Searching for Bonobo in Congo

This blog was silent too long – BUT not because there is no news in and around the Lomami National Park!  

Here are a few of the big events since September:

Ranger’s band came singing to Opala for the surrender.  The white head bands denote surrender. 

Ranger himself came later on a motorbike.

EVENT 1:   RANGER, major elephant poacher, has surrendered.  He, more than any other, was a continual threat to Lomami elephants from the beginning of this project.  This is the second large surrender and amnesty for elephant poachers.   Twenty-four ex-poachers handed in their arms in September 2020.  Five military rifles and three shotguns as well as spears and poisoned arrows were collected.   Ranger has now left the buffer zone and moved to Kisangani.

As part of the surrender, after arms were turned in, Ranger and each of the other ex-poachers, signed an agreement to no longer participate in any way in any elephant poaching :

I never saw Ranger smile until, among the photos from the surrender, is a series showing our TL2 agent, Maurice, horsing around with Ranger.  They have a special ethnic connection that makes them “noko” …or uncles:

The public presentation of the surrendered poachers happened at the central plaza in Opala and opened with the national anthem.  Note Ranger, not singing, inscrutable as usual in the back row:

And he remained straight faced through his presentation by the territorial administrator:

Kipeleka, a pygmy, was one of the other major poachers who surrendered along with Ranger.  He is local (Ranger is not) and was warmly received by the audience:

EVENT 2 :  BERNARD,  a ruthless criminal among the Balanga, has been captured by an army hit-squad and transferred to Kinshasa where he is undergoing interrogation.  Meanwhile on the ground three of his gang’s army rifles have been seized by the armed forces and his gang is being pursued.   Villagers now have the courage to come forward with accounts of Bernard’s atrocities.  It was not 8 rapes as we had previously determined, but at least 125 rapes (reported to the local NGO, AIDER).  Not one live burial but at least two live burials, one of which was recorded on telephone video. And at least one case of vengeance killing and dismemberment along with multiple cases of torture and robbery.  Bernard himself is under 25 years of age.  Hard to fathom, but we and the villages thank the army. Whole villages had fled and two of our patrol posts had been destroyed and patrols in part of the park suspended the first 6 months of 2020.  

Oct 2019 Victim of Bernard in local dispensary:

Kelisse was whipped and tortured by Bernard and his band.  Kelisse’s mother in law and his wife were raped; his wife lost her pregnancy in consequence.  What was Kelisse’s sin in Bernard’s estimation?  He refused to pay a fine that Bernard demanded because, supposedly, Kelisse admitted he was glad the military were pursuing Bernard. 

Bernard captured and tortured three different delegations that the local government sent to negotiate his surrender.  When he did surrender it was more a show of force.  He released the government delegations, turned in a few weapons, and brought an army of men and boys to show his strength in February 2020:

Bernard was finally captured in October 2020.

One military was shot and killed by Bernard’s brother during the capture.  

Bernard was sent to Kinshasa where he is currently being questioned.  The military colonel who is his body guard was also responsible for his capture.

EVENT 3:  As to our own activities: John is pushing ahead with the 4-year elephant census.  It has been partially completed, but his dugout and the patrollers were met with gunfire, not once, but 6 times in 2020.  The attackers are the Mai-Mai militia who refused to surrender in Mituku.  Thoms’s gang is among them.  The military are now conducting a sweep.

A military sweep in the northern park means using the Lomami. There are no roads in or near the park and the Mai-Mai are using the park as refuge.  This is a sweep through wilderness, not something the military do very often.

The map above shows attacks during 2020 of militia elements fleeing increased law and order of the buffer zone.  The difficulty in accessibility of the north is clear.  It is critical that the sweeps continue to maintain the safety of the elephants.  Elephant poaching, unlike small mammal poaching, requires a high level of organization and a greater support chain.  The goal of the park patrols is to assure that elephant poachers feel the law on their backs such that they have no time to organize.

Below is a camera trap video that catches the reality of the small groups that associate in the north forming a population of over 750 elephants (assessment of 2016):

EVENT 4:  In Kinshasa we are making progress towards taking a more direct role in management for the Lomami National Park.  This means the ability to train guards and in general a more coordinated FZS- ICCN effort to protect the park thoroughly and to international standards.   .

Hard to find an inspiring picture to put here – because the activities involved are meetings, business dinners, trans-continental zooms. Maybe soon there will be a photo of final signature or of us raising our glasses afterwards.

