While I have not had any major adventures in the last week, I have had a few fun mini excursions to catch everyone up on. Last Saturday Jan drove Molly and I to Lake Kivu near the DRC/Rwanda border. I had never heard of an exploding lake, but apparently this is one of 3 in the world...all of which are in Africa. There is a combination of Methane and C02in this lake that the Rwandans are able to tap to power the Primus Beer factory. I was very excited about all of this until Jan explained how the lake will occasionally "burp" and kill everyone in the surrounding area by suffocating them with C02. I had to google all of this to really get an understanding of the situation...very strange. While trying to hide yet another new fear ( I have been discovering and conquering many fears this trip this time of C02 poisoning...) we made our way along the lake pausing by a population of large, noisy but intriguing fruit bats and enjoying the views of the old "mansions" that the Beligiums left behind. Just as my stomach began to rumble, we found our destination an unassuming small hotel and restaurant aptly called "Paradise."
As we walked past the bar and the beautiful fireplace to the outside seating a beautiful view emerged in front of us. There was a cool breeze coming off the lake and other than our chatting, the only noise was from the birds fishing for breakfast. We sat and enjoyed the scenery and drinks while waiting for our lunch. In typical African fashion, lunch came about an hour later just as I thought I may pass out from hunger. 2 surprising things: 1. We were given wooden utensils and 2.My fish still had all its parts. Those of you who know me well know that this may have made me hesitate, but did not stop me from digging in! 
We finished up lunch and headed onto our next destination- Goma, DRC. Of course everyone at home hears Congo and thinks the worst, but I was assured that Goma was far from rebel activity and safe to visit. Jan and Molly wanted to buy some fabric for some skirts and bags and Congo has the best most colorful ones! After officially exiting Rwanda, waiting forever to check into (and pay!) DRC, we met a driver who took us to the market. They mostly speak French in DRC, so I felt way more comfortable and was even able to help negotiate some pricing. When we were finished, Jan asked our driver to drive by the airport so that I could see the UN base and where all of the action happens. Then, it was home again, home again!
Sunday evening Jan recieved an emergency call about a silverback in the marketplace in DRC. This particular silverback has a traumatic past in which his entire family was murdered by poachers. He has made it a habit to come out of the protected park and destroy crops and other property. He has even seriously injured several park gaurds who have tried to scare him back into the forest. He had already been sedated and moved once before and it seems that would need to be done again. I was not able to go on this trip, but I sent my video camera with Molly (our photographer) and the rest of the crew. They spent Sunday night in Goma and then went to the market where they found hundreds and hundreds of villagers screaming and yelling while this massive magestic animal just sat and ate. Fortunately nobody had injured him and he had to yet been aggressive. From the stories and videos I was able to see, the docs were able to dart him, but then also needed several other injections of sedative before loading him up on a stretcher, driving into the park and then having a crew of people carry the big stretcher deep into the forest. The doctors collected many samples, as they always try to do during any intervention, for research purposes. They then watched "Makunda" wake up slowly and returned home late Monday evening.
Since I had been home alone and bored, I was thrilled to meet the exhausted team late at night in the lab to get all the samples started and the remaining ones packed up for future use. I felt a little more at home running CBCs, fecals, and chemistries.
I have been trying to stay busy otherwise with some menial but necessary tasks. I "fixed"a scale that really just needed a battery, tested a closet full of batteries to sort out the dead ones, and have been walking our friend Kim's South African Boerboel- which is a mix between a mastiff, a rhodesian ridgeback, and a great dane. He is just a pup, but already massive. We certainly get looks walking up and down the street! Molly kept me entertained by taking me to dinner at Muhabura Hotel, a place that Dian Fossey stayed frequently during her time here,although we had a generally quiet week.
Yesterday MGVP recieved a call about an infant gorilla (7 months old) that had been killed in a scurmish within his group. He was being sent to us to necropsy as soon as the trackers could obtain his body. It is normal for the mother to carry around a deceased baby for quite awhile. We also recieved a call about a deceased Golden Monkey that we were to also perform a necropsy on.
Although we knew the cause of death of the infant, MGVP always performs necropsies on any deceased gorilla or golden monkey.
As the docs performed their exams, I filled out the reports and assisted their technicians in properly labeling and storing samples. Samples from every animal are split into 2. RDB the park authority gets half and MGVP gets half. They save organs, muscle tissue, fecal, urine, stomach contents, bone marrow,etc. all for future testing and research. There are many projects around the world that rely on DNA tests and other research that is performed on these samples.
Although I am generally a stoic person, I have to say when the infant was placed on the table, I had to catch my breath. They are so human-like, and he was so recently deceased, it was easy to imagine a little person laying there. We all worked in quiet respect for the little man as we went about our business.
I joined the group this morning as we buried both bodies. This is more than a way to dispose of the bodies. There is a woman here working on her phd in bone studies. We bury the bodies in a certain manner in a certain position which are all well documented, and then 1 year later they are exhumed and their bones collected.She has the world's largest collection of Mountain Gorilla bones in the world.
Now, I begin an office project of organizing medical charts that have been a bit disorganized for years.....slightly less adventerous than my first few weeks, but there is something to be said for that!
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