"You stay here. Don't move," Daniela whispered to loud gorilla yelling. "It's OK, you just don't move," she repeated and I thought that perhaps Khalil tried to turn right with his camera despite her first warning, to focus on the area in front of me. It was funny that I was thinking about this. I kept ducking down and wondered if I could continue whispering my commentary to the microport. I had tried to imagine myself in such a situation before and always came to the conclusion that I would probably run in panic - which would be the most stupid thing to do. Just a few second ago, a muscular silver-backed male western lowland gorilla stopped some five or ten metres in front of me in a menacing posture. Makumba.
Obviously, this was a misunderstanding. By accident, our group comprising German zoologist Daniela Hedwig, Khalil, and baAka scouts, found itself between Makumba and two of his females - it was probably Bombe who started the alarm. What could Makumba do...? Well, UI shouldn't play it down. Only after a while I started to realise how strong an experience that was, I admit...
We arrived at the Bai Hokou camp after an hour-and-a half drive from Bayanga. We were lucky not to encounter any trees felled by forest elephants, which is the most common traffic complication around here, together with mud. Bai Hokou is a major camp comprising fifteen wooden lodges. It serves for research into western lowland gorillas, mainly Makumba's troop, but habituation efforts are underway with other troops, too. In the camp, we met local workers and BaAka scouts, as well as Daniela. We had heard about her from Angelique (Todd), still we were surprised to meet here there. A girl in a camp in the middle of a tropical rainforest commands scouts and daily ventures into the bush to record gorilla voices... "We can leave in twenty minutes," she said when we met and when I took down some asic facts about Makumba's troop.
Who is who in Dzanga Sangha
The habituated western lowland gorilla troop has eleven members.
Makumba - the leading silver-backed male and father of all the young; is name means "the fastest" in BaAka.
Mopambi - - the mother of females Mai (5 years) and Bokata (3 years); most habituated all the three females; reportedly resembles a chimp by face; she is named after a tree.
Malui - the mother of a one year old maleTembo and four years old Mossoko, who is constantly feeding himself; Malui is believed to be aggressive, beautiful - and big-eared
Bombe (pron. bombi) - the mother of 2.5 years old Mobangi and five years old Esekerente; she is aggressive but timid.
Kunga - ten years old black-backed male.
There are strict rules for moving around the forest. The expedition is always led by a BaAka scout, followed by researchers (or visitors like us), with another BaAka at the tail. The group must keep close together and be very quiet for the BaAkas to hear every whisper. This is important especially because of forest elephants. There are thousands of them in Dzanga Sangha and they are extremely dangerous. That is why it is impossible to go to the forest in rain when the elephants leave clearings and keep in the bush and when (which is the main reason) the BaAkas would not be able to hear them. I was amazed by the BaAkas, who are also known as Pygmies, and their abilities to move around the forest, their sense of orientation and woodcraft in general. I am definitely going to write more about them in a future post.
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Our first trip to visit the gorillas took around forty minutes. We walked past a clearing where there was only one elephant this time, took off our shoes and waded a stream before we entered a thicket. The scouts started to make clicking sounds. "This is to let the gorillas know that there is no danger," Daniela explained, "they are used to this sound." After a while, we met other BaAkas and continued in a direction they showed us. During the day, the gorillas are almost constantly under supervision - we took a turn.
We soon heard and then saw the first gorilla. Makumba himself! We were in Africa, just a few metres away from a silverback, in the wild, without protective glass walls, iron bars or a moat. I hadn't dreamt of experiencing something like that - and I am sorry I can't express the feeling properly... Anyhow, the feeling is extremely strong and intensive and one will probably experience it just a few times in the whole life... (Especially if it is amplified by developments like those we mentioned at the beginning:-)
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Different members of Makumba's troop kept appearing and disappearing again in the thicket, the young climbed small trees. The troop was constantly in motion and we lost sight of it after a while. However, the scouts were tracking the gorillas and led us to a clearing. After a minute or so, Mai stepped out of the bushes and stopped at a place full of butterflies. She watched them thoughtfully for a while and then stepped amidst them with apparent pleasure... The scouts led us over a stream, with our shoes on: "Makumba is coming!" Several other members of the troop crossed the stream first. As you can see in the photo, little Bokata was most impressive, walking on two legs, looking very serious... Makumba crossed the river almost simultaneously with her. He is imposing, yet I must say he is certainly not bigger than Richard and weighs probably far less than two hundred kilos. That does not diminish his mightiness, which he had proved several days before when he defended his troop against a challenger...
"You are extremely lucky," Daniela whispered, "they come out to a clearing like this about once in four weeks. And you can see them the first time you are here!" That was only the beginning and we had much more luck...
(I am going to elaborate on all that and post photos and videos here - after we return to Europe, that is. Our expedition is saying good-bye to Makumba and his troop and is moving on. We are sending this post over a satellite link together with a video from Bai Hokou - please take it as a teaser for what will be coming later ;-)
16.11.2009 Twiggs was born in the wild in Cameroon around the year 1997. She and another female gorilla, Brighter, was smuggled across the border to Nigeria as infants to be sold as pets on the locale pet marked.
09.11.2009 When Pitchou was very small, she was brought to Hotel Ilomba in Kribi to be sold, after her mother had been killed by hunters. She stayed there for three days, until the hotel owners could no longer bare to watch her suffer. The family donated her to the LWC.
02.11.2009 Chella came to Limbe Wildlife Centre when he was only two years old. He was found in the back of a bush-taxi sitting on his dead mother. Wildlife officials confiscated him and kept him three weeks before bringing him to the Wildlife Centre.
21.09.2009 Adjibolo came to Limbe Wildlife Centre when she was only about 6 months old. She was confiscated by senior civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Adjibolo, from a hunter who tried to sell her.
