This site is meant as a tool to aid future birders in birding the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC (formerly Zaire).
It was started on October 26th 1996, moved to this web-address on July 4th 2009.
As of July 2009 I have added a blog where I will update any news received, and where you can leave any comments.
Also new since July 2009 is a dedicated Facebook site for DRC birdwatching.
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After working in the DRC (when it was still called Zaïre) as an airline pilot from 1990 to 1996, and birding most of the time, I thought it was time to share my experiences with the rest of the birding world. The only birders that I knew living in Zaïre during these years were Marc Languy of WWF Goma, Laurent Esselen of TMK in Goma and myself. Not many birders in a country the size of western Europe, and no local ornithologists.
DRC is not all that well known ornithologically, compared to some of the neighboring countries. The main reason for this is the relative difficulty of visiting the country after the Belgians left in the early 1960's. Up until the late 1980's, being a white tourist in Zaïre automatically made you into a mercenary, out to assassinate the once almighty president Mobutu. Problems with many of the various military branches would arise, until you paid enough money to satisfy them. Being caught with binoculars (or heaven forbid - a telescope), would definitely increase the amount of money it would take to be left alone. How much is a Yellow-crested Helmetshrike or Handsome Francolin worth? Been there, done that.
From 1990 to 1994 there was a change to the better, and traveling was less difficult. Apart from the months around the regular military looting of all the major cities and towns, the security was not all that bad. It was probably more dangerous in various parts of Kenya than in ex. Zaire. (In 1995 I would rather be walking alone in Kinshasa during daytime, than in Nairobi).
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The tense situation in the Lake Kivu area, with all the refugees entering from Rwanda during the summer of 1994, got slightly better in 1997, and Goma was again a town one could visit. The local airline, "TMK Air Commuter" started up again, and in conjunction with "Congo Airlines" (ex. Shabair & Zaire Express), one could travel all over the Congo. This situation was again radically changed in 1998, and now the whole eastern part of the D.R.C. is off-limits to normal air travel. This is largely due to the rebel activity around Goma and Bukavu, as well as Bunia.
The southern part of Virunga National Park is now pretty much deforested. The trees were used as firewood to heat food in the refugee-camps. The camps are now deserted, as most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda. The Nyiragongo and Mikeno volcanoes should still have a fair amount of forest left, due to their relative inaccessibility. WWF, with Marc Languy from Belgium as project leader, had a good project going in Goma dealing with planting of Eucalyptus trees for coal-burning purposes, and educating the local tribes on the importance of forest conservation. This project was stopped for security reasons.
Hopefully Congo has not been forgotten, and various international organizations will again be based here when the situation becomes more stable. These days things look bleak.
Update from Philippe Verbelen, February 2006:
I think it is now possible to travel in big parts of the country even though some areas like the Kivus, Ituri forest remain unsafe.
Obvsiously there still is a fair amount of hassle with police and lots of others in unidentified uniforms but probably the main challenge is (lack) of infrastructure to get to places -- one needs lots of time and money to get around.
