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Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Book Review: Emerald Labyrinth - A Scientist's Adventures in the Jungles of the Congo


Towards the dawn of the last century, the scientific community was rocked by the introduction to western science of a variety of strange, beautiful, and surprisingly large mammals from Central Africa’s Congo Rainforest.  These included the mountain gorilla, the giant forest hog, and the poster-species for cryptozoology, the giraffe-like okapi.    Even now, over one hundred years later, the great forest at the heart of Africa contains biological wonders that are still unknown to science (albeit mostly on a smaller scale).  American herpetologist Eli Greenbaum’s travelogue Emerald Labyrinth takes the reader on a journey into those forests to see what is still out there to be discovered.
Greenbaum is primarily interested in reptiles and amphibians and his book is largely a recount of his search for small, elusive specimens, especially of frogs and small lizards.  The reader gets an intimate view of what life is like for a field herpetologist.  While biologists who study mammals in the wild spend much of their time hoping that their research subjects will just allow them to observe them, field herping is much more of a contact sport, perhaps more akin to the animal collecting expeditions of old.  Greenbaum’s readers are treated to a world of flipping rocks, rolling logs, and looking in every nook and cranny, trying to get hands on potentially unknown species.  Sometimes, those specimens get their metaphorical hands on the scientists instead… as one of Greenbaum’s unlucky colleagues found out after receiving an eyeful of venom, courtesy of a spitting cobra.
If there is danger here in the Congo, however, relatively little of it comes from the animals… or at least, not of the scaly or slimy persuasion.  As an outsider in Africa, Greenbaum is repeatedly laid low by devastating diseases, which have a tendency to strike at the least convenient times.  Even more dangerous – and certainly less predictable – are the armed gangs that stalk the forests, from bandit chiefs to rebel militias to genocidal warlords driven out of neighboring Rwanda.  There are times when we read about the author cautiously negotiating his way through yet another confrontation with tense gunmen when you have to ask yourself, is that frog really worth it?
Perhaps what I love the most of all of Emerald Labyrinth is that is takes such careful pains to paint a full picture of the Congo – not only its wildlife, but its landscape, its people, and its history.  You’ll learn a lot about field research and collecting reptiles and amphibians.  You’ll also learn about the corrupt occupation of the Congo by Belgium’s Leopold II, who turned it into his private empire, as well as the Congolese struggle for independence, Dian Fossey’s struggle to save mountain gorillas, the Rwanda genocide, and what the author dub’s “Africa’s World War,” which embroiled much of the continent in a violent battle for the resources of the Congo, seemingly ignored by much of the world.
It struck me as I read the book that the Congo is a part of the world that virtually everyone has heard of, but relatively few people actually discuss.  To me, it has largely been an amorphous green blob in the center of Africa.  It was fascinating to get an insight into its complicated, often tragic history.
What also made this book enjoyable was the narrator himself.  Too often in these scientist/conservationist abroad novels, the writer portrays themselves either as some sort of western savior, or seems to view local people as at best a distraction, at worst an obstacle to conservation or as a direct danger, either to the animals or to the researchers.  Reading Emerald Labyrinth, you really get the sense of much Greenbaum likes, values, and respects his Congolese peers (and he does treat them as peers and colleagues, not as assistants or bearers).  All too often conservation in the developing world has a sort of colonial undertone.  It’s refreshing to read a more egalitarian version… though it would be even more unique to read about an expedition such as this through Congolese eyes and perspectives.
If that wasn’t enough to make me enjoy the book, towards the end the author breaks off for a moment to voice his strong approval for zoos and the work that they do for conservation, as well as reminiscing about his early visits to the Buffalo Zoo helped shape his love of wildlife.
Conservation, adventure, history, and a plug for zoos, combined with being a fun, easy read that still manages to take on weighty topics make Emerald Labyrinth: A Scientist’s Adventures in the Jungle of the Congo an enjoyable addition to any naturalist’s library.


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