Angola Trip #2 Wrap-up

Yesterday I left Soyo and flew to Luanda, Angola’s capital. Tomorrow I’ll fly to Gabon via Johannesburg, S. Africa (there are no direct connections between Angola & Gabon, so it’ll take a few days to get there, par for the course in Africa). Tim & Sal are in Soyo for a few more days to deploy 2 more MARUs.

Although we didn’t sight any manatees this trip, I continue to get valuable information from interviews at villages, and as I return to the same villages each time, people remember me and have information on new sightings. I also meet new people every time depending upon who is at the village rather than out fishing when I show up, which increases my pool of responses.

Collecting 101 manatee bones was definitely the work highlight of this trip for me. Joao will contact one of the deceased manatee hunter’s sons to see if we can acquire the harpoons for a cultural display at an Angolan museum. I’m thrilled that the sons are not interested in manatee hunting as a career, but I’m also worried that if the harpoons stay at N’Tutu, someone else will decide to take up the hunt. Manatee meat fetches a much higher price at market than fish. Because Mr. Domingos was the only hunter for such a large area, it would have a big impact on manatee conservation here to get these harpoons “off the street” and into a museum, where they belong.

Manatee harpoons at rest in N'Tutu... hopefully for good.
One last pic: I love this photo because it sums up my joy at finding so many manatee bones at N'Tutu (with Tim & Warren's help of course!). The man on the left was the only person around when we arrived at the village, so he showed us around and was amused at our interest in old trash bones.
I’ll probably be back to Soyo in November…