Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo (in the area near
Ouesso in map at right) is one of the most remote primary forest areas in the world, and we were recently fortunate enough to travel there. Here I am pictured with one of our guides and Pygmy porters. An arduous 5-day journey, we five travelers were happy to experience life in the dense forest to visit the
Wildlife Conservation Society's http://www.wcs.org/ research stations there and to view
lowland gorillas in their habitat.
Bill, Oi, Pamela, Al and I flew north to Ouesso on Air Congo, where we were met by
Paul Telfer, director of
WCS Congo on his way back to Brazzaville. We were turned over to
Dr. Tomo Nishihara, Logistics Coordinator for WCS's northern Congo operations and expert on these gorillas. He led us to our first leg of the journey, a ride in a wooden pirogue up the
Sangha River to be offloaded across the river from the
Central African Republic and
Cameroon borders. There we boarded WCS's vehicle for a bumpy ride on a logging road to
Bomassa Camp, passing through logging operations of
Congolaise Industrielle de Bois, (
CIB) where we saw huge logs being cut, processed and hauled out of the forest. WCS works with the company, influencing them in the direction of preservation of forest and animals.
Baggage Claim at Ouesso Airport
Oi Shows the Way
Al and Outoing Logs - the trucks cross the Sangha River by ferry to Cameroon for export..
Sorry to say the bushmeat trade is alive and well in Congo Brazzaville. Today's foray into the Ouenze Marche' turned up this assortment of meat selections; also on offer were wild hog and antelope. Anything is fair game. 
Sorry to say the bushmeat trade is alive and well in Congo Brazzaville. Today's foray into the Ouenze Marche' turned up this assortment of meat selections; also on offer were wild hog and antelope. Anything is fair game. 
