Searching for Bonobo in Congo

We wanted the usual Christmas …as always, we planned to head back to family in the States.  We had our air tickets already in early November.

Instead, our Christmas party was at Kakongo Camp on the Lomami River where John shared the smidgen of Johnnie Walker left in his single bottle.

BECAUSE the USA Covid numbers began to climb and kept climbing – in every state…we adjusted our calendar.

What was the point of returning to the States to be quarantined in upstate NY and not see our daughters and families, or possibly not be able to return to Congo?

John and I opted for Christmas along the Lomami River.  We would meet at Kakongo camp that is being rebuilt after destruction by the Mai-Mai leaders, Fidel and Bernard.

John came up river in a dugout after another round of teams left on the elephant census circuits in Tshopo.  I walked across from Bafundo, a 53 km-long trail redolent of history.  

Along the ancient Kakongo trail, this old secondary forest was a village abandoned 80 years ago.

The trail is a patchwork of history… nearly disappeared openings that were hunting camps from the elephant slaughters of the 1970s and far older regrowth from the Bakuti ethnic migration…..

Kakongo camp is still being built, but felt very welcoming.

Kakongo is a new camp…the old camp was burned at the end of 2019 by Bernard’s Mai-Mai, it wasn’t until the second half of 2020 that we could again put a base camp in Balanga West .

A lovely place to sit in the evening or any time in Kakongo camp.

The village up the hill welcomed us with a local version of Christmas carolling…. Not much mention of Christmas but lots of WELCOME.

Dancers from the tiny village of Kakongo, one of the fewer than 15 villages that make up Balanga West.

And there were other bits of Christmas.  During the night, Santa had hung an old sock stuffed with goodies from a forked stick outside our tent

Reading : “For PapaZa from Santa Claus“.

The goodies inside:  chocolate, dried fruit, and anti-fungal cream.  A resourceful Santa

Taye was a top deputy of the Mai-Mai, Bernard.  He is arrested here the day before Christmas.

Unfortunately, there are still reminders of the Mai-Mai insurrection.  One of Bernard’s deputies had fled to relatives in Kakongo.  Taye was arrested and will be tried for atrocities that he committed: rape (including of elder women), murder (beheading), torture, and theft.  

John and I returned to Kindu together where, via What’s App, we too enjoyed the Christmas celebrations of children and grandchildren.

And we had our own New Year’s feast at our Kindu base…including potatoes cooked in tripe.

The advent of 2021 is hardly smooth in terms of public health, democracy, personal and institutional safety.   But we stay optimistic …. All we are able to do is what we are convinced is right and for the common good.  We are all in this year together.