|
Fieldworkers would probably agree that time has a different meaning in the field. In Japan, doing deskwork, time just flies. In Wamba, you feel every hour. We have been here for only 10 days but it feels like one month. The days start early, by 4 am we are already up, and leave for the forest around 4:30 am with headlights and boots on. It takes 1 to 1h30min on foot to reach the nesting site of bonobos from the field station. On the way, the sound of insects and the voices of trackers speaking in their local language, Longando, make me think (–until the entrance of the forest at least, after what I must concentrate on what is on the ground!). We usually arrive before the bonobos wake up and wait under their nests. Then, infants start playing around and getting down. There are two well habituated groups in Wamba: E1 and PE. This week, we followed both groups. While E1 lives mainly in primary forest, PE rather lives in swampy areas of secondary forest which makes their observation very challenging. But once you’ve overcome branches, roots, vines, holes, spikes, sweat flies (-they love us as much as we hate them), swamps, ants, pees and poops, bonobos are so cool to observe! Both groups include several infants and juveniles so, we witness funny scenes. Bonobos are a food taboo in Wamba, which is not the case for many other animals inhabiting the forest. However, several individuals have missing fingers or legs due to snares originally made to catch duikers and other wildlife. Sadly, this and other individual features help identification. I have nicknamed a few to facilitate memorization: Nobita is “Voldemort” –part of his nose is ripped off, Kalin is “Greemlin”, and Ten is known as “White nipples”. I found more nicknames linked to genital parts that I won’t share here… Bombambo (“parasol tree”), Bokombe, Bolinda, and Bosenge are some of their current favorite trees and some names to remember. So, we go from tree to tree, from primary to secondary forest, from agricultural fields with old mamas looking at bonobos with intense curiosity, to swampy forest until they nest, around 17:30 these days. We were under some of their nesting tree, it was already getting dark in the forest when we heard high pitch “Yaaaah Yaaaaah Yaaaaah”. Toda told me: “Sunset call, they will sleep here”. So, we took the GPS location and we left, came back to camp after some kilometers on the Bomboli ("butterfly" in Lingala) road (= unstable bamboos and dead tree trunks to cross the river) and made it just on time for the daily staff meeting at 7pm. A bucket of water, and a plate of rice, eggs, matembele and beya later, and it’s our time to sleep…  
0 Comments
After one week in Kinshasa for Toda and a few days for me, staying in Sainte-Anne (a catholic church serving as hostel), telling missionaries that we study bonobos, stopping by the Ministry of Scientific Research and visiting Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary, we finally left Kinshasa on Wednesday morning. First stop: Djolu. The flight from Kinshasa takes about 4 hours and is operated by MAF, an American missionary company which flies primatologists in the middle of the forest to study the origins of human evolution... The flight gave us an amazing view: 360 degrees of forest –reassuring to see. We landed without problem and had a welcoming committee waiting for us, including Nahoko Tokuyama (post-doctoral researcher at Wamba) with whom we could exchange a few hugs and sentences before she took the same 9S-EMO plane back to Kinshasa after 6 months in Wamba. Men gather to carry the 550kg of luggage, equipment, material and food that we brought with us –pushing bikes on foot for 80km of sandy trail until Wamba. We reach Djolu village by motorbike, drop our bags at the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) station and visit a few houses for formalities, the DGM’s to give some money and register our presence in the locality, the colonel’s to have some foufou and matembele, and Djolu’s office’s to greet the chef de bureau. Tired of our journey, we go to bed early but this was without expecting there would be a football game… PSG-Real Madrid. We probably had the biggest supporters of those teams united under the same roof that night. Next morning, we go to Djolu’s local market to get a few more stuffs like soap, garlic and slippers, and participate in an interview with Radio Bolombo –AWF’s local radio raising awareness among local populations regarding deforestation. Finally, we are set and get off with two motorbikes and one rally champion –Jean-Marie. Four hours later, here we are, Wamba! I arrive with Jean-Marie first. On the way, many hands waving at us. While waiting for Toda and Feli to arrive, I meet Mr Nkoyi Batolumbo, the first bonobo tracker who started with Prof Kano at the early stage of the project back in 1973. Together with many others, we look at the July 2017 National Geographic issue about Antarctica… A captivated audience to say the least. Then, Toda arrives like a local superstar and put his forehead on many other foreheads, and so do I. We unpack most of the boxes, pay our helpers, settle down in our new mud house and look forward to the forest and the bonobos the next day…  |