August 2012. The first shots were fired at 6 am on July 21st 2012 by a park guard upon seeing the approach of a group of about 30 Mai-mai from the direction of Mitwaba. The Mai-mai were heavily armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as other automatic weapons. There were shouts for the park guards to lay down their weapons, which they refused, instead choosing to run into the surrounding cover. Long volleys of gunfire followed and there was at least one explosion from the detonation of a grenade. As the firing lulled the Mai-mai began singing and crying out that "Lusinga had fallen."
The speed at which this happened meant that there was no time for the Frankfurt Zoological Society staff to evacuate, so staff barricaded themselves in their rooms. During an initial lull in the firing I was able to gather my emergency bag and make my way into the main building. At this point intense firing began again and continued for another 15 minutes. Some of the Mai-mai fighters could be heard moving around outside the building. The firing began to ease, and at this point I showed myself to a couple of the fighters who immediately broke into cries of ‘muzungu! (Swahili for white man)'. They were not overly threatening, and when I asked them if I could talk to their leader they were only too willing to take me to him.
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