CONGO LIFE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 188, 1 April 1932, Page 2

CONGO LIFE

/SdiENTIFIC 5TUDY l _ TWO MILIJON FRANCS LENT FOR RESEARCH WORK. LAND OF VANISHING GORILLAS. The Belgian Government has made a loan of two million francs to the administration of the Pare National Albert, with which to begin at once the constructipn of the headquarters station for. zooJogical and,other-: scientific research in the Congo. The chosen site of 20 acres is at the Government post at Rutshuru, on the bank of the river. A motor road is b.eingr niade to Redjaf, on the Nile, to provide better access, by way of Egypt, for visiting scientists, who will he able to travel in luxury from the capitals of Europe into the jungle capitals of a few suryiving tribes of goriilas, to study the ways of these huge apes. Another fine motor road will connect with Kijsumu, wl^ence trains run down from Mombasa. At Rutshuru will be placed a library containing all available scientifip treaties relating to the fauna, flora and geology of Central Africa; a students' museum, for which will be col-lected-all the cr.eatures of thg region; laboratories. equipped for the use of zoologists, geologists, hotanists and seismologists; and a photo'graphic wing and chemical laboratory. Though only one degree from the Equator, the station has a temperate climate, o'wing to its 5000ft elevation. It commands a view of both active and extinct volcanoes. •

There are to he a group of these huge Conjgo wild life sanctuaries, which will ensure the protection of the already fast-dwindling numbers of goriilas. Gorilla life is to be filmed, as well as studied. The Pare National Albert, is already in being, with a strict code of protective laws. Jlt is half a million acres in extent. Pare Leopold and Pare Ruwenzori, the new projects, will comprise respectively one million and a half a million acres. Still more Parcs may he established.

King Enthusiastic. The King of the Belgians is enthusiastic over the creation of these huge wild nature preserves and has personally taken an important part in their planning. Unlike wild life preserves in other countries, the great Congo Parcs will not be thrown open to tourists, lest the habits of the animals become chan'ged and they. become in time semi-domesticated. Nor will grazing or agricultural development be permitted. Certain areas, moreover, will be ahsolutely closed, even to scientists on the administrative staff and their visiting colleagues. At least one quarter of the 500, 0Q0 acre Pare National Albert, for" instance, is absolutely private, mainly to prevent the goriilas becoming accustomed to the sight of man and copying his ways. A Royal decree forbids, under penalty of penal servitude, or a heavy fine, or both, the pursuit, capture, killing, or molesting in any way of any kind of wild animal, including creatures reputed. to he harmful; the taking or destroying of eggs of wild birds; the cutting down, destroying, or removal of any uncultivated plant; or the making of any excavation, embankment, horing or any .operation of a nature to ehange the aspect of the ground or of the vegetation. Unless provided with a special permit, no one but officials and others properly qualified may enter the Pare, cr circulate, camp, or sojourn there, or introduce dogs, traps, or firearms, or possess or transport or export skins or other parts of wild animals or uncultivated vegetable products. Lands now occupied by natives or other private persons are to he taken over, at a valuation, by the authorities.

Goriilas Protected. Even in the neighbouring territory, attacks on the gorilla are forbidden. Around the Pare itself a protective zone has been established, in which nobody, native or white, may hunt, fish, or hew down trees. An exception is made in the case of a few natives living in this zone, but they are not allowed to use firearms in hunting their food. The Belgian Government pays the purely administrative expenses of the Pare, maintaining a corps of conservators and native police. The money for running the research station at Rutshuru is being privately subscribed by contributors in various countries. The Pare National Albert is in the Kivu region of the Belgian Congo, almqst in the centre of Central Africa, writes a correspondent in the Daily Telegraph. It includes the home of the rare mountain gorilla (G. berengei)' ' . ^ This gorilla forest is found at a Keight of 9000 to 12,000 feet above sea level, on the cool slopes of a group of extinct volcanoes — a very picturesque vista of giant gnarled trees, often festooned with ferns, vines and lichens, with brilliant-hued orchids fiourishing on the mossy hranches. It is in the forks of the lower limbs of these great trees that the goriilas make their homes, on dumps of leaves, branches, and dry grass, which look like huge birds' nests.

Tortured . by Animals. When Du Ghaillu was trekking after gorilla he was told that they had been known to abduct women and carry them home to live in their nests. They also, he was assured, have an unpleasant little way of crouching on the lower branches of trees when they hear men approaehing,. suddenly lowering themselVes by they: long arms, and strangling them with their feet. Other native informants told him of a party of men, taken captive by a company of goriilas, who were presently set free— after their finger-naiis and toe-nails had been ripped out. Through the gorilla forest range herds of elephants, and in the vicinity are numerous leopards which sometimes prey on gorilla children. On the sandy plain, some thousands of feet lower, and along the swampy verge of Lake Edward, are herds of zebra and antelope, and hippopotami frequent the lake itself and the Rutshuru River. The new Pare Leopold is to be created near the northern border of the Congo. North and east of Pare National Albert will be Pare Ruwen-

zori, in the Ruwenzori range, adjoining the Uganda frontier. These additional 1,500,000 acres of preserve are of particular interest, as they e'omprise thei homes of many white rhinoceros, okapi, lechwe and giant Derby eland. Among the birds of the regipn are the Gelo River crowned hornbill, the Ruwenzori lourie, the secretary, Stegmann's hornbill, the Uganda brown parrot, the southern little beeeater, the Ruwenzori wood hoopoe, and the Swahili wood owl.