Epulu Conservation & Research Station

The Okapi Breeding and Research Station, near the village of Epulu in the northeastern area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the Okapi Wildlife Reserve headquarters for the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) and serves as a base of operations for Gilman International Conservation (GIC) staff. It is from the Station that the staff manages the 13,700 square kilometer Okapi Wildlife Reserve. Support from GIC and its partners provides the infrastructure for the Station and food, housing, clothing, clinical facilities, and schools for the employees and families of GIC and ICCN. In all, some 1,500 residents of the area benefit from this support.

Radiating out from Epulu, researchers monitor the forest and collect valuable data. Anti-poaching patrols are trained and outfitted. Education staff prepares materials and travel throughout the Reserve to empower the local people with knowledge and to instill pride in the natural treasures and biodiversity of their country.

At the Epulu Station, the conservation breeding program works to protect the future of the okapi by serving as a reservoir for the infusion of new genetic stock into the okapi populations in global conservation programs around the world. Many of the international institutions working with the okapi program continue to make substantial monetary contributions to support the protection of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.

As stability has returned to the country in the wake of six years of civil war, eco-tourism, which was a valuable source of revenue for the Research Station, may once again be possible. Guest houses and bungalows situated on the bank of the Epulu River have been rebuilt. Renowned filmmaker Alan Root described this site on the Epulu River as “one of the most beautiful places in all of Africa.”

Conservation Education

Ten educators, four agroforesters and representatives from the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) make up the Okapi Conservation Project's education team based at GIC's headquarters in Epulu. At the request of local authorities the Project has established education programs in Wamba, Watsa, and Mambasa, three large towns in the area of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve and the source of poachers and illegal miners that impact the Reserve.

Traveling throughout the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, often on bicycles and motorcycles, and working in small groups, the education team brings information to the Reserve's residents on sustainable use of their natural resources, ways to share those resources with wildlife to the benefit of all, and to generally improve the quality of life of the people of the Ituri Forest.

With their bicycles and motorbikes packed down with generators, TVs, VCRs, food and medicines, the education team's goal is to reach the 30,000 inhabitants of the Reserve each year with a conservation message backed up with actions that improve the audiences' quality of life.

Through the use of plays, films, public meetings and printed materials, the education teams deliver valuable and much appreciated information to the people on such topics as community health issues, improved crop production and sustainable agriculture. The teams also assess needs of the communities for school and medical supplies that can be brought back on a return trip.

With assistance from the Catholic Mission in Mambasa, GIC has built two schools in Epulu. Over three hundred students attend daily. GIC also provides books, classroom materials and office supplies to these and other schools throughout the Reserve.

As poor as the local people are, they all carry portable radios. The Project's educators regularly buy time on local radio stations to broadcast information about conservation, health issues, and agro-forestry initiatives around the Reserve.

The efforts to reach people with a conservation message have recently undergone a significant expansion, due to the increased needs of the Reserve's residents in the aftermath of civil war. Listening to the peoples' concerns is a priority with the education teams so that they may offer practical solutions through the empowerment of knowledge.