A photo journey into Africa’s lowland rainforests

I recently had the honour of sharing three weeks with two guests, Jill Smith and Andoni Aboitiz, also dear friends, in what remains my favourite place in this special part of the world. First, I’d like to say how this style of trip simply wouldn’t have been possible were it not for Jill and Andoni’s complete trust in our capability and the ‘wild process’ and their own willingness to try something out of their comfort zone. For that, I thank Jill and Andoni a million times over for the gift of guiding on such a journey and for sharing this experience together.

Journeying into the Congo’s expansive rainforests is a powerful way to disconnect from the modern world, to let go, and so begin a process of accessing a much older way of being. While not without its challenges, this is in every way real adventure travel, the kind of journey that requires that we step into our vulnerabilities, and in doing so, gain a level of freedom almost impossible to attain in our day-to-day existence back home.

Our adventure took us through an extraordinary collection of some of the least-visited habitats across central Africa. Beginning in the heart of the Congo in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, we were lucky to spend time with the African Parks team and learn what it takes to manage and protect a landscape of such a magnitude.

We then travelled to the north and east, moving into logistically more complex terrain, finally arriving in Nouabalé-Ndoki, at a coordinate known as the ‘last place on Earth’. From here, we crossed the border to find sanctuary in the good company of Sangha, the ideal point from which to experience the ‘village of the elephants’ at Dzanga Bai, a highlight of the Congo Basin and what is, for me, one of the finest wildlife experiences in the world.

Nouabalé-Ndoki, neighbouring Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, and the surrounding forest are a stronghold for many important species and large mammals, including the critically endangered forest elephant. In the past decade, the rainforests of Central Africa have lost around 60% of its elephant population due to poaching, which in turn is affecting the stability of what is one of the largest carbon sinks in the world.

The health of these rainforests very much depends on the elephants, and vice versa, as they carry out their role of the ‘ecosystem engineer’ or ‘mega-gardener’, shaping the forest by dispersing seeds, fertilising the soil, clearing paths, creating light gaps, speeding up decomposition, and ultimately boosting carbon stocks. They also help create and maintain the mineral-rich forest clearings known as ‘bais’ by the local Ba’aka people, which attract a wide variety of animals. This intricate relationship between the elephants and their habitat is another reminder of the interconnected nature of life, and of how important it is for us to protect the Congo Basin.

A big thanks to the teams at WSC Congo and African Parks for your conservation efforts in protecting this landscape and for hosting us, and to the communities who we met along our way. To readers, please do reach out if you’d like to discuss privately guided travel to the Congo Basin.