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Central African Republic: On the Edge of Adventure


gatoratlarge

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@@gatoratlarge - How nice to see that you visited Dzangha! I had a meeting with Mr Makumba in 2007. It certainly brings back great memories from my greatest adventure - travelling by jeep from Bangui to Dzangha Sangha and back again. Personally I Think that wading in the morning sunshine in the stream on the way to Dzangha Bai hits top three of moments in my life (even though I caught one of the parasites who thought that my foot belonged to an elephant)

 

@@SafariChick. Re: your question on Gorilla-viewing. It might have changed since I was there, but when I was there this turned out to be challenge. The pygmy trackers which were sent out before us had a tough job finding the Gorilla Group. On the second day/visit to Gorillas, they simply were not found. We trekked for about three hours in the djungle trying to find them, but had to turn back to camp without Gorilla-meeting, but with a good sense of what it means to track in pathless rainforest.

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Game Warden

@@Jakob Trip report. NOW! ;)

 

But joking aside, raising awareness that the park is open and that by visiting this area you are helping conservation aims, (as well as it being spectacular), is a way that your trip report will make a difference.

 

Matt

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gatoratlarge

@@Jakob great to hear from someone that made the same trek. Rod says it's too risky to drive from Bangui these days and routes folks through Cameroon. I also think you can get there via the sangha river coming up from the Congo. I bet that was quite the adventure. Di you meet Thomas while you were there? He's an interesting guy and also a Swede. I think he's lived in CAR for more than 25 years or so now.

 

Thought I'd link a couple more videos from my trip if I'm able to. It was a rare opportunity to be around such a rare and endangered creature as the black bellied pangolin and such a privilege to follow the caretakers and the baaka into the forest to find ants so Pangi could eat. Such an interesting animal...!

 

 

 

And here were just the sounds of the night...quite soothing but took some getting used to!

 

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Amazing pangolin videos. The perspective changes in the first one are bizarre but I really like it.

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armchair bushman

I am literally drooling.

I have ALWAYS wanted to visit Dzangha Bai!! And your photos confirm it is still just as spectacular as those old National Geographic photos showed me so many years ago.
Have to have to go!!
More photos please!!

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gatoratlarge

@@pault Ha! I think I know what you mean about the pangolin videos---I bought a GoPro and did not practice with it once before I left! I think it has a wide angle fisheye feature that accentuates the center of the picture...I wanted to make sure I didn't see my whole trip through a lens but had fun with my regular Sony Cybershot camera and also the new toy, the GoPro : )

 

@armchairbushman Glad you feel that way! It is definitely an amazing place, still special...but one of the reasons I posted all this immediately upon my return and will continue to as I dig through my pics and video is my belief that it is also threatened. The fact that it might be spoiled is very real. As you probably know, even a World Heritage site is in grave jeopardy with a corrupt or unstable government in charge. $$$ drives everything and so in my opinion every tourist $$$ helps! Did you go to my facebook album? There are more than 250 pictures there...linked above....

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gatoratlarge

Here's what it looks like flying over the equatorial forest in CAR into Bayanga. The pilot had been seeing a couple hippos but they had moved off the Sangha River into a smaller side river apparently:

 

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gatoratlarge

And here's a look at the main dining room, Lindberg Bar, library and back deck at Sangha Lodge. If you want to know what a sweat bee looks like, one lands on my lens while I'm filming. THis time of year is the end of the dry season and probably the buggiest but it wasn't so bad. Only a couple times did they annoy me enough to put on that net hat. They don't sting, they just love flying around your head and hands...

 

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gatoratlarge

And heading out to the forest with the baaka and the nets:

 

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michael-ibk

Absolutely fantastic report!!! I, too, have been following Rod (and the Pangolins!) on FB, and really wish them all the best for the future, that they will be able to keep going. Love the Eles and the Bongos, the whole experience just seems to be a wonderful, hugely rewarding experience. Have you been told what would be the best time for Bongo?

 

Unfortunately, with travel warnings for the whole country in place, the insurance problem still is a major obstacle which would still prevent me from going, though I really admire your courage that you went through with it! If there´s one lodge in Africa I´ve been reading about I would like to visit just to support the owners it would definitely be Sangha Lodge. Thanks so much for sharing!

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@@michael-ibk hope you don't mind am interjecting.. My goal was the bongo and was advised rainy season end of February/March/April were best option. Was not disappointed with a sighting of 39 bongo ( a single herd )

 

Certainly no courage required to visit CAR / sangha lodge just patience, bit of planning and sense of adventure. Rod and Tamar are extremely helpful, honest and quick to reply to any questions about planning you may have.

 

Hope you visit very soon. :)

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gatoratlarge

Thanks @@michael-ibk ! I think this is the best time for bongo---I had read in someone's trip report a while back that there had been several weeks where bongo came into the bai every day and I took note that it was this time of year---during the "dry" season which is loosely defined : ) But I think they can be seen at any time it's just better this time of year (say Feb through March or so) Rod would probably be the best at knowing when to see certain species. I do know that his favorite time of year is more July and August if I remember correctly.

 

To use Rod's exact words: "July/august is my best time...forest is at its very best, rains but not too much, and everything is so very fresh. But your chance of seeing bongos drop...but what you lose on the roundabouts you gain on the swings as they say..." : )

 

I got trip insurance and medical evacuation insurance through AAA and it wasn't expensive at all...I wouldn't let the travel warnings stop you as a steady flow of ex-pats are in and out of Bayanga all the time....in fact, they just had a big delegation of Germans in a couple of weeks ago...my pleasure to share. Visit soon! : )

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gatoratlarge

Here's a video from the banks of the sangha River. We took a ride in a long (40'?) dugout pirogue upriver, had a brai on a sandbar and tossed a line into the water trying to catch something...

