Dabora, the drunkard we left merrily feasting away last night got so intoxicated that he was helpless to let himself out for a short call, instead he took to yelling at the top of his voice early in the morning for attention, awoken by his crazed drunken ramblings i thought i was in a mental asylum or a torture chamber, his racket was too much, even when he'd been about his business he would have random outbursts throughout the night that no-one could sleep through. Dabora became a familiar name after that night as he often became the topic of conversation for both myself and Jim, we had never quite experienced the likes of him, Lawrence would laugh in heinsite it was really funny.
We were meant to wake up early but Dabora prevented this, still at about 9 we went through the morning village routine, hurrying to the bucket shower before others got in first, waiting for the toilet as it was cleaned, drinking locally grown tea with locally made bread and a large bowl of fruit, paupau, pineapple, mango. We discussed the plan: try to drive the private road through Queen Elizabeth national park without paying, viewing the abundance of wildlife as we travelled. Queen Elizabeth national park was named by the queen in her previous 2007 visit for it's natural beauty and number + variety of animals, it is situated right on the border, DRC is just a stones throw away, to make things even better this is one of the closest borders to the current conflict and is known for the sheer number of refugees that cross every day. Anticipation and anxiety were mixed but the possibility of getting my first site of a wild leopard, lion or elephant ,without expense, was an opportunity I wasn't about to pass up. Cameras in hand we jammed into Lawrence's brothers car and made our way out of the village in a long journey towards the Savannah.
We stopped to fill up on petrol and buy food supplies in the last town before the park began, this was also the closest town to the border, where numerous refugee camps could be found, flash 4wd's bearing the names of every NGO under the sun were present. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is no joke, everyday people are dying and millions are homeless, talking to many about the situation you get the feeling it isn't going to get any better soon, Congo is a resource rich, massive country, full of dense jungles and terrain perfect for any rebel faction to hide. We are also talking about some of the most sought after resources in the world, diamonds, oil, gold, so yes there are rebel groups but there are also government backed troops from Rwanda and Uganda, all vieing for a piece of the pie incognito. Uganda is there apparently fighting the ongoing battle against Kony, a man that has committed many atrocities, however Uganda has had the chance to kill this guy or stop him in his tracks so often you wonder why they haven't, does it have anything to do with the territory where he is currently situated? let me give a good example of this, Uganda was the largest timber exporter in Africa, without massive forests to back this up, they were recently found plundering large amounts of Congolese timber for large profits.
So we are travelling near one of the worlds hot spots nearing the park when what should we see but 2 large Ugandan tanks making their way on the road towards us, we had to pull over as these massive things passed, soon after hundreds of ground infantry followed carrying all sorts of weaponry, they were making their way towards Congo, Jim and I just looked at each other, sometimes a face can say a thousand words! Tanks! we really felt like we were in the middle of it, extreme!
We continued, whilst trying to understand what exactly was going on, Lawrence tried to keep us focused on the wild life, "lions roam these parts" he said as our tire burst. we were in the middle of a national park, on the border of Congo, surrounded by tanks, lions and god knows what else, we had a flat tire that had to be fixed and the grass was so long that trying to spot a stalking lion was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. One thing we did have on our side was that it was around noon, not the usual hunting time.. still! tire changed, we keep going again, soon enough we see an elephant, Me and Jim turn to take pictures as the brother is racing at top speed, the elephant is running along side us about 50 metres away, both brothers talk of the danger of elephants especially ones on the move... its like scoring a part in an action movie, everything is happening, we see angry buffalo and don't stick around, monkeys, birds of all shapes , colours and sizes, the terrain is ongoing, at last we get a picture of a calm elephant drinking in a river, what site, a huge thing that didn't mind the company. Following the ongoing road, bands of baboons cross in front and behind our moving vehicle, one group came very close, perfect for a photo opportunity, these animals are surprisingly large and very agile, with sharp teeth and claws, Lawrence said it was OK to throw them a banana, as I reached for one from the back it sent the animals present into a frenzy, they rushed at my open window bearing teeth, slashing out at my arm they stood on hind legs beating their chests, i shouted while releasing the banana then watched them fight violently amongst themselves and turn again aggressively toward the car full of open windows, we didn't need to be told twice and raced off. don't feed the animals comes to mind, i wouldn't recommend it either! this is an ongoing joke, the way i shouted in the face of dangerous wild animals out for food is something i cant live down and will remember for a while to come.
