However eventful, our trip to get to Nkuba was of course only the beginning of our adventure in DRC. Now has come the time to make Nkuba our home. And we’d like to introduce you to the Dian Fossey base where we will be staying!
So imagine you are entering the tiny village of Nkuba. A little further down the road, towards Kisangani, you need to take a small dirt path on the left. Roughly 600 meters down that path, you can see it: the gate to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Base in Congo. Of course, you are invited to wash your hands and wear your mask (corona-safety measures in order) and then sign in the registry before being allowed inside. There, the first thing you see are the gardens and offices, including ours.
The gardens, with their palm trees and tidy lawns, are a great place to stroll and enjoy the sunlight between two meetings or on a day off. It’s also a great view from our desk! Across the lawn from the entrance is a large meeting room, where the staff can hold meetings. Occasionally, villagers are also invited to gather there to talk about a variety of topics related to conservation and the different programs supported by the Dian Fossey Fund here in Nkuba and around.
Walking past the offices, you reach the living area, strictly reserved to the permanent staff like myself and Frederik. The living area is composed of two individual houses (ours and that of the Base Chief), several tents for visiting guests and the blue house. The blue house is not only a guest house with multiple rooms, it’s where we eat our meals together with the rest of the permanent staff and visitors. As you exit the dining room, you reach one of our favorite spots in the base, the beautiful river Biruwe, where Frederik loves to cool down on very hot days… Basically every day.
So that’s it, we hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Dian Fossey Fund base in Nkuba! We can’t wait to share more stories of our life here, including pictures of our house. In the meantime, do not hesitate to ask any question you may have about this place in the comment section and we’ll do our best to answer.