AFTER 15 months working in the ravages and dangers in Iraq a summer spent in my new home in Tavistock was a welcome break. But this was not to last. Eventually I would need to return to work but not to the hell of Iraq. I had a dream to follow; fate and a bit of good timing had conspired to land a perfect job in my lap. I was off to the Congo. As I write this I am sitting under a reed thatched balcony overlooking the Semliki river. To my left is Lake Edward and in the distance Uganda. To my right is the imposing feature of Mount Tshiaberimu, one of the volcanic mountains of the Albertine rift. In the river below hippos slumber in the sun and huge Nile crocodiles warm their blood on a sandbank. Through my binoculars I can see a pair of Egyptian geese, almost regal with immaculate plumage. The sight of their eight goslings briefly takes me back to the ducks that abound in the Tavy that runs past my house. Then I am brought back, I am in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and as if to emphasise the point, a group of six elephants crash into the river to swim, drink and play. However, I am not here on a safari. I am here as part of a project to train the ICCN guards and supply them with vital equipment. The project is funded by the Zoological Society of London and Frankfurt Zoological Society through European Union grants, United Nations funds and funds donated by the United States Fish and Wildlife service. It aims to give the guards the skills to preserve the magnificent wildlife, their environment and the Park National Des Virungas where they work a sustainable future. The Park National, Africa?s oldest National park, founded in 1925, is the most diverse of parks with a huge variety of species. Elephants, antelope, buffalo, hippos, lion, leopard, chimpanzee, monkey and a huge variety of birds. The most famous of the park?s animals are its film stars: they exist an hour flight to the south of me on the border with Rwanda, the Mountain Gorillas. These majestic beasts are trapped. Only 620 exist in the world and they are all in a tiny pocket of the Virungas mountains. But the Mountain Gorillas are not the park?s only gorillas, uniquely in the world it also has a population of Eastern Lowland Gorillas. Slightly bigger with shorter hair they live 20 miles from where I sit, 20 of them in a single group on top of the cloud covered Mount Tshiaberimu. As I survey the beautiful scene in front of me I am taken back to the reality. This Eden is disappearing. The animals are being slaughtered, fires abound in front of me and creep up the mountain critically close to the home of the gorillas. This is deforestation, not the football field size devastation of the Amazon, but slow creeping burning and chopping of wood. Mostly to feed the first of nearby villages but some to make charcoal for the commercial market, a process controlled by an undisciplined army, to sell on the commercial market. A trip down the river will reveal traps, illegal nets and fishing lines, robbing the birds, including the majestic fish eagles which soar overhead, of food and trapping fish, crocodiles and hippos. The park had the most densely packed population of hippos, some 120,000 existed, less than 20,000 remain. War and instability have taken their toll. Without law and order the bushmeat trade flourished. The Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan Armies that tore apart the great lake region filled their bellies with hippo, elephant, antelope, buffalo, monkey and gorilla. Other animals have been victims of the trade in endangered species to satisfy the private collectors of the USA, Europe and Asia. Ivory poached to feed the illicit ivory markets. The problem is not just the Congo?s; instability in the Sudan, Northern Uganda and Somalia gives the traders an easy exit route for their goods. Much of the illegal bushmeat will find its way to the tables of rich expatriate Africans living in Brussels and London. But there is hope. The rangers of the ICCN are a dedicated group of men. The park is their life, many are second and third generation rangers. Many of the men have not been paid a salary for several months, when they are it is 70p a day and they live on meagre diets. For this the men and women are charged with risking their lives patrolling the park and trying to preserve some of the most endangered species on earth. Now, a small group of British and African rangers are putting the guards through an intensive course of instruction, which takes place in both French and Kiswahili. A typical day will start at 5.30am, as the dawn breaks over the mountains. The course begins its daily physical training session with a run into the bush. This finishes with a swim and wash in the lake before a well earned breakfast of Fou Fou (a dark brown, stodgy paste made from the manioc tree, not unlike burnt wallpaper paste in consistency and taste) and beans. Washed down with gallons of excellent African tea. Classes begin around 8.30am. Instruction will include sustainable conservation, law enforcement monitoring, conflict management, first aid, sustainable tourism, park management, weapons safety training, shooting and patrolling. Lunch is at noon and due to the extreme midday heat (we are 10 miles south of the equator) a two hour break is required. Classes then continue until dusk. Late afternoon usually brings a storm down from the mountains and torrential rain is not uncommon. Evening provides a well earned rest for the trainees and after a meal of rice, beans and goat or fish the guards enjoy nothing better than a couple of hours with a DVD. The classroom tent is turned into a cinema and the laptop and projector are put to a more fun use. I will be here for six and a half months working on this three phase project. The current phase will see 480 guards trained before moving on to train a group of guards to become educators and trainers themselves. The final phase will see the training and formation of an elite ranger force of 50 guards, trained in all aspects of conservation management and able to operate in all areas of the park. My daily work is extremely tough and demanding and five hours sleep is the norm. But waking to the sights and sounds of Africa brings out unknown energies and motivations. I do not doubt the park rangers of Dartmoor get a similar feeling every morning, but you don?t get hippo in the Tavy! The Zoological Society of London Project takes a long term view and is committed to producing an environment in the park National Des Virungas which is self sustainable. The goal is that one day everyone can enjoy the spectacular views of the park as well as the gorillas, elephants, hippos, birds and other animals in safety and in a manner which preserves them forever whilst improving the livelihoods of the people of the democratic Republic of Congo. l If you would like to know more about the project or how you can help the animals and rangers of Virunga feel free to contact me on: rob [email protected]">[email protected] or check out: http://www.zsl.org">www.zsl.org, http://www.iccnrdc.cd">www.iccnrdc.cd.