We were meant to wake up early but Dabora prevented this, still at about 9 we went through the morning village routine, hurrying to the bucket shower before others got in first, waiting for the toilet as it was cleaned, drinking locally grown tea with locally made bread and a large bowl of fruit, paupau, pineapple, mango. We discussed the plan: try to drive the private road through Queen Elizabeth national park without paying, viewing the abundance of wildlife as we travelled. Queen Elizabeth national park was named by the queen in her previous 2007 visit for it's natural beauty and number + variety of animals, it is situated right on the border, DRC is just a stones throw away, to make things even better this is one of the closest borders to the current conflict and is known for the sheer number of refugees that cross every day. Anticipation and anxiety were mixed but the possibility of getting my first site of a wild leopard, lion or elephant ,without expense, was an opportunity I wasn't about to pass up. Cameras in hand we jammed into Lawrence's brothers car and made our way out of the village in a long journey towards the Savannah.
We stopped to fill up on petrol and buy food supplies in the last town before the park began, this was also the closest town to the border, where numerous refugee camps could be found, flash 4wd's bearing the names of every NGO under the sun were present. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is no joke, everyday people are dying and millions are homeless, talking to many about the situation you get the feeling it isn't going to get any better soon, Congo is a resource rich, massive country, full of dense jungles and terrain perfect for any rebel faction to hide. We are also talking about some of the most sought after resources in the world, diamonds, oil, gold, so yes there are rebel groups but there are also government backed troops from Rwanda and Uganda, all vieing for a piece of the pie incognito. Uganda is there apparently fighting the ongoing battle against Kony, a man that has committed many atrocities, however Uganda has had the chance to kill this guy or stop him in his tracks so often you wonder why they haven't, does it have anything to do with the territory where he is currently situated? let me give a good example of this, Uganda was the largest timber exporter in Africa, without massive forests to back this up, they were recently found plundering large amounts of Congolese timber for large profits.
So we are travelling near one of the worlds hot spots nearing the park when what should we see but 2 large Ugandan tanks making their way on the road towards us, we had to pull over as these massive things passed, soon after hundreds of ground infantry followed carrying all sorts of weaponry, they were making their way towards Congo, Jim and I just looked at each other, sometimes a face can say a thousand words! Tanks! we really felt like we were in the middle of it, extreme!
We continued, whilst trying to understand what exactly was going on, Lawrence tried to keep us focused on the wild life, "lions roam these parts" he said as our tire burst. we were in the middle of a national park, on the border of Congo, surrounded by tanks, lions and god knows what else, we had a flat tire that had to be fixed and the grass was so long that trying to spot a stalking lion was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. One thing we did have on our side was that it was around noon, not the usual hunting time.. still! tire changed, we keep going again, soon enough we see an elephant, Me and Jim turn to take pictures as the brother is racing at top speed, the elephant is running along side us about 50 metres away, both brothers talk of the danger of elephants especially ones on the move... its like scoring a part in an action movie, everything is happening, we see angry buffalo and don't stick around, monkeys, birds of all shapes , colours and sizes, the terrain is ongoing, at last we get a picture of a calm elephant drinking in a river, what site, a huge thing that didn't mind the company. Following the ongoing road, bands of baboons cross in front and behind our moving vehicle, one group came very close, perfect for a photo opportunity, these animals are surprisingly large and very agile, with sharp teeth and claws, Lawrence said it was OK to throw them a banana, as I reached for one from the back it sent the animals present into a frenzy, they rushed at my open window bearing teeth, slashing out at my arm they stood on hind legs beating their chests, i shouted while releasing the banana then watched them fight violently amongst themselves and turn again aggressively toward the car full of open windows, we didn't need to be told twice and raced off. don't feed the animals comes to mind, i wouldn't recommend it either! this is an ongoing joke, the way i shouted in the face of dangerous wild animals out for food is something i cant live down and will remember for a while to come.
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