Cape Town - Congolese game ranger André Baum sits with an orphaned mountain gorilla draped around his shoulders.
In the distance, there is the sound of gunfire as a rebel militia group advances through the Congo’s Virunga National Park.
He looks towards the sound. He will stay with the orphaned gorillas, he says. If that means he has to die, then so be it.
This is one of the scenes in the award-winning documentary Virunga, a movie that lays bare the multiple threats to one of Africa’s oldest protected areas – including plans to drill for oil by British-listed company Soco – and the extraordinary commitment of those who protect it.
The director of the park is Emmanuel de Merode, a prince of Belgium nobility – one of only two people who replied to an advert in 2007 to head the park that was going through a crisis from the effects of civil war.
“Protected area managers no longer have the luxury to limit their work to what they’re trained to do; to manage wildlife. More and more they have to manage human problems – violence, poverty. Either they abandon the effort, or they build partnerships which compensate for their own lack of skills,” said De Merode.
One of the reasons for poverty is lack of access to land. De Merode says the 4 million people who live within a day’s walk of the park boundaries can make $600 (R7 400) a year from an acre of land. Virunga has 2 million acres of some of the most fertile land in Africa, representing a $1 billion loss in revenue to those who cannot use it.
“The environmental injustice of the park goes back to the early part of the last century. We need to generate $1bn around the park to offset the opportunity cost to the surrounding communities.”
This led to the formation of the Virunga Alliance, an investment to spawn an economic transformation around the park. As a start, a $2m hydroelectricity plant was built on a free-flowing park river, generating 120MW of power. This led to the establishment of a soap factory and 400 jobs, while upstream about 10 000 farmers saw their revenue increase when the factory needed more palm oil. It produces 40 tons of soap a day.
“This is real economic development, not handouts. One acre of Virunga Park land could translate into $600, or you increase the value of the land outside the park and decrease pressure on the park. It is the only way forward for us.”
The Congolese government has given Soco, listed on the London Stock Exchange, the right to explore for oil in a large area which includes Virunga National Park. It is against Congolese law to mine resources in national parks.
The documentary includes undercover shots of people associated with the company talking about bribes to park officials.
Although Soco has said it is no longer conducting operations anywhere near the park, De Merode said soon after that announcement the company wrote to the government to say it was business as usual.
Protecting Virunga has created enemies in different quarters: to date, 140 Virunga rangers have been killed.
De Merode himself was shot in an ambush in April last year while driving through the forest between Goma and Rumamgabo. An investigation was launched but no one has been arrested. He saw the gunman in fatigues standing up ahead, raising his rifle. Two others were crouched down.
There were five altogether and they fired at him, hitting the windscreen and the vehicle several times. He tried to accelerate, but the engine had been hit. He grabbed his rifle and ran for the forest when he was hit in the chest and stomach.
“It’s not like the movies when they fall down. I kept on running for about 50m and then started firing back. I think that helped dissuade them from coming after me.”
Bleeding, he waited half an hour, and then went back to the road. Vehicles saw him, but drove on, until two farmers on a motorbike stopped, jettisoned their produce and drove him until they came across an army vehicle.
De Merode was transferred to the vehicle, which then ran out of petrol, and he had to dig around to pay them $20 for fuel. The vehicle eventually conked out, and with the help of another army vehicle and a national park one, they got De Merode to hospital hours later.
“You somehow focus on what you need to focus on. It wasn’t much fun.”
Amid the crisis, he managed to contact his wife, who lives in Kenya with their two children, so she would not hear of the shooting from others.
“My wife found it very difficult. She grew up with conservation values, which helps. When you sign up for this job, you are extremely aware of the risks.
“The rangers have been through the same difficulties. They’ve seen their friends and colleagues die, so it would be inappropriate for the director to give up. Apart from that, I would not want to give up. I love my work. I have the best job in the world.”
lVirunga is being screened at the V&A Waterfront at the 2015 Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival.
Cape Times