Research on Apes at Lopé
Lopé is a protected area of 5,000 km² in central Gabon. In 1980, Caroline E. G. Tutin and Michel Fernandez started their work on Gabon's apes with a country-wide survey. With many other scientists, they have been working on gorilla and chimpanzee ecology and behaviour in this area since 1983. This project has been and is supported by numerous organisations, mainly CIRMF (Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville), WWF, the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation, WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) and the National Geographic Society.
The observation of gorillas turned out to be much more difficult than in the Virunga Volcanoes. At the end of the 1980s, the researchers had habituated three groups which they called Porthos, St. Exupéry and Petit Prince. These groups tolerated the presence of humans, but only at a distance of at least 25 m. This distance decreased to 20 m some years later. However, the old leader of the best habituated group, Porthos, died in April 1993 after an altercation with another silverback. The group subsequently dissolved.
The valley of the river Ogooué, one of the borders of the Lopé Reserve, has been settled for about 400,000 years. Before agriculture was established, people obtained a great part of their food from the rain forest and they therefore competed with the resident apes.
Slash and burn cultivation has been practised for 1,500 years in the Lopé area. This has led to large areas on the middle course of the Ogooué, being covered by savannas. The forest will reclaim these areas, however, if the grass is no longer burned. Today, mainly manioc and bananas, which are not indigenous to this region, are cultivated in the fields. These crops were introduced into Gabon in the 15th century at the earliest. Occasionally, gorillas and chimpanzees raid plantations, which contributes to the conflict between people and apes.
Although Lopé is not a national park, the animals there are protected quite well. There is hardly any poaching at present. But even here two logging companies are harvesting timber, although law decrees that all plants and animals are completely protected. From 1990 to 1992, Lee White conducted a study on the impact of logging on large mammals. He observed that the population density of gorillas was not affected by the activities of logging companies. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, tend to leave logged areas. It may take 15-25 years before the animals re-settle these areas.
The EU program ECOFAC (Conservation et Utilisation Rationnelle des Ecosystemes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale - Reasonable Conservation and Use of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa) started a project in Lopé in 1992. The project's leader, Michel Fernandez, has been training rangers and tourist guides. Since December 1994, tourists can visit the forest, savannahs and archeological sites in groups of 4 to 6 persons. To see a gorilla is a rare event, however. For this reason, tourism will never be as succesful in Gabon's rain forest as it is in the Virunga Volcanoes. It does not represent a viable economic alternative to logging. Caroline Tutin and Michel Fernandez thus consider international aid for Gabon as the only way to protect Gabon's virgin forests.
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