Fires

Now that the saison seche is here, things are cooler and drier than they were during our first few weeks. Taking advantage of the good weather, the congolese burn all the fields in site. Things seem to have died down now but for weeks you could see fires in every direction

The advantages to the congolese are numerous. First, we are in the middle of nowhere and lots of traffic between villages goes through these fields. The grasses grow to be about 6 feet and can be problematic for travel. burning the fields keep these routes open. second its good for crops. but this is not slash and burn agriculture like you find other places in the tropics. this is really just clearing the grass so that small crops like mushrooms will be easily visible in about 4 months when they pop up. The last reason is hunting. The locals light these fires and scare all the wildlife living in the fields into the nearby forest patches where hunters are positioned to take advantage of the fleeing animals.
the only thing left after the fires are termite mounds...

fires burning through the night on the horizon.