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I knew this gem of a report was out there. Two #s stand out. 15. Has it really been 15 years since that fascinating Michael Fay documentary? 1000. I can see why you took a thousand bai photos. And you saw the gorillas! Looking forward to the rest of this amazing adventure of unique creatures and maybe even a forest spirit.

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Re: Greatest Elephant Show on Earth and Gorilla feeding. The video really caught the herd movements as a group. Great individual activity too. How much time did you spend watching the eles? The gorilla feeding in the tree was a nice contrast to in the bai. Based on some other accounts I recall, and @@Jakob 's long walk without seeing gorillas, do you think you were very lucky. How about all those bongos--typical or you're charmed? @@Jakob, can you tell us what happened with your foot?

Edited by Atravelynn
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gatoratlarge

@Atravelynn I probably was able to spend--- in total--- about 24 hours at the bai while I was at Dzanga Sangha---I wish I had another day at the bai and probably should have spent the money and done it. It does require hiring a car, etc... But the action is non-stop and in the clearing you have the best chance to observe the wildlife of the forest---like I said---my head was on a swivel---I was not bored for a minute. Elephant traffic seems to build during the day with it being quietest in the morning but there's always 15 or so elephants present and in my case more than 100 at a time late in the afternoon.

 

As far as bongos go, I think the time of the year is important. I had read on a blog that there was a time period where bongos visited the bai daily for (if memory serves me) 30 or more days in a row....so I think you are definitely not guaranteed a bongo sighting (of course) but in the Feb through April time period you might even say it is likely to see them if you visit the bai a few times during your visit. The ones I saw came in later than is apparently typical and so I was sweating a bit as to whether I'd see them or not...

 

I did not get the feeling I was lucky with the gorillas---I think it would be unlucky not to see them in fact. They have two habituated groups, one in more dense forest and one that seems to prefer near Bai Houkou. They told me two other groups were being habituated as well...it takes a long time to habituate lowland gorillas compared to mountain gorillas I believe...

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Thanks for the timing of the trip info. I take it the pangolins can be seen anytime. Please tell us more about this wonderful sanctuary. Your videos show the unique reptilian-mammal nature of this creature. Wow oh wow for your trip a a whole.

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gatoratlarge

Thanks @Atravelynn Ultimately they want to return any pangolin they receive to the wild and if they receive an adult and save it from the bush meat trade they rather quickly return it to the forest after a medical check, but in the case of Pangi, she was way too young and unable to survive on her own...Rod and his wife are very dedicated and it takes a lot of time and effort to raise a baby like her---the day I left, another baby was brought to the lodge to raise, this one a white bellied pangolin. But whether or not there's a pangolin there would be whether or not it's necessary to care for the animal until it's ready for release...it's not a sanctuary but a lodge with two very kind owners : )

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Thanks for the pangolin info and the baby duiker background.

 

Along with all the other fascinating things in this report the "heading out to the forest with the baaka and the nets" video is really uplifting. You did a great job of getting just the singing and clapping and not vehicle or wind noise.

 

"Quite frankly it was everything I wanted my trip to Gabon to be! I just found it in CAR! Lol" With trips to both places, you would know! Now if only that could somehow be worked into a slogan for CAR.

 

The title of your report is not quite accurate. You were not on the edge, but smack dab in the middle of adventure and lots of it!

 

Thank you for supporting this part of the world with your tourism dollars, @@gatoratlarge!

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  • 1 month later...

Re: Jakob, can you tell us what happened with your foot?

 

@Atravelynn: yes, while walking in water where Elephants drop their poo, one can find this parasite. It Waits for an elephant to pass by, clings on to it's foot, and drills itself into the sole. While staying there it transforms to next stage in its evolution to whatever it becomes. Or, because it's hard to judge whether it's an elephant or something else passing by, it takes a chance. So in this case, unknowing and enjoying the walk to the Bai, the parasite decided to try me out. It's not something you notice directly, but after a few days you notice that there is a strange feeling under your foot. That becomes into what is best described as a "bump" about 2 centimeters wide. After a few more days the fiasco is a fact. When it discovers I'm not an elephant, there is no way out, and it simply dies. I will not describe in detail what happens next (rather disgusting), but the human body is good at getting rid of waste and alien material. Really not a big deal. All in all I Think I had it as companion for about two weeks, and no aftermath whatsoever. besides having a good story to tell kids and friends.

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gatoratlarge

@jakob:

 

 

Thought this might bring back some good memories :) the hike to the bai takes about 45 minutes if I remember correctly. You have to coordinate your exit to miss a rather territorial elephant who likes to take up residence in the stream area late afternoon. Couple things I noticed about the video was how quickly Grass, the Pygmy tracker moves through the forest, and how many butterflies you encounter ( one blue one photo bombs my lens toward the end). I think that's a sign of a very healthy ecosystem.

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That's what I'm talking about!

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  • 1 month later...
Super LEEDS

@@gatoratlarge thanks for sharing such an intrepid adventure!

 

When is it least 'buggiest'? Or due to the habitat, is it always buggy?

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So thankful that @@Anomalure wrote the other Sangha report because I left on a trip in the middle of your TR and then never came back to it! @@gatoratlarge - just an extraordinary adventure and the video clips really bring the place alive.

Pangi is completely adorable and I would go just to see her chirp in protest when she's not allowed to climb too high :)

What a fantastic trip we were so lucky to share it with you!

Edited by Sangeeta
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In the Central African Republic you get low land gorillas different from Uganda and Rwanda. I'm definitely going to go there especially now that Wilderness safari has closed its two camps in the Congo. Bongos have always been on my list of dream animals.

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