Congo Basin Safari

A 12 day Congo Basin Tri-National Park Safari - From £3,750 per person sharing

17 Oct: Bangui
Arrival at Bangui International Airport where you will be met and transfer to your hotel. A chance to relax and prepare for the adventures of the next couple of weeks.
Overnight: Residence JM – located 45 mins from the airport. Simple but comfortable and clean accommodation

18 Oct: Bangui – Bayanga – Bomassa
A long transfer day today. A short transfer to the airport and we catch our internal charter flight to Bayanga. From here we have a further 7hrs to complete by boat along the Dzangha River. Please pack water proofs as well as if it rains this can be a wet ride! Transfer along this winding river through the forested banks and arrive into Bomassa in the early evening. A chance to relax upon arrival.
Overnight WCS Guest Accommodation – Research Camp with simple but comfortable twin and shared bunk rooms, shower & toilet blocks and electricity (B/L/D)

19 Oct: Mbeli Bai or Mondika
With a full group the expedition will be divided into two sub–groups due to the limited accommodation and gorilla permits available at Mbeli Bai and Mondika. You will either transfer to the Mondika Lowland Gorilla Research Camp, where you will track a habituated group of lowland gorillas, or head to Mbeli Camp where you can experience the best of Nouabale Ndoki by observing, from a viewing platform, the gorillas and the other wildlife that visit the bai.

If visiting Mbeli Bai you will drive about one hour through the buffer zone of the park to the Ndoki River where you will meet with Mbeli camp staff. From here you will take a small pirogue (dugout canoe) on the Ndoki River and then Mbeli River for about one hour, after which you will walk for about 20 mins to Mbeli camp. From Mbeli Camp it’s about 40mins walk to Mbeli Bai where you can observe the wildlife from the raised platform (mirador) located in the tree line. Mbeli Bai is several hundred meters in length covering an area of approx 12 hectares; for this reason wildlife sightings vary in proximity so binoculars/spotting scopes/zoom lenses will be necessary.

If visiting Mondika the car will drop you off after about an hours drive at the Djeki River. From here you will meet with the Mondika Staff who will help porter and guide you to Mondika Camp. You will have about 3 hours walk through the forest which is fairly flat. The track does go through a swamp for about 30mins with water about waist deep. The rest of walk is very scenic through the forest along well trodden paths. You will arrive by mid afternoon at Mondika tented camp, where you can have a bucket shower and spend the rest of the day relaxing or having a walk around the camp to learn more about the forest pants and trees and their uses by the wildlife and humans!
Overnight: Mbeli Camp - Basic camp with 4 bungalows (two beds per bungalow). No electricity, bush shower (bucket with warm water) and long drop loo (B/L/D)

Or

Mondika Camp - Basic camp with tents (two beds per tent). No electricity, bush shower and long drop loo (B/L/D)

Group A                                                          Group B

21 Oct
Today you will transfer to a different site depending on what you visited first. If at Mbeli you will transfer to Mondika and vice versa.

22 Oct
Activities as 20 Oct, but visa versa.

23 Oct: Bomassa– Lidjombo – Bayanga
Today you will travel into the CAR. You will transfer from Mbeli or Mondika back to Bomassa from where you will catch a motorized boat (pirogue) following the Sangha River to Bayanga. On the way you will have a stop at Lidjombo border check point before entering the CAR (approx 5hrs to Lidjombo and please do not use cameras at or near the check point). From Lidjombo it is about 2 hours by boat to Bayanga a small village near Dzanga Sangha National Park. You will arrive at Sangha Lodge at the end of the day, in time for dinner and cold drinks! Please note that this is a long day of transfers by road and boat.
Overnight: Sangha Lodge: This is an ex-hunting lodge on the banks of the Sangha River. It is now a small eco-lodge for visiting tourists. There are seven large wooden bungalows with palm thatched roofs, each with two beds. The rooms are simply furnished and have a private bathroom with hot and cold running water, flush toilets and bush showers. There is a well stocked bar with cold beer and drinks. Potable water is supplied in every room as well as at the bar. A small kitchen produces simple yet tasty western food (B/L/D)

24, 25, 26, 27 Oct
Four full days in the Dzanga Sangha National Park (B/L/D) for the following activities:

Gorilla Tracking at Bai Hokou
The gorilla tracking is limited to 3x guests per trek and runs from 9:00am to around 3:00pm. Visitors must be fit as the gorillas wander extensively in search of food and your trek at times can be strenuous. Pygmy trackers assist in locating the group of gorillas each day. Encountering the gorillas cannot be guaranteed and their visibility will depend on the vegetation of the area where you meet them.

After an early breakfast at 06:00am you will drive for about 1½ hrs to Bai Hokou and the gorilla research camp. From here you will trek to see a family of western lowland gorillas in their wild environment. At times this can be strenuous trek but your efforts will be rewarded as this is a marvelous and breathtaking encounter. These gorillas are completely wild but have been habituated by extensive research programs in the past. Very few people are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to track these remarkable primates.

Visiting Dzanga Bai
You can visit this magical forest clearing with its saline pools at least once in the morning or once in the afternoon. At Dzanga Bai visitors have the opportunity to observe the timid forest elephants in the wild, an experience usually reserved to a limited circle of researchers. From the specially built wooden platforms (mirador) one can observe the elephants as they venture out of the forest to feed on the mineral rich soil, to drink or engage with the rest of the herd. One can often observe herds of between 50-100 elephants in the bai. As well as forest elephants a host of other mammals also come to the saline such as: the forest buffalo, sitatunga, red river hog & the bongo, the largest antelope to be found in Africa’s rainforests. The bongo is a very striking antelope with is striped russet coat and beautifully shaped horns.

Net hunting with Ba’ Aka
One morning you can accompany a group of Ba’ Aka pygmy men & women (approx 30 in size) to go net hunting in the forest. Normally each family will bring with them their own long nets, made from strips of liana bark. The departure is preceded by lengthy decisions as to which direction they will be heading off in. In the decision making – everyone’s opinion counts. The Ba’ Aka will guide you through the forest in search of shy forest duikers, mangabey monkeys and other prey. This can be a brutal experience. For those who don’t wish to see the hunt you can follow along and learn about the Ba’ Aka’s forest ways and their traditional way of life. This is an amazing experience and benefits the Ba’ Aka community as well.

28 Oct
Today you will leave Bayanga and catch your internal charter flight back to Bangui. From here you catch your international flight back home (B)