Fishing in a Congolese National park ?

These thoughts seem logical, but if you read the previous page (In wilderness - 1) you know that this time I accompany my friend Renato, for whom fishing is a passion.

Once again this morning, we took some bends to go to one of Renato's favourite fishing places.

For me, these bends, the landscapes as on the left pic and the animals are much more interesting, and I use more gladly my camera than a bamboo stick ;)

Ooops...

There, Renato would be hurt... He who has a material of champion and who makes the fortune of the Brussels' fishermen shops ;)

Well, let's go : after all, fishing can be fun also and I am curious to see (1) if I shall catch something, (2) what kind of fish one finds here.

And in case (1 and 2) would reveal disappointing, there's still (3): the nature around the fishing spot.

There we are.

1. Take out the material.

2. Chase away the hippos with rocks.

3. Hey... Wait a minute: "chase away the hippos" ? Well, yes : we don't want to catch one of them, and we don't want them to break all our invaluable lines...

I got one !

My line whistles by running away, I block as a champion, I haul the monster, exulting...

H'm... It is a beautiful small fish!

I say "small" by comparison with others that we caught that day, but especially with regard to the silurid of more than a metre that another friend got later !

So we caught (as far as I remember) silurid and catfishes (I was never able to distinguish them and nobody seems to agree on the question) as well as tilapias, by numerous very complicated techniques...;)

After a little while the fishing passion abandoned me and I went back to my favorite instrument (the one with films).

My first catch,
presented by one of the M'toto
who helped us.

Hellooo !

The ground world always attracted me more than the submarine world, and it is also true for sports, for the kitchen...

Having said that, dabbling hippos, that's nice.

They are a little bit like cows, a little like porks, a little elephants, a little whales... Well, they are especially very "hippo" !

Although... Shouldn't we rather say "very hyper"?

I'm nuts, would you say...

It is nevertheless a really funny animal: he's amphibian and spends the major part of its life in the water (or in the mud mixed with its excrements, what a pig !)

But he has to breathe in the surface, like a whale...

Worse : from time to time, he has to take out its elephant-like 3 tons out of the water to go graze, because he's an herbivore ! What a cow...

Well, after all the man also is a funny animal...

Big mouth !

Oh ! The fishermen are tired ;)

We put everything back in the car and a little later, we are in the fishermen's village of Vitshumbi, at the edge of the lake.

Paradise for the local fishermen, for the birds coming for the rests, and for fishermen like us who come here to eat and to rest.

Indeed there are three huts at the edge of the lake, where a Mama prepares and barbecues the fish you bring her.

If you did not go fishing before or if you are a Sunday-fisherman like me, Mama prepares you fishes that her family went fishing the same day.

It was not our case, Renato and the children having competed throughout the morning to fill up the iceboxes with different fishes, among which my favorite : the tilapia !

It is easier to eat because it has fewer fish bones, and it's more flavourful than silurid, often muddy...

Salad, small bananas and a lot of beer on the side...

The village itself is really pleasant and the photographer is happy...

A Boeing pirogue...

Vitshumbi is pretty isolated and poor, so the children enjoy themselves as they can with craft toys : wooden trotinettes, miniature cars made of banana tree's bark, balloons made with a bladder (of ?)...

The marabouts behave there as pets and stroll quietly in the village.

Another funny animal !

"Ooow...It's hot !"

And who makes us laugh well : the big game when you eat fish in the hut, back to the wall with big windows, is to throw fish bones and waste over your shoulder while you eat.

Clak-clak-clak-clak !

The marabouts wait outside and, as soon as they see something coming, they hurry on it with their long beaks !

That works also with beer caps, sticks, etc. but please, be nice !

On the right, a photo taken in the famous huts, but later, during the visit of my dear mother.

Not only the marabouts like receiving guests ;)

Mom's making friends

"Ooow... It's hot !"

That stop was particularly good for us : my Jeep Willys was not as comfortable as a big modern 4x4, not air-conditioned either...

It was also necessary to give some fuel to this one (siphoning Diesel with the mouth, blah !) and its occupants ;)