The documentary film “Pembe Ya Ndovu (We want ivory we want more now)” has now been edited after two years of filming across the heart of Africa and onto Asia.
This is a story about the illegal trade in African ivory.
We shall in due in course post further information about Green Heart Films new production and where the film will be screened.
On a wet cold June evening I received an invitation to visit Gabon to witness illegal confiscated ivory being destroyed by Gabon’s president Ali Bongo.
On arrival in Libreville Gabon’s capital I was to witness the president lighting a pyre of six tons of illegal ivory that would burn for the next four hours.
During the course of the pyre burning I begun to visualize a journey across the heart of Africa and onto Asia the planets largest consumer of African ivory and Rhino horns and other resources that these new emerging Asian economy’s required in order to sustain their economic growth.
The journey across the heart of Africa would take me to zones of conflict and turmoil in locations such as the Ituri forests where I was fortunate to film the elusive and secretive forest giraffe known as the Okapi. Whilst hiking through thick equatorial rain forests I was to encounter Mbuti Pygmy’s hunting with nets and with dogs and during the evening on a warm damp evening the Mbuti would perform ritual masked dances into the early hours of the morning.
Whilst staying in the Loango national park which borders the Atlantic coast in Gabon I was privileged to witness seasonal Humpback Whales in the Atlantic Ocean and forest elephants in abundance.
Further east l was to scale Africa’s third highest peak Point Margarita and Stanley’s glacier and within Africa’s oldest park the Virunga I was to encounter both the Eastern Low Land gorilla and the Mountain gorillas.
After crossing the great lakes region of the Rift valley I was to travel extensively throughout the highlands and the savannahs of Kenya – Tanzania and Uganda and here I was to
learn more about the poaching for rhinos and elephants for their tusks.
Within this journey I would be faced with bloody encounters with poachers and the constant view of elephant and rhino carcasses, having previously witnessed the ivory markets of Kinshasa and the Brazzaville bush meat markets l was learning at first hand the serious nature of the emerging crisis that is facing Africa’s endangered wildlife.
From the continent of Africa I would continue onto Bangkok in Thailand to view vast quantities of illegal African ivory for sale and then from Thailand I was to travel onto my final destination and the planets largest consumer of African ivory China.
China is now emerging as Africa’s largest trading partner and after viewing large quantities of African ivory for sale on Nathan road and in the State Trading Corporation Business Centre I was to return to the continent of Africa in order to edit the film and the story of the rapid demise of Africa’s wildlife such as elephants and rhinos, it is Asia’s demand for wildlife products that is emptying the forest and the savannahs of Africa and other regions of our planet.
Pembe Ya Ndovu / Second Visit !
The flight from London to Brazzaville arrived at 4.00 in the morning and as I walked to Mai Mai airports emigration I was stopped and asked to produce a letter of invitation and a hotel reservation.
I had arrived in the Congo Brazzaville capital city with only a visa valid for three months and as I was unable to provide a letter of invitation or a hotel reservation and as such I was to spend my first nine hours in the airport arrival lounge negotiating a hotel reservation and an invitation letter and after an exhausting wait I was finally allowed to leave the airport for Hotel Hippo Camp not far from the city centre.
I had come to the democratic republic of the Congo with two objectives in mind one of which was to visit a national park in the Central African Republic by the name of Dzanga Sangha and the other objective was to covertly film the illegal ivory market in Kinshasa on the other-side of the river Congo .
My planned visit to Dzanga Sangha was going to prove unpredictable and dangerous as the CAR had just been plunged into chaos and it s president had just been over thrown by an assortment of rebels armed and backed by Chad the militia’s were to be know as Saleka.
Within the mix of various chaotic scenarios law and order has all but ceased to exist and with story s of infighting the new victorious rebells are now accused of rape pillage and looting plus there are reports of armed poachers from from the Western Sudanese province of Darfour and armed Janjaweed militias have crossed the border and travelled south to the national park of Dzanga Sangha to poach forest elephants for their highly prized ivory tusks.
This armed group of Sudanese rebells or poachers have been identified as members of the Janjawed and have been heavily implicated in regional elephant poaching not only in the CAR but also in the Cameroon and are now targeting the once pristine national park of Dzanga Sangha a park famous for it s forest elephants whose tusks are highly valued especially in China and Japan. Prior to my departure from Europe there were reports that a group of seventeen armed Janjaweed had entered Dzanga Sangha and had shot twenty six elephants from an observation platform within the park lodge overlooking the world heritage site known as Sangha Bai.
The present chaos in the CAR has made my proposed visit to the park even more risky and difficult WWF in the Cameroon were in no way prepared to assist and in Congo Brazzaville WCS were obstructive and determined to make my visit to Dzangha Sangha as impossible as they could .
On a more successful note I was able to arrange for a volunteer from Hong Kong to fly from China to Brazzaville where I was able to provide Li Chi Chi with a small full HD camcorder and after negotiating with a fixer in Kinshasa Li Chi Chi was able to obtain a visa to visit Brazzaville larger cousin which lay on the other-side of the river Congo and is one of Africa’s largest mega cities.
Kinshasa is one of the few city s in Africa where ivory is still being openly sold to mainly Chinese residents and professional ivory traders also from China.Most of this ivory will be flown to Chinese city s such as Guangzhou via Nairobi or Addis Abba on either Kenya airways or Air Ethiopia both African airlines also fly direct to Bangkok another major hub for illegal African ivory shipments.
During the waiting time for Li Chi Chi to receive her visa for Kinshasa we were to visit various bushmeat markets in Brazzaville where an array of regional wildlife was openly on sale.Finally after a week a visa was arranged and Li Chi Chi was at last was able to cross the river Congo to Kinshasa by the ferry boat from Brazzaville.
On arrival at La Marche De Voluer Li Chi Chi was warmly greeted and allowed to openly film unlike myself.Li Chi Chi explained that she would only be allowed to buy ivory objects if her mother was able to see what there was on sale and as such was allowed to openly all day on a Saturday with the assistance of the ivory traders.
The following Monday proved to be another story and as soon as Li Chi Chi arrived at the market she was confronted by a group of ivory traders who demanded to see her documents and informed her that she would in no way be allowed to continue to film within the market. Having completed filming all day on Saturday Li Chi Chi mission was already successfully completed so an unhappy Li Chi Chi informed the ivory traders that they had no right to speak to a visitor and a potential buyer in the way they had and in order to emphasize her displeasure with the traders Li Chi Chi announced she would in no way purchase any of their ivory objects that they had offered to her for sale.
After a successful visit to the ivory market in Kinshasa Li Chi Chi finally returned by ferry boat back to Brazzaville and then she chosed to return to Hong Kong where she had other engagements to attend to.
I was once more alone in Brazzaville and now contemplating on my plan to visit the Central African Republic park of Danga Sangha and I was now in contact with a Mauritanian shop keeper who seemed rather vague about the security situation and on occasions it was next to impossible trying to phone the CAR.
Within a week of Li Chi Chi departure I was to receive an E/mail from Europe offering assistance and information on elephant poaching in Kenya and within three days of receiving the E/mail I found myself boarding a Kenya airways flight from Brazzaville to Nairobi .
