Success! Research clearance granted.

We got our research clearance this morning - yay! Thermal images of elephants at Dzanga here we come.

Bangui is a bit more lively on Monday - yesterday it would be hard to know we were walking around the capital of Central African Republic. If all goes well, we drive to the southernmost tip of the country - and elephants. Hard to know what updates I will be able to give from here on out, but I will try when I can.

Peter meets Andrea in Bangui, CAR

At the beginning of a new adventure in Africa, I'm hanging out in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. A great pleasure to arrive with Andrea Turkalo - and somehow simultaneously amazing and yet so expected, she walks down the street in Bangui greeting people all along the street. I'm not particularly impressed by the city - quite a bit less well developed than Libreville in Gabon, or Brazzaville in Congo - but has a nice feel about it and Andrea said it is a bit like hometown.

Our hope is that tomorrow we get the research permit for our thermal-imaging project at Dzanga, then 14 hours driving southeast to Bayanga in the dry season dust. Fourteen hours given no unexpected delays at checkpoints or because of breakdown. For me this will be an incredible field trip because it will be entirely at the Dzanga Bai. I was at Dzanga previously, but only for a few days during the filming of the segment by CBS 60 Minutes a couple of years ago (hope you all had a chance to see the re-broadcast on the 22nd). So now I am anticipating the five weeks we will be working nearly every day (and night) at the Mecca for forest elephants.

Diving Forest Elephants

Dateline: Kessala, Gabon  8 October 2011

Cantilevered out over the Mpassa River, the platform provides a wonderful view of a bend in the river and the sandbar surrounded by places for elephants to drink mineral water. From here we can see the ARU (autonomous recording unit) that we have used to monitor elephant activity over the last two years.

In most particulars this site is just like any other 'bai': mineral access, an opening where family units can meet and interact, a place where individuals can find mates. But different because it is a big river with a strong current. Last night a nice big male with heavy tusks was up to his hips in the river when we arrived. Over and over again he first squatted down, then apparently knelt on the river bottom in order to get his trunk down into a mineral pit. At times he was completely under, but his butt kept popping up and an occasional tail-twitch gave away his position. (I will put a video here when I get somewhere that can handle the upload!)

A bit later in the afternoon a female group arrived; two adult females each with a calf. On of these calves ws probably 7-8 years old, the other maybe about 4 years. Strange that there was not a very young calf with either female. The group materialized across the deep channel where the male was diving and immediately went into the river. They swam a bit, then the females got to a point where they could stand. The two calves kept going toward the middle of the river and the sand bar. I expect they didn't like fighting the current where their mothers stopped to drink - perhaps exhausting for them to hold their position against the current when their feet barely touched bottom and with their lighter bodies.

A few years ago Nicolas Bout, a colleague of mine here in Gabon, observed this 'diving' behavior and wrote a short note for publication, interpreting that the elephants were after minerals. Some reviewer of the note rejected this as unconfirmed so the note was refused. But my video clearly shows identical behavior sequences to elephants in typical forest clearings. The females were sometimes in shallower water where is was clear that they were on their knees (as often seen in the Dzanga clearing in Central African Republic), forcefully pushing trunks into the bottom of the river, blowing out air and then pausing. Then up to drink. I think I will have to join forces with Nicolas and submit the note again!

They Stick it to Elephants

Dateline: Franceville, Gabon 7 October 2011

Elephants. The biggest land mammal on earth. Forest elephants might not be quite the largest of the three species, but surely they are the most mysterious. How can something so big be so poorly known? I’m just back from a few days in the Precious Woods forestry concession north of Lastourville, Gabon. Five years ago we started recording elephant calls at several clearings within a day’s walk of Ivindo National Park, and one of these, we found, has more elephants visiting at some times of year than any other known location in Gabon. That time of year is now, and yet we didn’t see many animals. Is it all explained by a somewhat late start to the rainy season? Have we unwittingly changed the pattern of visitation by establishing a regular monitoring program here (it is a small opening and probably holds our scent like a brandy snifter holds alcohol fumes)? Is it because of logging activity in the area 18 months ago? What really drives these animals to visit clearings in the first place – or the second or third?

We did have a lovely male come in just a few minutes before dark, and with a waxing moon we had a tantalizingly lit stage before us, showing flowing shapes enough to know that others came after dark, although we could hear that well enough. Still the forest was relatively quiet in terms of pachyderms, and perhaps this explains the decidedly unquiet time I am having right now.

There is something else that populates the forests of Gabon, not so big, but likely keenly aware of when forest elephants are numerous and when they are not. This is the elephant tick – a tiny beast less than the diameter of a pin head. How this arachnid, so minute in size, can specialize as an ectoparasite on the tough, thick, skin of an elephant is perhaps a wonder of nature – but when elephants are scarce these little beasts find easy sustenance on Peter Wrege! Always I get some of these on me, part of what comes with working in rainforests with elephants. Unfortunately my reaction seems to be getting increasingly severe and sometimes the bites last as itchy welts for well over six months (the ticks themselves usually drop off on their own, perhaps in disgust at having attached to the wrong host). On this particular excursion we hiked to the bai and then slept there the night – no opportunity to limit the damage by washing away some of the attackers with an evening bath. So I’m covered now and not all that happy about it – I’m sure the ticks and I would both be happier with a few more elephants to focus on.

