The Okapi Reserve

Category: General, Okapi, Rangers | Date: Mar 20 2007 | By: admin

Welcome to Epulu and the Okapi Wildife Reserve!

I am Mapilanga (on the left) and I am the Senior Warden of Epulu in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Congo. I have been a Ranger for 20 years, and lived in Epulu for 12 of those.

My Assistant Warden is Somba, standing next to me. He has been a Ranger with the ICCN, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, since 1994. He has always worked in Epulu.

Epulu is the main station in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve and this is where we are based. The reserve is 13,700 square kilometers of rainforest, and home to over 5,000 okapis (see below) which is an endemic species to DR Congo. We have lots of fresh air here, and it is a calm area. We have no traffic and we are in the middle of the forest. It is a secure place, and there are lots of beautiful places to visit.

The most beautiful place for me is Mbiya Mountain - which is at the edge of Epulu and overlooks the village. Here it is below.

We want to start this blog so we can communicate to the world what we are doing here - our conservation activities. We want to let people know about the reserve. We would also like to obtain support from the outside world, because we have felt isolated here for many years. Welcome to Epulu!

Technorati : congo, epulu, okapi, wildlifedirect