Today I am going on a safari, I plan on going into the Congo River Basin. We are going to see many different kinds of wildlife, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is known for it's diverse wildlife. We are entering the Basin now, buckle up, here we go!!
First we are going to the habitat of the bonobo, it is one of the three great apes living in the DRC. It looks just like the chimpanzee, but it is slightly smaller. All apes living in the DRC are threatened by bushunting, which is hunting but not for regular meat. The bonobos, like all great apes are very intelligent, and are known to use tools for gathering termites, to break open nuts, and other uses.
Next we are going to the wetlands to meet some hippos, don't be afraid, they might bite, hard.Oh, and they don't like it when you wince, just so you know. We arrived just in time to see to male hippos fighting over rights to dominate a mate, they fight by charging each other with there mouths open and try to bite each other with there teeth that can be up to a foot long.
Now we are going to say hi to some gorillas, did you know that a gorilla's genes are only different from humans by 1.6%. Silver back gorillas, are almost extinct, because of poachers and loss of habitat. The gorillas were originally thought to be a different species of human because an explorer described them as a large hairy man, but it is still uncertain whether he saw a gorilla or something else.
Our adventure is coming to a close, goodbyes are always the worst, but maybe if you commented it would make it easier. Well goodbye, I hoped you learned a lot, until next time.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
M6 Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
I am traveling to the year 1884, when the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was a Belgium territory, ruled by King Leopold II. He treated the country like his own personal property, Africans were considered savages and were all full time slaves to the king, I am going to a work site in the 1880s.
The air is filled with dust, everywhere there are hundreds of African men chained together pulling huge blocks of stone. White guards stand by holding rifles, in the distance I hear a cry of pain echo up the canyon, a man is getting one of his hand cut off for not working hard enough. To prove that they are doing there jobs, the leader of the sites will often show government officials baskets of smoked human hands.
In 1908 the Belgium government was embarrassed sufficiently that it persuaded the king to give the country back to the people, but while the work was less brutal, Belgium still made large profits off the then Belgian Congo. But finally France declared the Belgian Congo free and owner ship was given to Patrice Lumumba.
Because of the hurriedly arranged election, two provinces succeeded from the DRC, one of them controlled the copper industry and so, with support from the US and Belgium a civil war broke out. To put a stop to the war, Belgium paratroopers kidnapped and executed Patrice Lumumba. The new leader of the DRC began a period of Africanization, he changed all the names in the country including the names of the citizens to African names, the new name for the country became Zaire. The first and second Congo war happened between the period of Americanization up to the present, with the second war officially ending in 2003 but hostilities continuing up to this day.
Although the people of the DRC have faced many problems in the course of history, they have succeeded and created a country with many problems, but on the rise. The DRC currently receives foreign aid from it's allies because of its strategic location.
The air is filled with dust, everywhere there are hundreds of African men chained together pulling huge blocks of stone. White guards stand by holding rifles, in the distance I hear a cry of pain echo up the canyon, a man is getting one of his hand cut off for not working hard enough. To prove that they are doing there jobs, the leader of the sites will often show government officials baskets of smoked human hands.
In 1908 the Belgium government was embarrassed sufficiently that it persuaded the king to give the country back to the people, but while the work was less brutal, Belgium still made large profits off the then Belgian Congo. But finally France declared the Belgian Congo free and owner ship was given to Patrice Lumumba.
Because of the hurriedly arranged election, two provinces succeeded from the DRC, one of them controlled the copper industry and so, with support from the US and Belgium a civil war broke out. To put a stop to the war, Belgium paratroopers kidnapped and executed Patrice Lumumba. The new leader of the DRC began a period of Africanization, he changed all the names in the country including the names of the citizens to African names, the new name for the country became Zaire. The first and second Congo war happened between the period of Americanization up to the present, with the second war officially ending in 2003 but hostilities continuing up to this day.
Although the people of the DRC have faced many problems in the course of history, they have succeeded and created a country with many problems, but on the rise. The DRC currently receives foreign aid from it's allies because of its strategic location.
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