Congo: Lac Tchimpa and the Lukani River After paddling down the Ngonogo we traveled to Lac Tchimpa, another tranquil lake with no permanent residents. However, this lake is closer to villages so we did see lots of signs of fishing activity (particularly large hooks set for freshwater turtles). Again the habitat was great for manatees, but none were seen. I did find a small river […]
Congo: Kayaking the Ngongo Last week my friend Tim (a whale researcher who lives at Conkouati) and I took off on a 3 day trip in search of manatees to lakes and up the Ngongo River north of Conkoauti Lagoon. People on the lagoon told me manatees occur in these more remote areas, so I was eager to go look. Our Congolese boat driver, Christian,
Congo: Conkouati Lagoon I’ve been at Conkouati National Park for 2 weeks now and have boated around most of the southern end of the large lagoon. One of the first days we went out to where the lagoon drains into the Atlantic Ocean. The lagoon is formed from many rivers that meander down from mountains west of here and drain into lakes and then rivers
Mayumba, Gabon to Conkouati, Congo After finishing my surveys in southern Banio Lagoon, I returned to Mayumba for several days to interview fishermen and survey several rivers at the north end of the lagoon. I also worked with Jean Nestor and Chardene, the WCS outreach team, on manatee presentations for villages. Mayumba has a much higher human population so manatees are rarely seen (the last
First day with Sea to Shore Alliance! I’m very excited to announce that as of today I am be joining the staff at Sea to Shore Alliance, a non-profit wildlife research organization based in Florida. Sea to Shore’s Director is Dr. James “Buddy” Powell, who has been my manatee mentor since 1998, and my African manatee work follows in the footsteps of Buddy’s ten years
Gabon: camping on the haute Banio After spending time with Victor, it was then time to continue my surveys for wild manatees. As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven’t been to this lagoon since 2006. At that time I only spent 2 days doing surveys because during my first season I traveled to many different parts of Gabon to get an overview of
Gabon: Return to Mayumba I’ve wanted to post long before this, but I’ve had a series of computer nightmares recently and am only typing now thanks to the generosity of my friends Hilde & Tim, who’ve lent me a laptop. In early June, once I’d sorted out all my logistics and research permit applications in Libreville, my friend Rich Parnell and I flew to Tchibanga,