Here’s another of Ian Redmond’s YoG interviews, this time with John Kahekwa at the Kahuzi Biega National Park. The park has lost most of its gorillas and elephants to poaching related to coltan mining and the war which started in 1994, and the absence of their ‘gardening’ activities has led to profound changes in vegetation
Miners and Minors Threatening Conservation
The biggest threat facing all the large mammals in Kahuzi-Biega NP is illegal hunting for the bushmeat trade. In the illegal mining camps in the park, miners who spend their days doing hard physical labour need protein. They buy bushmeat from teams of hunters who comb the forest for animals and trade meat for minerals – so
Arboreal Gorillas and Philosophical Guardians
The excitement was palpable on the drive up to Kahuzi-Biega National Park HQ. For several of the Australian Network 7 TV crew, this was to be their first gorilla encounter and they had been planning for months and travelling for days to get here. The chief warden had agreed to give an interview, and I
State of Gorilla Conservation in DR Congo
Looking back on the year, 1998, it is difficult for even the sunniest person to be optimistic about D.R. Congo. Since August, 1998, rebel forces have been waging war against the government of Laurent Kabila. Fighting has concentrated in the eastern part of the country and has been devastating to both people and wildlife. To
Eastern Zaire Gorilla and Forest Survey Project
Eastern Zaire Gorilla and Forest Survey Project was approved through the signature of a collaboration convention between the Government of Zaire and the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1992. Former President Deputy General of Zaire’s Nature Conservation Institute (IZCN), Dr. Mankoto ma Mbaelele, was the founder of the project along with his WCS partners. In short,