Déjà Vu

Dateline: Gabon 27 September 2011

What a surprise, this morning, to find a little bit of my past right here before the house where I am staying in Iguela. One of the constant joys of coming to Loango National Park is that several species of bee-eaters are found here. I studied one of this spectacular family of birds for eight years in Kenya back in the 1980’s and always it is a pleasure to see others on my travels.

While boating through the delta of the Ogooue River on the way to Iguela, and again along the Ngowe River a few days ago, rosy bee-eaters were swooping around in the air and dipping into the water for a drink or a bath-on-the-wing. This is certainly one of the most elegant of the bee-eater species (in a family of beauties), with a mourning gray back and wings contrasting the gorgeous rosy throat, breast and belly. The other common species is one of the little ones, the blue-breasted bee-eater, which likes the open areas of savannah edges. This is the one that so pleased me this morning.

Bee-eaters are so named because they are specialists at eating venomous insects like bees and wasps, although they also eat just about any flying insect of a suitable size. Most of the species, including the blue-throated, sally forth from a perch to snap up flying insects, returning to their perch to whack them against the perch before eating or feeding them to nestlings (or their mate). All bee-eaters nest in holes that they dig themselves – the one that I studied in Kenya nested colonially in vertical earthen banks, sometimes hundreds all together. Others, like the rosy bee-eater, are also colonial but nest in the ground, digging a burrow more than a meter long with an expanded nesting chamber at the end. The smallest bee-eaters, like the blue-breasted, tend to be solitary nesters and dig their holes in small ridges of earth, or the tops of aardvark holes, or even just in the ground. A pair of blue-breasted bee-eaters forages in the edges of a savannah area behind the house here in Iguela. I have seen them on other trips and have always enjoyed taking a coffee or tea out on the back steps to sit and watch their foraging antics.

So this morning I was having coffee and enjoying the cool of early morning without anyone else up in the compound when I noticed that the pair were catching prey and processing them on the perch, but then flying off again without eating them. For sure this indicated they were feeding nestlings. Much to my surprise, I followed one around the side of the house and saw it go into a hole dug into the ground not 15 feet in front on the house! I have been here for two days and never noticed this happening. Where were by observer’s eyes?

So it has been great fun to get a little bit of video of this pair coming to their nest hole, and remembering the fantastic experiences I had living in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, following the complex social lives of white-fronted bee-eaters. 

Ngowe Supreme

Dateline: Gabon, 23 September 2011

The familiar scene unfolded around me – sound and vibration of the 25hp outboard motor (least favorite), the coolness of air motion (and consequent freedom from tsetse flies), the edges of the Ngowe River flowing past, sometimes a close bank of papyrus or white mangrove and sometimes more of a vista across swampy grasses to the forest edge at slightly higher elevation. I have been along this river many times coming from, or going to, the Akaka Camp. It is a favorite path because of the lovely scenes it offers and the multitude of water-loving birds that are startled up by the passing boat. Always also a little frustrating not to have more time to poke around and try for some photographs or video. The brilliant turquoise of a malachite kingfisher as it streaks across the river and into hiding in the mangroves. Squako herons and anhingas everywhere. Palm-nut vultures and African fish eagles. And especially finfoots!

But this particular voyage down to Akaka was destined to be the very best that ever I have had. Although the rainy season should have begun here already, it was still surprisingly dry. This means that the extensive swamps that line the Ngowe were relatively firm because the river level was below the bank – and that means elephants. Once again I am surprised at how suddenly these huge animals can appear when encountering them in the equatorial habitats of Central Africa. A winding River and mangrove/papyrus-lined banks make for startling and dramatic appearances. Our first bull loomed up on the right not more than 30 feet away – nearly black with his wet hide. He was a bit startled too but held his ground. Only one or two kilometers further along we came upon hippos in the river, first a group of three then a larger group of at least five or six. Lieth, our ecoguard, was clearly not very happy to be on the river with these large and sometimes aggressive animals. He was not willing to slow down or to stop and swung the boat wide to the opposite side of the river (still only 25-30 feet away) to pass. It is true that these animals will sometimes walk along the bottom of a river and then surface under a boat – throwing everyone into the water and extreme danger. Still, I wish we could have stopped at a safe distance to watch, then perhaps approach as seemed prudent. Near Akaka a family of elephants appeared – five or six we think, but there could have been small ones invisible in the tall grasses. These were less interested in remaining close to a noisy boat and humans, moving off a little and testing the air for our scent.

