April 30, 2013 – 11:10 pm
This is a comparison. Our world is small, the differences matter.
A Lomami style of criminal (center) with elephant tusk and grigri. Major Ranger served time in jail, but is now back hunting for ivory.
April 15th – John and I sat in a sushi bar at the Newark airport. We were early: another two hours before our plane back to Congo. Occasionally we glanced at the television. There had been a bomb – two bombs – at the Boston marathon, just an hour earlier. Alarm, curiosity, but the world was not yet riveted to the search in Boston. Read More »
March 19, 2013 – 11:41 pm
Father and son resemble Abraham and Isaac except for the fetishes at their side.
Who slaughters elephants in Congo? What Kingpin can pluck ivory from the most remote forests and also have access to international smuggling chains? This requires a substantial network.
In the Lomami River forests we see only the bones and the anarchy this breeds…
Who is responsible at this bottom end of the network: Criminals with forest savvy …
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February 24, 2013 – 4:24 pm
The wreck of an Antonov claimed by the forest long before it was discovered from a remote hunting camp.
At the south end of Obenge village I (Roger Peet) noticed a length of narrow-gauge train track strung between two posts by the side of the trail. Maurice noticed me looking. “That’s the bell for the Catholic church, over there, behind the soccer pitch.”
“Where did it come from? Were there trains around here, back in the day?”
Maurice shook his head. “No, that came from Opala (a town down river, more than120 km as the crow flies). There was never any infrastructure like that here. Everything like that came from somewhere else.” He paused. ” Washi told me he found a plane in the forest once.”
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February 10, 2013 – 5:57 pm
Early 20th century. Kisangani. Proud display of Ivory for a single export shipment. Main source of ivory: the Lomami. It is little consolation that this will never be possible again. Never.
Late December 2012. A woman working in her garden by Yosenge exchanges greetings with a small group returning from the forest. They have an AK 47. She knows that means that they were hunting elephants. Her own husband is an expert marksman. If the affair is leaked, her husband will certainly be accused. That evening she reports the gun to the village chief.
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