Odzala & Dzangha Sangha deep Congo Basin rainforest journey 2022

[jeremie]

To have a better understanding of the gorilla experience, i think that the best is just to look at some videos. The best is probably Josh short episode about his Ngaga gorilla experience for WWF.

 

Josh was very lucky to watch the gorillas seating and walking on the track, that is the best condition ever for photography at Ngaga. Other great opportunities are when gorillas are in the trees, provided the background is not white and that the light is decent.

 

Any way, not everything is photography, the experience was extraordinary. I just let down the camera and let my anxiety for pictures away and enjoyed the scenes, and appreciate the extraordinary skills of our tracker. More pictures are coming!

 

 

[jeremie]

More pictures from this first gorilla trekking with the Jupiter group.

 

The Jupiter group is starting to split, as Jupiter silverback is getting older and senile. Many adult females left the group in search of new silverback. By April 2022, the group consisted of Jupiter (the dominant silverback), one adult female with her shy, skittish youngster, a black silverback (who will have to migrate out of the family group to find his own group when he will be a magnificent silverback), and many juvenile gorillas.

 

 

[jeremie]

The best pics are coming at the end, when the light got better, and the apes got up in the trees to feed on fruits. Some started to eat bark. The youngsters started to play and hit their chests. That was a very nice scene! I am just a bit sad that the group is going slowly dismantling, but it's nature. Jupiter got very skittish too, we barely saw him between the marantaceas.

 

[jeremie]

During the day some putty nosed monkeys were wandering around the lodge, I have just edited two shots of them. They are really handsome primates!

 

 

The afternoon walk was nice, but we did not see any relevant animal. Listened a lot great blue turacos (which we would see on third morning before heading for Mboko). We spent time looking for small things until the night, but as I don't hae any macro lens, I don't have any picture. We spot a frog during the night, some bats, and a luminiscente scorpion.

Edited February 28, 2023 by jeremie

[jeremie]

As a short transition to our second gorilla tracking on Day 2, here is a portfolio view of pictures taken during this Congo Basin journey...

 

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by jeremie

[JayRon]

Wow, you really got some great photos  Looks amazing and so different to the typical "savannah" safari...

[jeremie]

Day 2:

 

Again, we get up very early during the night for a short coffee. Today, we will meet another gorilla habituated group: the Neptune group whose silverback is called Neptune. This group is located quite close to Ngaga camp.

 

There is also a third recently habituated group called the Pluton group. This group is reserved for guests focusing on Ngaga and not visiting Odzala National Park. It is located quite far from the Camp and the research station. More generally, there are about 35 to 38 different gorilla groups representing a total of 350 to 400 gorillas individuals in the Ngaga forest. They have a core areas of resident dominance home ranges defended against neighboring groups, and surrounding larger zones of mutual tolerance, with larger defensive responses from the most dominant groups.

 

We found the first youngster gorilla on the floor. Then the group and silverback feeding on fruits in the canopy. We witnessed all of them going down. Our trackers then continued to follow and track the gorillas, until we reached a small clearing where gorillas where the gorillas were focusing on root-mining on the ground, a very interesting behavior. One was even feeding on termites.

 

About the Gorilla skin disease:

We also witness that the Neptuno group is now completely sick, in and around Odzala gorillas got infected by a type of siphilis disease probably transmitted from humans to apes by Baaka people. This disease looks like a leprosy, with severe skins injuries affecting the gorilla individuals of Neptuno Group. We were said that even chimps from Nouabale Ndoki National Park to the North got infected... Very unfortunate and I even feel very confused to show any pictures of my pics from the Neptuno gorilla group. Jupiter group members seem to be disease free for the moment, but I would assume that this disease is spreading quick in the region. 

 

I will start showing the pictures of gorillas during root-mining, the most interesting behavior I have witnessed in the 6 gorillas experiences in Uganda and the Congo Basin these last 5 years.

 

[NancyS]

Wow, so sad to see the signs of their disease. Also sad if they did in fact get it from people. Is there any way to stop or prevent it? You are lucky to be able to spend time with the gorillas and to be in their presence. 

[jeremie]

Further pictures of the gorillas in the trees...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Gorgeous shots of the gorillas. but i felt so sad seeing the effects of the disease on the gorillas. Do you know if it is fatal to the apes, and if the relevant vets plan to treat the apes or at least prevent further spread of the disease? 

