Wild places | WCS Congo Blog

HONEY PRODUCTION STRENGTHENS LIVELIHOODS IN NORTHERN CONGO

Posted on December 7, 2017

The harvest and sale of honey produced by wild bees generates income, and reduces pressures on families living near the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo to turn to killing wildlife as a source of cash income. Finding ways to increase incomes and improve the living standards of families living in isolated areas is a challenge throughout the world. However, it is especially important in...

Long term study demonstrates impacts of logging on chimpanzees and gorillas

Posted on November 27, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

A multi-year study published in Biological Conservation today highlights the impacts before, during and after selective logging on great ape populations. Research has shown human disturbance can have detrimental effects on great ape populations but now, due to a study published in Biological Conservation on Nov. 27th by Lincoln Park Zoo, there is evidence showing how selective logging impacts chimpanzee and gorilla populations differently by utilizing data...

Roots of sustainable income in Lac Tele

Posted on September 29, 2017

by Ben Evans

If you take a plunge into the forest surrounding many of Lac Télé Community Reserve’s villages, you’ll quickly come across suspiciously neat rows of trees hiding amongst the undergrowth. Look closer, and you’ll see some have strange yellow pods, though many are rotting where they grow. Cacao trees, planted 40 years ago in many cases, are continuing to produce fruit. ...

Investing in tomorrow’s elephant protectors

Posted on August 20, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

A clash of colours mingles together as the group of children – dressed in their Sunday best - flock to the window to catch a glimpse of a massive bull elephant that has emerged from the forest to feed on a fruit tree. They have abandoned their task of meticulously colouring-in kaleidoscope elephants of their own, to excitedly watch this gentle giant peacefully feeding only...

Parrots in Peril

Posted on June 23, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

The parrots arrive in a tiny bamboo cage. As the ranger lifts them out of the poacher’s dugout canoe their angry shrieks are deafening, a far cry from the ‘music of the forest’ that African grey parrots are known for. Many individual’s wing feathers are a mangled mess from the trapping glue, and they are so closely packed that a layer of parrots are being...

Safeguarding the fish stocks of the Ndoki landscape

Posted on June 7, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

Fishing is an important traditional activity for the people living along the Sangha, Motaba and Ndoki Rivers, which snake along the boundary and through the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, are traditionally fishermen. Encamped on its banks, they rely heavily on the rich fish diversity of these rivers, their tributaries and wetlands. As traditional fishing methods evolve and the human population of the area grows, coupled with...

Major Ivory trafficker jailed

Posted on May 30, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

Northern Congo’s notorious elephant poacher and ivory trafficker Daring Dissaka, 39, has been convicted with a five-year sentence. Connected to international ivory networks, Dissaka’s imprisonment represents another significant step forwards for the Republic of Congo’s justice system and forest elephant conservation in Central Africa. ...

Meet Frank Moutengue, a Ranger on the Frontline

Posted on May 22, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

Frank Moutengue is one of 50 rangers working to protect the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park from a relentless onslaught of poaching. Frank started out working for the Park as a young and enthusiastic construction worker. Bright and motivated, he was quickly noticed and was recruited as a research assistant at the Mondika Gorilla Project. Despite enjoying the work, particularly being part of the habituation process of...

Mbeli Bai

Posted on May 16, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

Mbeli bai is a large (12.8 ha) natural forest clearing located in the south-west of the Nouabalé-Ndoki national park, Northern Congo. Due to the mineral rich soils and aquatic vegetation, Mbeli Bai is an attractive resource for numerous elusive mammal species including the western lowland gorilla and the African forest elephant. The Mbeli Bai Study (MBS) was established in 1995 with the aim of enhancing...

taking to the sky

Posted on May 11, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

On the 31st of April 2017, Jean Pierre Sagette, took WCS Congo to the air on its first surveillance flight. Jean Pierre, an experienced pilot with more than ten years of flying experience in Africa, is the newest member of the WCS Congo family. From his last position piloting charter planes in Mozambique, Jean Pierre is applying skills to the conservation realm for the first...