Did the Bridge Collapse Create a Bushmeat Boom for Mbuti Pygmies?
The disaster: On 24 November, 2009, a Kenya-bound truck with two trailers carrying illegal wood from the Ituri Forest broke through the one lane bridge crossing the east branch of the Epulu River, at the Okapi Reserve headquarters. Vehicle traffic was forced to halt. Stalled vehicles and passengers in transit accumulated along the road and camped in the village of Epulu. In the days that followed, local dugouts were put into service to ferry travelers across the river. A couple weeks later larger rafts started to transport small vehicles. But big trucks with loads of passengers and merchandise adopted a new rhythm that included a long layover at the very center of the Okapi Reserve. Transporting merchandise, carton by carton, from a truck on the east of the Epulu River to a truck on the west side. Photo by Conrad Aveling. That problem has been resolved in record time. The governor of Orientale Province and the Roads Department acted with unprecedented speed. Today (20 December 2009) th