 

 

[jeremie]

On 3/1/2023 at 4:57 PM, NancyS said:

Wow, so sad to see the signs of their disease. Also sad if they did in fact get it from people. Is there any way to stop or prevent it? You are lucky to be able to spend time with the gorillas and to be in their presence. 

 

I am afraid that we still don't know how to stop this disease. In my very own opinion, I think it would probably be imposible to fund some research for any ape disease prevention or vaccine while fundings are lacking for most of the tropical disease of the world. I also don't know how we could vaccine or treat shy gorillas in the middle of the thick rainforest.

[jeremie]

7 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

Gorgeous shots of the gorillas. but i felt so sad seeing the effects of the disease on the gorillas. Do you know if it is fatal to the apes, and if the relevant vets plan to treat the apes or at least prevent further spread of the disease? 

 

 

 

As far as I understand, this disease is not letal for apes. I have not spoken with the researchers about their project about it, so I am not able to answer if they plan any treatment, but as said just before, I think it is definitely imposible to think in developing any treatment in terms of resources, technical feasibility and of course priorities.

[AKR1]

@jeremiethanks for the continuing fantastic pictures and videos along with your narrative. Quite fascinating. 
 

The gorillas you saw are Eastern Lowland Gorillas which I understand are larger than their western counterparts.  Also as your pictures show they climb trees and exhibit behavior quite different from Mountain gorillas and can weigh up to 180 kg compared to 150kg for Mountain Gorillas. Have to say in the pictures they don’t look larger than mountain gorillas, if anything the mountain silverbacks look larger! 
 

On the unfortunate diseases impacting some of the DRC gorilla groups, does the DRC require Covid testing for visitors as Rwanda does to see Mountain gorillas?  Covid can obviously be devastating and possibly lethal for them -  was unaware they could be infected with a type of leprosy that you explained. 
 

[jeremie]

Here is the last batch of pictures of the tree-climbing gorillas from the Neptuno group. Again, light is really poor, ISO over 4000, velocity very low to control ISO. 

 

Here is king Neptuno, a very handsome silverback. It is very funny to see silverback going up and down trees, they are less graceful than females in trees, and have poor climbing capabilities in comparison with chimps or orangutans. They are just too big and break a lot of branches when going down, at the point that it seems sometimes at the verge of any accident. I remember very well a Nkuringo mountain gorilla silverback going down at Bwindi, Uganda. He nearly broke his small branch to go down at 20 meters up, and just broke everything on his way down.

 

I am sorry but for one reason I don't understand all the pictures I post are very compacted and seem very blurry. This is only an effect of the website and not a quality issue of the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

[jeremie]

22 hours ago, AKR1 said:

@jeremiethanks for the continuing fantastic pictures and videos along with your narrative. Quite fascinating. 
 

The gorillas you saw are Eastern Lowland Gorillas which I understand are larger than their western counterparts.  Also as your pictures show they climb trees and exhibit behavior quite different from Mountain gorillas and can weigh up to 180 kg compared to 150kg for Mountain Gorillas. Have to say in the pictures they don’t look larger than mountain gorillas, if anything the mountain silverbacks look larger! 
 

On the unfortunate diseases impacting some of the DRC gorilla groups, does the DRC require Covid testing for visitors as Rwanda does to see Mountain gorillas?  Covid can obviously be devastating and possibly lethal for them -  was unaware they could be infected with a type of leprosy that you explained. 
 

 

Hi @AKR1! Thank you very much for your very kind comments about the TR and the pics

It is indeed very fascinating to spot gorillas. I love both mountain gorillas and lowland gorillas. You are very true that they display different behaviors, I remember that mountain gorillas spend much more time on the ground, as they have been pushed higher and higher in the mountain forests of Bwindi and the Virunga. I guess that in the past they used to leave in lower altitude (300-400 meters lower) that was covered by mature forests. However, I spot mountain gorillas at Nkuringo in Bwindi Impenetrable forest in the canopy of the mountain forest feeding on fruits, before heading down for a rest. If I have only one experience with mountain gorillas, in comparison with 5 with lowland gorillas, I have not seen many pictures of gorillas in high trees. Most pics of gorillas in Congo are from trees. Most pics in the Virunga are in the bamboo forest or dense undergrowth, open forest. In Bwindi it's a bit different there is a huge forests, but I have seen few pictures of them on trees.

