Maps and Mapping
A basic goal of the project was to create a single series of base maps of the Gorilla reserve and surrounding region. The reserve is in three different countries, and is in a very inaccessible and poorly mapped area of the world. Actually, much of Africa is very poorly mapped. Accurate topographic maps and recent aerial photographs are not available, and are even considered national security secrets in many African countries.
No maps of the Congo (Zaire) part of the park were available at all. 1950's British colonial maps are available for the Uganda region, as are 1960's French maps of the Rwanda region. These were at a scale of 1:50,000. But we quickly realized that these maps did not match. Different contours, different international borders, different horizontal and vertical datums, all made comparing these maps very difficult indeed, and made combining them into a single dataset unlikely. A basic need for the field researchers is to have a single set of maps that covers the entire Gorilla reserve, as well as accurate vegetation, hydrology, and elevation maps that can be digitized for use in the GIS (geographic information system).
Rwandan 1:50,000 map contours copied onto mylar
Blank area at top is Uganda and Zaire
1:100,000 Belgian maps
I located, through a Belgian former graduate student of mine, a set of 1:100,000 topographic maps of the entire area from the 1930's when it was the Belgian Congo. These maps were located in the archives of the Belgian Colonial Ministry in Brussels. In modern terms, they were rather poor in quality and control, but on the other hand they covered the entire area and were very detailed in terms of elevations, roads, vegetation, hydrology, and villages. These were used as a base map for our initial work. They also provide an important 'snapshot' of the entire region as it was before modern overpopulation, deforestation, and development. These maps did have many problems, including crossing contours, unlabeled contours, etc. but they are still the best comprehensive map series available for the region today, and they have been the basis of our cartographic work.
1936 1:100:000 Belgian Ministere des Colonies
Service Cartographique
Revise Dec. 1936
The map covering the northwestern part of the Gorilla reserve. The international border is shown as a line of + + +.
A large map of the region is shown below. Click on the map to see a more detailed view.
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