Transport workers load a truck with Mukula tree hardwood. One trunk of Mukula can weigh more than 200 kg, with some reaching up to 500 kg. The trucks are loaded by hand. Loading one truck with timber normally takes 20 workers an entire morning.
Pterocarpus tinctorius, or Mukula tree, is a rare and slow-growing hardwood unique to southern and central Africa. Mukula has been illegally logged and traded from Zambia and DRC to China for the last decade, feeding the increasing demand of "rosewood" in the Chinese market.