It has been confirmed that layers of “black gold” [oil] exist in the territory The Minister for Hydrocarbons, Mr. Lambert Mende, announced that there is already foreign investor interest. Since the internationalinvestors have already announced their interest, exploration and prospection drilling should begin as soon as possible. To compound the imminent threat, the provincial authorities have been implied in the investments of this discovery, so their motivation is exponentially increased.
I am writing this from Kinshasa as I transit through and resupply between working from the southern Lukuru (Bososandja Forest Reserve) to the northern Lukuru (Salonga National Park). Upon reaching Ville de Kinshasa and an Internet connection, I am informed that we have received our first donation through Wildlife Direct! On 7 August Dave N. became our first donor and we are thrilled. Dave, thank you for leading the way. We would like to use this gift toward the purchase of a satellite phone. Since we have maintained a field-based effort and all of the funding for the Lukuru site is used to support our work on the ground, we are the only conservation group working without any communication to the ‘outside.’ As you can see by the date of my last post and the tardiness of this acknowledgment, I am often incommunicado simply for lack of equipment. In order to keep our readers informed and current, we need to have a communication system. So, that is where I would like to direct this contribution. I hope that will be agreeable to you, Dave. Please feel free to comment. With deepest gratitude, Jo Thompson
In the site, we base from two main villages: Yasa (3° 45′ South, 21° 21′ East) in the southern portion of the Lukuru and Anga (3° 09′ South, 21° 33′ East) in the northern region. From those two centers of operation, we are able to springboard to much more remote destinations and foray to less accessible locations. Anga is the Headquarters Post of the Parc National de la Salonga (PNS). Yasa is one of the villages associated with the Réserve Naturelle de la Bososandja [Bakomo is the other cornerstone village].
Reaching the Lukuru from Kinshasa is relatively direct. We charter a bush plane and fly from Kinshasa to the site. We may stop mid-route for refueling. Generally the flight is about 2 and ½ hours of air time. We change time zones between Kinshasa and the Lukuru. In the site, we have access to a cleared landing strip for small bush aircraft at Anga that is rather rough and in the middle of dense primary forest. It was originally developed by the 7th Day Adventists. However, now it is jointly maintain by the village and the park and we have been using it regularly since 2002. In 2001 and 2000 we accessed the site with the support of MONUC (the United Nations Mission in Congo ) helicopters.
In April 1998, use of all airspace was restricted to government flights only across the whole of the country, forcing us to use overland waterways to escape the approaching rebels as the frontline of conflict fighting swept across the landscape in June 1998. The Yasa landing strip had been closed since April 1998 and we were required to charter flights to into the government controlled airstrip at the administrative zone center of Dekese and travel overland. Earlier this year, we formally reopened the landing area at Yasa, a clearing in the savanna patch.
Hi Lola Thank you for your comment on July 27th, 2007. You said:” Glad to hear of your important program. Just wondering if there are any future plans for Bonobo tourism to publisize and protect the reserve.“ That is a valid interest. In fact, last year I began contacting safari outfitters with expertise in this region. We are still in the talking stage and I have not yet invited any of them to the site. We will soon have a team from National Geographic Society Expeditions Council - Adventure magazine visiting. I am looking at that opportunity as a chance to get good input from outsiders. Actually, there are a number of opportunities both in the Salonga and in the Bososandja Domaine Réservé Naturelle [more on this in another blog] and we are working on building an infrastructure. At the perennial pools (in the Bososandja forest) where we often observe the bonobos … even experience different communities meeting and interacting at the site … we built an observation blind. The bonobos know that we are there but it seems to give them some sense of calm as if it is a barrier that keeps us in our place. Last year we constructed a satellite camp that is much closer to the pools; prior to that we had been hiking about 45 minutes each direction to reach the pools from our main camp. Some of the hilly terrain is quite rigorous to traverse. We are seeking input from similar projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and hope to benefit from others ‘lessons learned.’ This is all still very early … but looking forward. Thank you for your question. Jo Thompson, Director Lukuru Project
The Lukuru Project area is home to a human population of ca. 82,850 people across a surface area of 23,908 km2. There are four (4) distinct ethnic groups represented on the landscape under two chefferies. They are the:
The Iyaelima and Isolu live in territories independent of the other groups. The Ikolombe territory is overlapped by the Ndengese.
The Ndengese is the administrative ruling group over the Ikolombe and the Isolu. All groups respect a traditional taboo against eating bonobo meat. The traditional authority is represented by:
We have three (3) official armed enforcement groups:
On Monday 23 July 2007, Grand CHEF BOKELE died. His death has left a void of instability and uncertainty on the land. Chef Bokele supported the work of the Lukuru Project as the highest traditional authority across the entire region since 2002 when his brother (Chef SIKI) was publicly executed by rebels. Although he always agreed with the activities and mission of the Lukuru Project, when the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) globally broadcast in late 2002 the enormous amounts of funding to be designated in 11 landscapes across 6 countries of central Africa
The hilly terrain within the Project zone consists of irregular dry forest and grassland mosaic habitat increasing in elevation out of the southern periphery of the topographic Congo . This Project area delineates the most southern limit, at latitude 4o South, of bonobo occupation within the species geographic distribution.
Ecological field data from the site challenges the established image of bonobos as specialized arboreal apes restricted to living exclusively in lowland moist forest. Although it is clear that bonobos require access to forest, Lukuru Project findings provided evidence that bonobos also occupy and utilize a drier and more open habitat. Observations confirmed that grassland fruits are consumed by resident bonobos. These findings changed the perception of the species’ ecological limits.
Research and observations in the Lukuru are the first evidence of bonobos inhabiting patches of savanna grassland.
In 1997 we were able to again provide startling new evidence … this time of bonobos frequenting and using perennial pools to feed on sub aquatic vegetation. Here the bonobos are observed to wade bipedally out into pools of waist-deep water. This was markedly unique habitat use compared to the shallow streams that bonobos had been known to wade in at other field sites.
The mission of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project (Lukuru Project) has encompassed scientific research, conservation, and educational activities about the bonobo (Pan paniscus) within the project area. The acronym “Lukuru” is derived from the names of the two major navigable water routes within the Zone, the Lukenie Sankuru (which defines the southern territorial limit of the project area). Working since 1992, we have 16 years of experience and well-established contacts, regional networks, and relationships with local people in our project area.
Covering an area of nearly 20 percent of the global range of the bonobo, the Lukuru Project area delineates the most southern limit of bonobo occupation within the species geographic distribution and encompasses an important portion of the Salonga for bonobo conservation.
The Lukuru Project area focuses on two of the nine bonobo priority populations identified by the GRASP Scientific Commission and international experts in 2006. These two forest blocks are ranked #1 (Salonga forest block 36,448 km2) and #2 (Dekese forest block 3,360 km2) habitat blocks for bonobo conservation activities.
The Lukuru Project encompasses twenty percent of the Salonga , the only federally recognized national park where bonobos occur, and the Réserve Naturelle de la Bososandja (falling within the Dekese forest block identified above), a locally recognized protected area and the home of a biologically viable population of bonobos distinct from the core of the global range.
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