Conservation Blog

After a long and difficult drive on steep tracks full of gullies, we arrived in the afternoon in Atonga village. The headmaster of Atonga Primary School called the children back to the school and we introduced the project to the teachers and children. A thunderstorm was approaching and it was extremely hot and humid.

We were invited to conduct the film showing in the Fons’s palace. The Fon of Atonga, although very old and blind, also joined for this special event and people helped him to his traditional seat. The Fon encouraged the children of the village to watch and listen carefully, as they were about to see and learn about the wildlife that was once abundant in the area when he was a child himself, many decades ago.

{gallery}cross_river_gorilla_art_class_njentse{/gallery}A group of about 60 children gathered in the big hall of the palace. Louis introduced the programme of that afternoon, the film showing and painting of the Cross River Gorilla. None of the children had ever seen a gorilla or chimpanzee. Some had seen smaller monkeys and other wildlife. When the film started they were watching the great apes with big eyes and smiles on their faces, sometimes laughing out loud when the young gorillas and chimps were playing in the trees.

After the film we went back to the school for the art workshop. Daniel Taylor and his wife Ginette handed out the paint and other materials. Daniel demonstrated on the blackboard how to draw a gorilla, step by step, so that the pupils could follow his instructions. When the outlines of the gorilla were ready, the children started using the acrylic paints to colour their drawing. Three basic colours were available, which could be combined to get other colours. They had lots of fun and enjoyed to use the brushes and paints.

The sun was going down when the 4 best paintings were selected and the awards handed out to the winners. The first price, a gorilla t-shirt, went to a little boy who had been working very dedicated and his painting was really standing out. A set of pencils, pastels and a stuffed animal were handed out to the other winners of that day: two girls and one boy. The other children received pencils and balloons. They were all excited, singing songs and waving us out.

 

In Njentse, the school children and teachers were waiting for us when we arrived at 10AM. A meeting was held with the chairman of the school board, the headmaster and teachers in which we explained the programme and activities of that day in more detail. We also discussed the overall education and wildlife art activities, which are part of this expedition, and how these activities are embedded in

a long term community development and conservation project in the area.

Since we did not have a generator in this village, we showed the great apes film on a notebook in one of the classrooms. The response of the children, when they saw gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, often for the very first time in their lives, was fabulous. Most of the children had only heard the names of these animals, but have never seen one, even on pictures or film. From the expression on their faces and laughter we could tell this was really an eye opener for them and a valuable learning experience.

{gallery}cross_river_gorilla_art_class_atonga{/gallery} The film showing was followed by an art workshop in the same class, with about 40 children between 8 and 9 years old. The headmaster and teachers were present as well and very interested in working with the art materials and methods provided. Daniel Taylor gave a demonstration on the blackboard and helped the children with the brushes and paints.

An art contest was part of the workshop and the four best paintings were selected. The winners were announced outside the school building and the awards handed out. All the other children got pencils and balloons.

The art workshops proved to be a successful activity for community sensitization on great ape conservation, and marked the launch of a long term education programme involving more than 50 primary schools in the project area.

After the film showing the children went back to the school for the workshop. It was decided that we would work with a group of 40 pupils of 8-9 years old. Artist Daniel Taylor explained the theme of the art workshop, the Cross River Gorillas, as well as the use of materials like brushes, water and paint. For these children it was the very first time that they were using paint and brushes.

{gallery}art_workshop_fossimondi{/gallery} Daniel demonstrated on the blackboard how the children can draw a basic gorilla face, step by step, so that the kids could follow his instructions and make a drawing on their own paper. He then invited the children to use the paint in any way they want to colour the gorilla.

Some children were using the primary colours just like that, others were mixing them and in that way got different colours. All the kids were enjoying it, and some were working very devoted. We walked around to each child helping, commenting and complementing their individual work. One of the teachers was eager to give it a try and painted a gorilla as well.

An art contest was part of the workshop, but it was not easy to choose the 4 best paintings. Some of the paintings were really standing out and we selected paintings of 2 boys and 2 girls.

Daniel handed out the different awards. The 4th prize was a set of pencils and sharpener, the 3rd prize a pastel set, the 2nd prize a stuffed giraffe and the first prize was a gorilla t-shirt. They all had their photographs taken with the artist. First prize winner Christopher was very happy with his gorilla t-shirt. We were impressed not only by his painting but also by his devotion. A young conservationist?

 

This morning we arrived around 8:30am at the Fossimondi Primary School, welcomed by groups of excited children. A brief introduction meeting with the headmaster and teachers followed. Since we wanted to show a great apes film to the children prior the the art workshop, all the children of the school were asked to go to the Fon’s palace. A 10 minutes walk but most of the children were running all the way down to the palace as you can see in the video.

The Fon’s palace is actually the only building with a large enough room for all children and, not unimportant, electricity cables…

After installing all film projection equipment it turned out that the local generator was not strong enough and for a moment it didn’t look very promising for the film showing that day. Fortunately another generator was found within the village!



The children were excited to see chimpanzees, gorilla and bonobos. They were laughing out loud when young gorillas were playing or riding on their mother’s back. “They are like us!”, one of the pupils said with a big smile. Although they are living in villages adjacent to the forest, none of the children had ever seen a chimpanzee or gorilla in the wild. We promise to come back with more films in a couple of months.

 

Early in the morning we got up, had a quick breakfast with our powder drinks and we packed the tent. We made some photographs of the magnificent views on the forest valleys below as well as a short video of Louis introducing the highlands and adjacent villages.

 

It was decided that the team would split up, with Daniel and Ginette taking the road going up the mountain and slowly making their way back to the village. The second team, including Louis, Arend and two porters, would decent further into the valleys and conduct more detailed surveys on the slopes where the gorillas have last been seen.

These slopes are very steep and there are no more trails, other than the few trails left by hunters which are barely visible. We are climbing over and below gigantic rock formations, and find the remaining of hunter camp sites. We also discover some nests of forest swallows. The Lebialem Highlands are a biodiversity hotspot with plant species that haven’t yet been described by scientists. It is also well known for the large variety of birds, butterflies and other insects.

 

We find several trails of the gorillas as well as feedings sites with their favourite food species. The Cross River gorillas in this area are under pressure and therefore prefer the most dense vegetation, often secondary forests with a dense understory with many shrubs and herbs.

After a sharp turn around a hill, we suddenly find a gorilla nest site with 6 nests. The nests are quite old as the leaves used are brown and start decomposing. The decay rate of nests is a measure for how old the nests are. We continue the surveys until we reach another agricultural plot in the middle of the forest.

There are still some larger trees but also oil palm and many other cash and food crops such as coffee, cocoa, and vegetables. Our other survey team, trained by WWF Conservation Biologist Eno Nku Manasseh, finds too many of these farms deep in the forest. This is not a good sign and makes clear that we need to act very fast in order to preserve the Cross River gorillas and their habitat in this area.

We don't see the Cross River gorillas, but that would have been too good to be true, wouldn't it? They are here - but there are not many left and they don't want to be found. In fact it is better when we don't find them as the last thing we want is to disturb these critically endangered primates.