Among the Gorillas

What to Expect:

10 days in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Three different camps in distinct ecosystems)

1 days in Brazzaville

3 days of gorilla trekking!

Game viewing from boats, kayaks, cars and on foot

Luxury lodges and permanent tented camps

Unmatched birding

Mammal species that you can’t see anywhere else 

Expertly guided by James, Alex or Iain

Trip Details:

Very few people ever spend time in the Central African rainforests, it is one of the few remaining places on our planet, which has been geographically “lost”, since the time when the explorer, Stanley, hacked his way through it between 1874 and 1877.  So, when we heard that Odzala-Kokoua National Park was open to visitors, we couldn’t restrain ourselves; we jumped at the opportunity to get into this enormous forest, one of the largest remaining on earth.  The park, which borders Gabon, lies in the north of the country, and protects some of Africa’s rarest wildlife species.  Each of us has spent time seeing gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda, both of which - especially the latter - have become super-commercialised (a friend of ours jokingly told us recently that it has got to a stage in Rwanda where the highland gorillas are so human habituated that they almost open the car doors for visitors upon arrival).  The lowland gorillas that we saw in Congo are far removed from this, and are semi-habituated at best, but our sightings were fantastic.

You will spend 10 days accessing the forest from three beautiful lodge/camps. On our exploratory trip to put this safari together we saw gorillas every time we went tracking them; as well as forest elephants; orange forest buffalo; spotted hyena (they seemed much larger than our plains hyenas); we were lucky enough to see wild, non-habituated chimpanzees; and we had great views of 10 of the 17 primate species that live in the forest.

Odzala-Kokoua National Park is diverse, with three distinct ecosystems: dense rainforest, bais (open, often marshy, glades within the forest), waterways, overhung by every exotic jungle tree you can imagine, and, finally, the transition into savannah.  We will track Western Lowland gorillas through absolutely pristine rainforest; we will kayak (beginner friendly), and boat down rivers searching for primate species; and you will be amazed how close we can get to elephant families on a boat.

There will be lots of walking for the active among you!

Our group will have exclusive use of the three small lodges, which are located in stunning locations, and private access to the gorilla families during our visit.  Odzala-Kokoua is the size of Tsavo East, (5,000+ square miles), and we will be the only outsiders there.  This safari is genuine adventure travel, and visitors must be fit, active, and comfortable hiking through forest and shallow water. 

We only plan to run one or two departures per year with a maximum of eight people on each.