In June last year they rescued two people, including a 13-year old girl kidnapped by the LRA from the village of Kidi, about 12km from the town of Yambio, close to the DR Congo border.
On getting to Manono after a hazardous journey, free of the usual hyperbole that Congo travels inspire, Mr Rawlence discovers the ruin of a town that once triumphed over nature before becoming its prey.
His mission to find Manono, a 1950s model town built by a Belgian mining company in the rarely visited interior of eastern Congo, is illuminated as much by the detours as the destination.