At the edge of the Sapo base camp clearing, there was a small mound with several small saplings growing out of it. Augustin pointed it out to me and said: “That is a pile of elephant dung. They wander through here on their way up to the mountains”. I was baffled, amazed at the thought of an elephant being able to force the dense undergrowth of the rain forest.
Later, he showed me the fruit that the elephants like to eat, that holds the seeds, that then grew out from the dung into the saplings in the clearing. The tree is called Pentadesma. It can become enormous, like most trees in the rain forest.
He also showed me another fruit that the elephant likes to eat. He said it’s called Koua, and it can also be made into soap by the villager women.
And so the rain forest and its creatures give and take. In a true circle of ecosystem services.
Katja Malmborg 