by Mike Loomis
June 10, 2010
After more vehicle maintenance and securing field supplies, we finally left Limbe on Wednesday and headed for Mundemba. We arrived about 4:30PM after driving through some very hard rain. We met with Korup National Park's lead biologist, who told us that the river is running very high due to recent rains. He noted that the high river is keeping the elephants on the outside edge of Korup National Park, as they are not able to cross the river to actually enter the park.
We also learned about a poaching controversy in the park. It seems that a poacher was shot and injured by Korup National Park game guards recently. The poacher was from a nearby community that has a history of conflict with the park—two communities that were once inside the park were forced to re-located, which has led to a lot of bad feelings in those communities toward the parks. In any event, after the poacher was shot, several research and tourist camps inside the park were destroyed. It's a terrible loss, as it means that much of the park's hard-earned infrastructure is now gone. Since that happened, the park and the local communities have been meeting in an effort to smooth out relationships. Hopefully, there will not be any more incidents like this in the future.
About the author:Dr. Mike Loomis is Chief Veterinarian at the North Carolina Zoological Park.
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