I will put out more posts in December.  Thank you for checking in on progress.  Although I have been back in Congo for more than a month now, the backlog continues to make itself felt.  More soon.

Two major elephant poachers asked to come out of the forest to rejoin society.

Kitona, previously an infamous elephant poacher, on recent trip with TL2 teams into Park.

Once, in 2018, Ranger and Kitona sent an emissary to Bangaliwa “we are ready to talk with the general.” We had no way to handle a major surrender.  Less than a year later, on our return to Opala, we stopped the dugout at a small village Olemandeko, to heat up lunch.   As we beached the dugout, three men with AK47s stepped out of the shadows.  

 “We could have shot you, but we didn’t, we want to turn ourselves in.”

Again, it was Ranger (far left) and Kitona (far right, next to me).

We heated up our lunch and moved on.  But knew we had to do something.  Ranger had already spent time in jail for killing elephants; both have been involved in serious elephant slaughter, most recently north of the park in 2015.  Several army officers, who “sponsored” that carnage were convicted, but the poachers went free.  

Unlike the Maimai bands in the buffer zone, these poachers are not involved in crimes against humanity: they don’t torture, rape, pillage and burn – but, they do kill elephants.

If they would truly reform, it would remove an important threat for elephants.   It would also help differentiate between the cruelty of Maimai and the illegal exploitation of poachers.  When Thoms asked Ranger to join his Maimai band, Ranger refused.  Poaching only.

With the help of the parks service, ICCN, and specifically its branch linked to the army, CorPPN, we were able to contact the national ministry of defense and get an official pardon and letter for Ranger’s and Kitona’s reintegration.

Kitona, in white and black shirt, is still clearly worried at the start of interactions with the army to hand over his weapons.

We started the process.  Alas, Ranger balked, he had already spent two years in prison.  Was this a trap?  Nevertheless, the process went ahead with Kitona and the band of hunters that he brought out of the forest.

First Kitona handed over two army rifles ;

then each member of his team came forward with their shotgun or poisoned arrows. Some wearing protective “gri-gri” (magical protection).

The steps are shown in this short film:

Now what? Its promising, but the process is not over.  

Kitona’s poaching band signed individually that each refused all poaching, but they are not yet officially integrated into the park service, ICCN.

Nevertheless, Kitona joined John on his recent monitoring patrols in the northern park.  

A series of short-hand Delorme messages from John:

May 30^th PM: Camp at Losekola. No sign of poachers. Kitona: humorist not comedian. Naturalist. Records bats, hyrax on phone at night to share morning. Showed where he saw Lox [elephant] 2018

June 1^st AM: Spent night in edo [natural clearing] sector. Lots of Lox [elephant] sign. Lox vocalized during night, Kitona recorded, also crowing paon [Congo peacock] on his phone.

Kitona points out where he had left his mark on trees in earlier years.

June 1^st PM: Back at Losekola for night. Discovered 2 more active edos [natural clearings]. We surveyed 7. Most had Lox. 4 had bonobo sign. 7 cameras set [camera traps]

June 2^nd PM: Returned Obenge. 4.5m [4.5 meters long] python drowned in project fishnet this morning. Kitona cleaned and drying skin for us.

Kitona took over the basic python taxidermy.

John’s assessment:  Kitona loves and knows the forest.

Kitona also worked with our camp leader, Bebe Bofenda, tracking a mysterious primate.  

Bebe Bofenda, camp leader, takes a selfie with John on recent search for mysterious monkey.

Bebe’s assessment of Kitona: “Kitona is courageous, very social and ready to work hard.  This is our first mission with him.  We need more to really get to know each other, but one thing is clear he wants to join the ICCN guard force.”

Kitona with guards in a poachers’ camp that they will burn.

Following a visit by Kitona to Ranger’s forest base, Ranger again sent a letter saying he is ready to come out of the forest and turn in his guns.  Hopefully we can make this happen.  

Ranger, again, writes that he wants to turn in his guns — now, in July 2020.

Like so many major efforts in Conservation, the true consequences and importance of these surrenders will be seen over the next few years.  Success will depend upon integration of the poachers into ICCN. It will also depend on  the poachers’ own capacity and determination to contribute and our quickness to detect problems, and our resolution to make it work.

Kitona relaxing with a park guard in camp.

We thank Elephant Crisis Fund and Wildcat Foundation for making Kitona’s peaceful transition possible.