so he has come here to continue his recovery.

I asked him some questions, and this is what he had to say:

How are you feeling?

I am feeling better but I still have pain in my leg and take pills every day. I was shot twice, once in the upper thigh and once in the calf, both times in my left leg. The Mai Mai was only about 2 meters away. I have come to Mutsora because this is my home and I want to be with my wife and family to recover.

How long will you be off work?

I think I will not be able to go to work for about 6 months. That is what the doctors say. I must walk with a crutch still.

Do you want to go back to work?

Despite what has happened I still like my job. When I first got shot I thought about stopping being a Ranger. But now I want to go back to work. My job is important because I protect animals and nature. I love all animals, especially the gorillas in Tshiaberimu.

Where do you want to work? Back in Tshiaberimu?

Well we cannot choose where we work. We must move around patrol posts as we are told by our commanders at ICCN. That is how it works. So I will go wherever I am sent. I have been with ICCN for 12 years and worked at many different posts throughout Virunga National Park.

Are you afraid of being a Ranger?

No. When I was shot I got up to go outside to fight. But there were many Mai Mai and I could see they were waiting for me. But now that I have been shot I am not longer scared of being shot again.

Kambale with his wife and children. He has 8 children.

Here I am helping Kambale get lined up for the photo outside his house.

All his family and friends were looking on as we spoke in his house.

And here Kambale showed me the bullet wounds - you can see one in the thigh and one in the calf. Entry and exit wounds. He is still in pain.

Technorati : congo, drc, gorilla, iccn, ranger, virunga

4 responses so far

Category: Life in Mutsora | Date: Jul 12 2007 | By: admin

Justin Kisso is the new head of the Rangers here at Mutsora HQ. He is in charge of the Rangers here who are not part of the Advance Force. He has just moved here, and was previously stationed in Bukavu, which is south of Goma in the neighboring province. He has been here a couple of weeks now so is just getting to know the ropes. My men perform a different role to that of regular Rangers. We are deployed throughout Virunga National Park as required by emergencies like the Tshiaberimu attack or the Ishango threat to the hippos. Justin is in charge of Ranger activities that take place at Mutsora itself.

Here is Justin with 3 Advance Force Rangers. On his left is Jules Aloma, leader of Troop 1 who is sponsored by Kevin. Kavusa on the far left is also partially sponsored by Livia at $35 per month.

Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, mutsora, ranger, virunga

One response so far

Category: Back Then, Out on Patrol, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 03 2007 | By: admin

I was on patrol recently in Virunga National Park with my Rangers. We were near Ishango.

We patrol the park looking for illegal cultivators or people who bring their cattle illegally into the park. We also act as a deterrent to the Mai Mai rebels. Here I am examining cattle droppings. It is different conducting patrols in the savanna areas of the park. In the forest areas we find the rebel camps and poacher camps, but in the savanna people tend to come in and out of the park at night as it is harder to hide during the daytime.

The boundaries of the park are shown by what we call a “borne”. This is a concrete stone, and they were put in place all round the edge of the park by the Belgians in the 1950s. The park was established in 1925 but the “bornes” were not put down until later.

This is a “borne” in Ishango. You can faintly see the markings. It is number 31127 and says PNA on it which stands for Parque National Albert. This is the colonial name of Virunga National Park.

Many people used to believe that the Belgians hid treasures under these concrete stones. When Independence came to Congo in 1960, people say that the Belgians did not know what to do with their treasures. They did not want to take them to Rwanda or Burundi so they hid them. And they hid them under the “bornes”. So people in Congo have dug up where they have found the concrete stones, to try and find treasure.

This is a view from afar of where people have dug a large hole in search of Belgian treasure.

And here is the hole closer up. This hole was actually dug in 1997. I think it was dug by the NALU - the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda.

I am not sure if the NALU rebels found anything there, but I reckon it took them about 6 months to dig that hole. I hope it was worth it.

2 responses so far