by Ofir Drori
Lake Turkana, the “cradle of humanity.” An abandoned straw hut stands on its shore.
Elizabeth’s sister with the goat they slaughtered to celebrate Ofir’s arrival. Ofir is the first outsider to come in thirteen years.
Elizabeth, a Turkana woman of great kindness, living in a harsh landscape drained of its men by banditry, cattle raiding, and drought.
A Turkana boatman guts a fish. Walking naked is common in the arid north of Kenya.
Hippos on the Gibe River, Ethiopia, that Ofir happens upon while walking with his horse.
Cliffs along the river force Konjo and Ofir to cross the Gibe as a hippo snorts from a distance to scare them.
Ofir’s trial of hunger on the Gibe: before
during
and after.
Mukhtar Majairu, chairman of the amputees’s camp in Freetown, Sierra Leone. After peace arrived to the country, Mukhtar came face to face again with the guerilla soldiers who’d maimed him.
Sina and Damba, Leonean victims of the country’s brutal war.
A rally for peace in Freetown that ended with thirteen people dead.
A corner of the front page of the newspaper Ofir opened the morning he fled Sierra Leone.
A lack of running water and functioning sewage systems mean that many Liberians have to bathe as this girl is.
“The War is Over” becomes the lead photo in Ofir’s second published article. The civil war may have ended, but Liberians still live in totalitarian fear.
Archie, a former child soldier who was forced to eat human flesh.
A Nigerian boy in a market.
A tattooed mother in the Nigerian bush.
Fulani girls carrying nono.
The Nigerian near Leo’s village who knew that when the god of the Achipawa spoke, he spoke with thunder.
Achipawa huts near the top of Karishen.
An Achipawa warrior stands with women and girls of his tribe.
A fisherman casting a net on the Niger River.
Ofir paddles a canoe down the Niger for six weeks in the summer of 2002 before traveling to Cameroon.
An adolescent gorilla.
David and Jack in the hotel room in Abong-Mbang, Cameroon, waiting for transport to the capital. Jack will have to ride in the trunk of a clandeau.
A mandrill: An endangered primate.
Inside the Nkoabang checkpoint on the edge of Yaoundé. Takam, the official, confiscates the bushmeat, takes the dealer into custody, and then sells the meat back to her, letting her go. Takam’s coworker is sleeping at his desk.
A close-up of smoked bushmeat. The fingerprints of primates often survive the charring of their bodies.
The tragedy of trafficked animal products, from bushmeat, to body parts, to skins, and the corpses of animals once meant to be sold as exotic pets.
An elephant foot stool for sale in a shop, with a pair of tiny polished tusks. The wildlife trade is driving animals toward extinction.
Future roped to a tree branch in the hunter’s rancid kitchen.
Ofir with another chimp saved from the pet-trade or from the cooking fire.
Future tied up and abused by the hunter.
Future with Kalebass, motorcycle taximan, musician, headmaster, and instructor of music teachers.
Ofir at work while Future sleeps on his back. Scars from Ofir’s near-fatal bush crash in Nigeria are visible.
An arrest of an ape trafficker that led to the rescue of a baby chimp.
Ofir examines seized ivory for clues in an investigation. Julius stands in the background.
The logo of The Last Great Ape Organization adorned with Future’s face.
Ofir shakes hands with the Minister of Wildlife and Forestry upon signing an agreement with the Cameroonian government in 2005.
Officer Julius after an arrest, discussing with Ofir the rescue of an endangered mandrill.
Vincent, LAGA’s publishing machine, interviewing the Fon or king of Bali, Cameroon.
Ofir interviewed after a major ivory bust with tusks from more than a hundred killed elephants.
Traffickers come from every country, and the reach of criminal activity is international. Here, an American wildlife dealer is put under arrest.
In action, Temgoua, in his bright green uniform, and officer Julius.
A one-ton ivory seizure. The sheer volume of seized “white gold” attests to the unending slaughter of elephants.
Apes and drugs: A trafficker arrested with a baby chimp and large quantities of cocaine and marijuana. The wildlife trade is closely linked with other forms of criminality. The baby chimp at his feet survived.
The silverback wandered out of the jungle and into the town of Abong-Mbang. He was shot near the hospital by the retired gendarme. The photograph is as it was when the gendarme set it down in front of Ofir.
DAVID MCDANNALD is an American writer, who lives on a ranch in the West Texas mountains. He splits his time between caring for the cattle herd and traveling in Africa and South America. He has published fiction and nonfiction in various magazines and journals. He and Ofir met in Kenya in 2000 and they became best friends.
OFIR DRORI is an Israeli activist based in Central Africa. A former army officer, educator, journalist, photographer, and adventurer, he has spent the past decade in two dozen different African countries. He founded LAGA in 2003 and leads various efforts against corruption for conservation, democracy, and the rule of law.
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Copyright © Ofir Drori and David McDannald
All photographs © Ofir Drori
Interior design by Maria Fernandez
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