A team of 6 six rangers congregated in the Joint Operations Centre at Bomassa Park HQ. Maps and photos taken during patrol flickered across the monitor screen as Christian Molango, the patrol leader, detailed what they encountered as they scouted along the banks of the Ndoki river. Then, something unusual caught everyone’s attention – a pair of hippos appeared on the screen....
The fight to protect northern Congo’s forest elephants has reached boiling point. In the past two months 32 poachers have been arrested, over 100 kilograms of ivory seized and six semi-automatic weapons detained across the Ndoki landscape. This includes the arrest of an ivory trafficker tied to one the most notorious poaching rings in northern Congo. ...
Over the last decade central Africa has lost 60% of its elephants; a staggering loss owed mainly to the unrelenting ivory trade. World Elephant Day offers a critical opportunity to take stock of their plight whilst also recognizing the hard work teams of men and woman are putting in in the field to protect these giants across their range. ...
The first quarter of 2016 saw the official start of the forest elephant-monitoring programme at Bonye bai, a remote forest clearing in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park. A team of WCS researchers and trackers headed out to the bai to construct a basic observation platform in February. The mission and construction of this tower, built to aid bai observation efforts, was covered in a mini-documentary ‘The...
The serenity of the forest is punctuated by the crash of figs as they hit the leaf litter on the forest floor, sent plummeting down by several gorillas feeding in the canopy 20 meters overhead. The rest of the family group is scattered in the undergrowth around us. Kingo the group’s silverback is lying on a bed of leaves in front of us in a...
At the end of March 2015, at a routine roadblock on a logging route cutting through the forest, a pastor from the Ngombe village in northern Congo was caught with a basket loaded full of elephant meat. The pastor was arrested by the Ministry of Forestry Economy and Sustainable Development (MEFDD) ecoguards manning the barricade, and taken to the Ngombe police station for questioning. MEFDD...
Across the north of Congo spans one of Africa’s most pristine belts of rainforest. This vast expanse of trees not only harbors astonishing biodiversity, but is also a vital buffer against the effects of climate change. Further south, pockets of forest on the sandy hills of the savannah result in interesting and unique faunal assemblages. This year the theme for Earth Day is Trees...
During a recent visit to Nouabale-Ndoki National Park I had the pleasure of taking a walk to Wali bai guided by Gabi Mobalambi. Gabi started working for WCS Congo in 1997. At the time he was an eco-guard posted as an assistant to researchers working at Wali bai. Eight years in the field working alongside several botanical experts, and a keen interest in the natural...
On the 3rd of March 2016 two men were arrested in northern Congo in the possession of 15 kilograms of ivory, an automatic weapon and nearly two hundred rounds of ammunition. Fitting that this arrest occurred on World Wildlife Day, which this year emphasized the importance of taking the future of wildlife, and specifically that of African elephants, into our hands. WCS supported the investigation...
Working as an eco-guard in the forests of central Africa is not a job for the faint hearted. The eco-guards working in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park spend 15 days out in the field at a time, covering many kilometers each day, often through thick forest undergrowth. Anyone who has walked in the forest can confirm it can be pretty unrelenting. They also have to constantly be...