Into Ituri: DRC, 2012
13 images Created 5 Mar 2012
Less than a decade ago, Ituri was dubbed the "Bloodiest Corner of the Congo." Yet in the years since, Ituri, a region tucked in the northeastern corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has emerged from the ashes of civil war and brutral ethnic conflict, and its immense natural beauty and rich history lies waiting to be rediscovered.
Home to the world's second largest rainforest, DRC's largest population of forest elephants, Mbuti and Efe pygmy tribes (two of Congo's oldest indigenous populations), the endemic, elusive and endangered Okapi "forest giraffe", as well as the UN's largest peacekeeping force in the DRC, the region is rapidily changing.
As a fragile peace and stability has returned to much of Ituri, it brings with it looming threats for the reserve and the Mbuti pygmies- an increase in population, agricultural expansion, mining exploration, poaching, and other direct threats to the ecosystem that continue to challenge the natural wonders of the region, and the people who depend on them.
Home to the world's second largest rainforest, DRC's largest population of forest elephants, Mbuti and Efe pygmy tribes (two of Congo's oldest indigenous populations), the endemic, elusive and endangered Okapi "forest giraffe", as well as the UN's largest peacekeeping force in the DRC, the region is rapidily changing.
As a fragile peace and stability has returned to much of Ituri, it brings with it looming threats for the reserve and the Mbuti pygmies- an increase in population, agricultural expansion, mining exploration, poaching, and other direct threats to the ecosystem that continue to challenge the natural wonders of the region, and the people who depend on them.