After arriving at the camp we had time to make the relatively short hike to where our acoustic recorder was hanging (‘ARUs’ we call them, after Autonomous Recording Unit). Along the trail we had just worked our way around a tree fall blocking the path when we saw a big bull elephant coming along the trail toward us. I don’t think he was aware of us yet, and we backtracked a little then took a wide detour to the side of the trail to continue on.

The ARU was hanging on a particularly high limb – perhaps about 40 feet up. Ghislain, my protégé, wanted me to do the climbing. He went up for the first unit we processed on this day and he really struggles on the climb. He is a heavy man and the climbing harness is not big enough to get over his belly to be secured higher on the torso where it belongs. This means that when he sits down in the harness during the climbing process, too much of his body mass is above the attachment point and he tips backwards more than optimal. Each move up the rope thus requires that he pull up his own body first to vertical, then make the incremental gain on the rope itself. Exhausting. It is an exhausting process even without this extra effort.

Anyway, we did not get the rope positioned really optimally and it took a bunch of throws to get it even there. Then I had a problem with the prussic climbing knot, which refused to grip properly for the climb. In the end we pulled everything down and got the rope into a better position and then I used a different system to climb to the ARU. All of this was taking more time than we expected and it was important, with the number of elephants around, to get back to camp well before dark. But we did manage to get the job done and had no encounters on the hike back.

Best of all, as we were preparing something to eat (actually Lieth and Ghislain were doing the honors), three elephants approached the river bank directly opposite the platform we were sitting on. The sun was setting and the scene had that beautiful softness of light that makes this time of day so special. Birds were calling more than usual as they headed for roost – especially flocks of African grey parrots and black-casqued hornbills. One by one the elephants slipped into the river and began to swim across not quite toward us. It was phenomenal! When the river got deep enough, they completely submerged. Then only the crowns of their heads appeared, along with their trunks for a sip of air, before disappearing below the water surface again. Fantastic!

With friends like these...

Dateline: Gabon, September 20 2011

The logistics of travelling in Gabon are never easy and always uncertain, it seems. AndI have not learned my lessons very well because always I schedule a little too tight for comfort. The objective this time was the little village of Iguela, on the north side of a lagoon that marks the northern boundary of Loango National Park. This park is on the coast of Gabon and one of the most diverse that I have seen: beaches, swamps, gallery forest, strips of savannah, rivers and lagoons, and some fairly extensive continuous forest. I was travelling here with Ghislain, the Gabonese man who is learning how to do all of the acoustic monitoring work for the Wildlife Conservation Society with whom I collaborate.

For about a month I have been setting up the timing of this trip, although nothing certain was really much agreed before I actually got to Gabon. But the dates of our mission got set and I had arranged for places to stay before and after entering the park. The first change was that we had to leave by plane from Libreville to Port Gentil Tuesday afternoon instead of Wednesday morning. This required quickly figuring out where to stay overnight because our boat-taxi through the delta of the Ogooue River to a town north of Iguela travels only on Wedesday, Friday, and Saturday (in that direction). Fortunately, I had become friends with a French couple who had once managed the Loango Lodge, a sometimes tourist destination on the edge of Loango N.P. They own a hotel in Port Gentil and have a sort of inconveniently placed room at this hotel that normally they don’t rent out and instead make available at no cost to researchers traveling to and from Loango. So I called him and he said ‘no problem’, you can stay at my house (which I thought he meant as the hotel – his English is excellent, but occasionally there are words used in a bit different way). “Call me when you get to Port Gentil.”

So we arrived and made our way to the hotel, where I requested at the desk about the room being reserved for us. No such reservation, so I called Philippe. Turns out he was going to put me up at his home after all. But when he joined us, and asked our plans, he said that the boat-taxi was not going the next day because ‘there were not enough packs’. Basically this outfit cancels any trip if there are not a quarum of passengers. I had made the mistake of trying to do this trip, both going and coming, in the middle of the week when there are often not enough passengers!

Fortunately for us, Philippe knows many people in Port Gentil and called to confirm that the Olako boat was almost certainly not going and was able to make arrangements with one of the petroleum companies working in the delta to take us on one of their boats going south with materials.

I had a wonderful evening with Philippe and his family, good conversation, and began developing some ideas to use acoustic monitoring on a pet project of his. He was leaving early the next morning for Libreville, but made arrangements for a colleague to get Ghislain and me to the right place with our gear (Ghislain knows some people in Port Gentil and opted to stay with them instead of at Philippe’s house).

What I also found out was that he had arranged to purchase some huge piece of machinery like a caterpillar tractor, was arranging to take this south through the delta to the same place we were going (Omboue), where he was going to let the town use it in garbage cleanup and maintenance! He has a piece of property between Omboue and Iguela, on the beach, where he hopes to encourage some research and perhaps some tourism, but he also is very motivated to work with and for the people who live locally in the area. He genuinely wants to help them, and in turn, they help him – and people like me are fortunate beneficiaries.
Find out more of what Philippe and Sylvie are doing in gabon: www.fondation-liambissi.org (and polish up your French!).