News from the Cross River National Park
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is presently conducting
a study of the villages in Cross River National Park's Okwangwo Division
enclaves and the immediate vicinity, to find out where and when gorillas
disturb human farming. For a comparison, I visited the northern outreach
of Afi Mountain and a community forest belonging to Kakwagom Irruan, where
crop raiding incidents by gorillas have been recorded recently during
dry seasons. Demand for farmland due to increasing population pressure
is high here, and plantations extend far up the mountain.
My team and I walked from Butatong to Obudu Cattle Ranch in 10 days and
in each village we assembled the communities and held discussions about
the damage inflicted by both small and large mammals in the local plantations.
What we have found so far is:
- Except for Okwangwo all communities have seasonal visits by gorillas during the dry season when food and water resources are less abundant in higher elevations.
- A much greater problem during all seasons is the damage done by small mammals.
- Among larger mammals wild pigs (red river hog) are responsible for more damage than any primate.
The levels of education and awareness in the area are rising and there
seems to be no immediate threat that primate hunting will become socially
accepted again in the near future. Still, among the communities there
is a good deal of worry concerning matters such as transportation and
the availability of medical treatment. Cash crops were introduced by different
NGOs, but it is very difficult to convert them into money since there
is no road for vehicles, and alternative forms of livelihood are needed.
If this does not happen, the situation concerning gorillas may change
radically. For the enclave villages (Okwangwo, Okwa 1 & 2) the urgent
question is whether the communities should be relocated or whether they
will continue to struggle for a more practical living in their present
location. If these villages' activities continue to increase, the national
park will be cut in half and, essentially, cease to function effectively.
The possibility of having a protected area with several groups of gorillas
ranging freely within it is a real hope for the future!
Conclusions Concerning Crop-raiding Gorillas
After trekking from Butatong to Obudu Cattle Ranch in September, I continued
with my team in early October to the Bumaji villages, where the situation
in many respects is similar to that of the enclave (Okwangwo, Okwa 1 &
2) and Balegete villages; destruction of crops is mainly due to every
day damage by small mammals and red river hogs. Gorillas are irregular
dry season visitors but have a lot of harmful consequences for individual
farmers because of their destruction of banana and plantain plants, when
they do appear.
In Bumaji two incidents of recent (last 5 years) killings of gorillas
were acknowledged during discussions with farmers in the community. The
local residents are generally inadequately educated on gorilla/primate
behaviour and the killings have supposedly happened because farmers (or
women collecting bush mango) felt physically threatened. Obviously such
killings may occur for economical motives, or for food/protein, even if
this was not actually admitted during interviews. I did not attempt to
find out more about these incidents since it could evoke unnecessary tension,
and it was not the primary aim of my research.
Compared to areas visited earlier, the Bumaji villages apparently have
a rather negative relationship to the national park; their main concern
is the exclusion of 7 villages (Bakufiko, Bakie, Bagabo, Uno, Bago, Bamariko
and Bumfua) from being support-zone villages, a concept which is supposed
to include all villages within 5 km of the national park border. According
to park ranger Samson Akabo, the support-zone villages scheme (a concept
left over from the creation of the national park that no longer receives
major funding) is still functioning and occasional money is handed out,
through the national park, to villages included in the scheme for road
maintenance and scholarships. It is also from support-zone villages that
most national park personnel are employed. The exclusion of these particular
Bumaji villages apparently induces less respect for the national park
and nature conservation, and it may be a major threat to present non-hunting
policies and future biological abundance.
I concluded my visit in Bumaji with a survey of gorilla evidence in the
upper Mache area, with the intention of comparing to data collected by
WCS in March 2007 that found 79 gorilla nests in 5 days. The March report
further mentioned that (according to local residents) there should be
more evidence of gorilla presence in October. I spent 2 full days with
two park rangers and two guides from the village of Yagwebe, resulting
in 36 gorilla nests being identified. Considering the amount of time spent
surveying, it was a marginal difference: 18 nests per day in October compared
to 15.8 nests in March. No primates was seen or heard by anyone in our
team during our 2 days hiking in/out and 2 days surveying.
My report concerning gorilla damage on crops will indicate what kind of
habitual range the species presently occupies. The national park was spatially
constructed in a hasty manner by using old colonial forest reserves without
taking time to include all ecological aspects. A review of borders in
the Okwangwo Divison is urgently required for the Cross River gorillas
to receive their desperately needed sanctuary.
Survey
team, Mache. Photo: Patrik Norberg
Bumaji
Valley. Photo: Patrik Norberg
Patrik Norberg
Patrik Norberg is concluding two Masters degrees in Sweden, one in ecology for which he did specific fieldwork in the Cross River District, and one in African Studies that concern conservation in West Africa.