Trip Report Courtesy Our Troop of Valiant SafariTalkers
| Image above: Christmas Day — Camping on a sandbar in Lobeke NP! Courtesy @gatoratlarge |
With the magic of the Congo still burning bright in their memories, some of our guests have been busy chattering away about Chalo Africa’s December Congo Expedition on SafariTalk. We thought it best to directly share the link to their detailed trip report, while sharing some highlights below.
Introduction
Courtesy @gatoratlarge —This is an ambitious TR and I’m hopefully going to get help from other SafariTalkers (at least seven of us made this trip) but I’ll get it started and see where it takes us!
This adventure covered four countries: The Republic of Congo, with forays into Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chalo Africa arranged and coordinated along with Expeditions Ducret in the inaugural season of its riverboat, the Princess Ngalessa.
We explored the Sangha and Alima rivers (tributaries of the Congo) and ultimately the mighty Congo River itself! This was an itinerary specifically designed by Chalo with their requests fine-tuned and honed for maximum wildlife in a sometimes tough environment. A couple of other groups made a similar trip design but there was a lot of hard work and research by Chalo that should not go unmentioned.
Wildlife in the Congo
Courtesy @gatoratlarge — Wildlife is what most of us on ST are interested in and candidly, it’s tough to see the wildlife of equatorial rainforests—outside of protected areas, wildlife is food: monkeys, birds, fish, reptiles. It’s all meat/protein. So wildlife is quite shy and even scarce. But if you took a species list from both of our groups, it was remarkable what we saw collectively.
Sangha Dzanga is unique on the planet in terms of forest elephants and is one of the last strongholds for a species that has seen a 90% decline in its population over the last few decades—there’s no better place on earth to observe them.
And to see wild bonobos was a lifer primate for all of us.
It was a real coup to have Dr. Russ Mittermeier and his son along as experts (thanks to Chalo Africa and @Sangeeta). Russ is one of the world’s foremost primatologists. He said it’s likely less than 1000 people (westerners? foreigners?) have ever laid eyes on wild bonobos!
Between our two groups, at Sangha Dzanga we saw a tree pangolin, a potto, an anamalure, a palm civet, a sitatunga, bongos (through night vision goggles), forest buffalo, agile mangabeys, black and white colobus monkeys, moustached monkeys, putty-nosed monkeys, a DeBrazza monkey, even a western lowland gorilla (at Ndoki)!
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The Forest Elephants of Dzanga Bai
Courtesy @Kitsafari — We were meeting the rest of the group at the Baka village, and together we would trek to the Dzangha Bai – the main highlight of the park… Well before we reached the platform, the trumpeting of elephants roared through the jungles and we knew we were close. The very high platform loomed ahead of us, and as we climbed the steps, we could see many grey jumbos with heads too stuck in the holes to be bothered by us. We’re here! was all i could think and wow, the number of grey pachyderms spreading around the huge bai was astounding to see.
In 2021, the African Forest Elephant obtained its own status as a full species, having been split from the African Savannah Elephant but unfortunately, its IUCN Redlist status was immediately listed as Critically Endangered, just a step away from extinct in the wild. Slightly smaller than its savannah cousin, with long thin straight tusks tinged with pink, the forest elephant can be pretty elusive in the wilds of Africa.
Attired in whites, greys and partial blacks, some 120+ elephants were split into groups of as small as threes or more. Some were monopolising certain valuable holes, with their trunks stuck into the holes. Many were mingling around, waiting for their turns to push through the sands to sift for minerals. At one point, a family was spooked and ran to the edge of the forest, and that spooked almost every elephant family in the bai, causing them to run to right side of the bai. But after a few minutes, it was clear it was a false alarm and the jumbos slowly returned to the bai.
Right in front of the platform was a mother and a cheeky baby which would wander off often to sniff and touch other adults. Mum would hastily run after the baby, using her trunk to gather the baby back to her side.
I’ve often been so impressed and affected by the calmness of the savannah elephants, even though they also have a fearsome reputation of charging at vehicles. That quietness permeated the bai, and the platform inhabitants. Seeing such a large gathering of elephants in person was awe-inspiring, and rare in current times when wildlife population is generally in steep declines. The bai offers hope, hope that these areas continue as sanctuaries for wildlife for many years to come.
The Bonobos of DRC
Courtesy @Kitsafari — It is pitch black at 3.30am but the camp is already alive with people getting ready to jump into the jeeps for an early dawn trek for the main event in the Mbou-Mon-Tour in Nkala in the Democratic Republic of Congo to see the endangered Bonobos.
Once described as the pgymy chimp, the bonobo gained its full species status in 1929. The fourth great ape is found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, not the easiest place to navigate into. Bonobos occur only in the south of the Congo River. The wide fast-running river draws an impenetrable line between the two great apes – the chimpanzees and its very close cousins the bonobos.
In a gist, while the chimpanzees are larger, have a male-dominant society and show a stronger aggressive and violent characteristics, the bonobos are smaller with groups that are led by females, and adopt a “copulation” strategy to resolve disputes.
