EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Tracking the Poachers

Salonga National Park
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Explanation:  This week is a special herald to, and appreciation of, those courageous and largely unsung heroes of the forest that strive to save the wildlife and resources that we cherish.  This episode builds upon a previous exploration. 

It is also a reveal of how poachers -- illegal hunters and trappers of wildlife -- communicate with each other.

In the main photos above, the fellow with the firearm, trudging through this central tropical African jungle is our hero:  a forest guard with I.C.C.N. -- Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, a semi-governmental institution charged with guarding protected areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

And on the right is the sign of the poachers he is pursuing.  Poachers in these forests are organized into teams, or gangs if you will.  They mark their territories with symbols carved into trees, much as urban gangs mark theirs with distinctive graffiti.  So this tree bears the symbols of greed and illegal activity.

  

Into the dense understory of Salonga National Park in the remote interior of the Congo River Basin.

Often, even the few paths become quickly overgrown and must be cleared by hand machete, as this guard is doing here ... hoping to track and discover his poacher prey before they see him, as they too are likely armed and will attack.

It takes only a few steps into the dense vegetation to vanish from sight (did you spot our guard in this photo?).

These forest guards have an astounding sense of direction when every direction looks the same.

This is best that these guards have to go on,
a hand-drawn sketch map of their current patrol routes --
always on foot -- into this wild and uninhabited jungle park.

And this park extends across some 36,000 square km (13,900 square miles)!

Another example of poacher signals in the dense, dark forest understory.  

These signs likely mark poacher territorial boundaries, and perhaps information on their numbers, identity, and wildlife of the area.

So here's to the forest guards, working in some of the most dangerous and unpredictable environments, to protect the elephants, antelope, primates, and all the wildlife of these amazing and vulnerable environments!