Every truck shipping Mukula hardwood needs to pass a checkpoint on the way from the forest to Lubumbashi. According to records at the checkpoint at least 4-5 trucks, and sometimes as many as 14-15 trucks, pass every day.
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.