In darkness with only our head torches to light a narrow path, we stumble along a trail that is sometimes hidden by overgrowing bushes. After about 45 mins or perhaps longer, we reach the nests where the bonobos had spend the night. They are on the move…
And thus, we had finally joined the rarified group of fewer than 1,000 people outside the local residents in the world to have seen bonobos in the wild.
The Many Moods of the Congo River
Courtesy @Pholidota — The Congo River itself is magnificent. Sometimes encrusted in rainforest, sometimes a vast wetland plain, sometimes wind-whipped and agitated, sometimes calm and serene. Always unforgettable.
(Images courtesy @Philidota)
From the Queen of the Téké to the Mayor of Mossaka
Courtesy @Sangeeta: We met several local dignitaries on this trip – from the Queen of the Téké (the spiritual head of the Bateke people), to the Mayor of Mossaka (the administrative head of a township), all the way to the chief of Nkala village where we had gone for the bonobos. We had done this type of visit once before in Gabon when we had met the King of the Bemba. That time in Gabon, I just thought it was an interesting side note, but after this trip, I realize that this is, in fact, the culture and etiquette in this part of Africa. You have to stop and say hello, pay your respects to the elder in charge, and then you are welcome to explore.
A quick word on the Queen of the Téké – As the others have already mentioned, while the King is actually elected by the people based on qualities such as bravery, strength etc., the spiritual female line is hereditary, and passes from mother to daughter, in a long line of queens. It was fascinating to think that a direct ancestor of the current queen had interacted with de Brazza when he made his treaty with the Bateke people. Also interesting to know that the Batéké kingdom is a transnational kingdom that still spans parts of Gabon, ROC and DRC, and that this queen is responsible for the spiritual well-being of her people. What an interesting bifurcation between male and female power.
The Mayor of Mossaka asked us to tell him where we had each come from, and when he heard the long list of countries we represented, he said we were an example that the United Nations should follow. It is true. This is something that Safaritalk has brought into our lives as well. So many of us, all hailing from such diverse backgrounds, but finding common ground around our love for wildlife. Maybe we should put a bunch of politicians on a boat and send them off to the Congo for 2 weeks.
So, a big chapeau & bravo to Expeditions Ducret for organizing these encounters with such regard for local etiquette – for me, these encounters and exchanges have become memories that I will cherish.
Mbou Mon Tour – A Shining Example of Ecotourism
Courtesy @Sangeeta — I’d like to tell Safaritalkers a little more about the remarkable bonobo conservation project Mbou Mon Tour, near the village of Nkala, about 300 kms upstream from Kinshasa. For me, if there was one ‘grand’ discovery of this safari, then it was this.
https://www.bonobosworld.org/en/our-actions/m-bou-mon-tour-ngo
Unlike most conservation efforts throughout Africa, this one is the brainchild of a group of local Congolese academics. It was started in 1997, with the ambitious aim of tackling malnutrition & maternal mortality in the local villages by encouraging the villagers to grow cassava in the savannah areas around the dense tropical rainforests, thereby reducing pressure on the forest whilst protecting its rich biodiversity. Now that I am reading more about other bonobo conservation projects in the DRC, this is the approach that is being taken in most other protected areas as well.
The project took a multi-pronged approach towards species conservation:
- by prioritizing the health and well-being of the local population,
- by co-opting local Téké traditions that prohibited the hunting and consumption of bonobos,
- and by persuading the local village chiefs to get fully on board with the ecotourism aspect of the project. Village chieftains carry a lot of weight in these communities.
Our visit brought into stark relief all those things that form the backbone of community conservation.
- The local villagers could see for themselves that we, the tourists, had only come to their remote village because of their efforts to protect the bonobos.
- All of us saw the flip side of this with our own eyes as well – that it is very difficult for people living in such poverty to not look at animals as anything more than a source of protein. We all saw for ourselves that the riverbanks of the Congo are almost devoid of animals because they have been hunted out for food, so what they are doing here in this little part of the DRC is truly heroic..
The project site has simple tourist facilities, but there is much room for improvement here, as already described by Joel & Kit. The evening before our bonobo trek, our dinner was cooked for us by the local ladies from the village (delicious and hygienically prepared), who then put on a dance performance for us. It was a combination of an old village legend & the new reality of bonobo conservation, but it went something like this…
Oh bonobo, once upon a time, a long time ago, you lived alongside us in the village.
But then you borrowed money from the people and you could not pay them back,
So we chased you into the forest, there to live alone.
But, o bonobo, see what you have done –
You’ve brought visitors to our village,
You’ve brought prosperity to our village,
O dear bonobos, you’ve repaid your debt,
Come back, come back, and live with us in the village again.
Do check out the full trip report on SafariTalk. There are hundreds of photographs up, and many more details of this extraordinary expedition!
Stay wild,
Sangeeta & The Chalo Team
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