On the other hand, chimps spend most of their time on trees in Kibale, as do orangutans in borneo. 

 

Here are some mountain gorillas pics from 2018 at Bwindi in order to compare and see differences with lowland gorillas:

 

 

Mountain gorillas are much more hairy than their lowland cousins. They don't have orange tones on the head and back. They are much more confident than lowland gorillas. In our 5 experiences with lowland gorillas, silverback displayed a shyer behavior as compared with the Nkuringo silverback. They also tend to avoid any visual contacts with humans. The rest of the group is not completely confident if they are away from the silverback at the contact with humans too.

[jeremie]

On 3/3/2023 at 1:26 PM, AKR1 said:

@jeremiethanks for the continuing fantastic pictures and videos along with your narrative. Quite fascinating. 
 

The gorillas you saw are Eastern Lowland Gorillas which I understand are larger than their western counterparts.  Also as your pictures show they climb trees and exhibit behavior quite different from Mountain gorillas and can weigh up to 180 kg compared to 150kg for Mountain Gorillas. Have to say in the pictures they don’t look larger than mountain gorillas, if anything the mountain silverbacks look larger! 
 

On the unfortunate diseases impacting some of the DRC gorilla groups, does the DRC require Covid testing for visitors as Rwanda does to see Mountain gorillas?  Covid can obviously be devastating and possibly lethal for them -  was unaware they could be infected with a type of leprosy that you explained. 
 

 

In relation with the gorilla classification, you are not correct in stating that Odzala's gorillas are eastern lowland gorillas. But thank you as it gives me the opportunity to speak about the 2 different gorilla species, and the 4 sub-species and the reason why they evolved differently. 

 

 

 

The first species if eastern gorilla. They are located at the Eastern fringe of the Congo rainforest, in Congo DRC, Uganda and Rwanda. Primatologists currently split them in 2 different sub-species:

• ss mountain gorillas living exclusively in the mountain forest of the Virungas (DRC, Rwanda, Uganda) and Bwindi (Uganda and a very small portion of DRC).
• ss Eastern lowland gorillas (or Grauer gorillas) are located just down the high mountains bordering the Albertine rift. The main populations are located in Maiko, Tayna, Usala forest, Itombwe massif, and Kahuzi Biega protected areas. A very small decreasing population is located in Virunga National Park, Northwest of Lake Edward. The distribution of eastern lowland gorillas is much larger than mountain gorillas, but the numbers are really low due to poaching. While mountain gorillas trend are positive, with a growing population due to strong conservation efforts, Eastern lowland gorillas populations have plummeted. Some Eastern lowland gorillas can leave quite up in some mountains, such as Mount Tshiabirium or Kahuzi Biega mountains at the Eastern side of the national park.

These two sub-species have a very black coat in comparison with their cousins from the Western Congo Basin. They are larger than their cousins from the West.

 

The second species is western gorilla. They are located North West of the Congo river and the Oubangui river, in the Western part of the Congo Basin, mainly in Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Cameroon, but also in smaller parts of Congo DRC and Angola at the mouth of the Congo river, as well as Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Nigeria. Primatologists currently splut them in 2 different sub-species:

• ss Cross-river gorillas, located only at the border between Nigeria and Cameroon in Cross River National Park and neighboring forests. They are critically endangered and present a brownish coat. 
• ss Western lowland gorillas, with strongholds in Northern Congo, Gabon and South Cameroon. While they are the most numerous sub-species, deforestation and poaching are reducing quickly the population and they are also considered endangered by IUCN. Highest densities are located in peat forests of Northeast Congo, and marantaceas forests of the region. Densities are lower in primary forests. They can also be present in gallery forests in the mosaique landscapes of savannah-forests from the Teke region, but were almost extirpated due to poaching in these areas.

These 2 sub-species have a brownish or orange coat in comparison with the other species. They are slightly smaller. 

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/9404/136250858

 

So why are there two different species?

Gorillas are only located North of the Congo forest, acting as a geographical barrier as gorillas can't swim. The shape of the Congo river going far in the North of the Congo Basin before bending East and South again in areas that were sometimes covered by forests and sometimes by savanas in the last millions/thousand of years according to climate change, split the gorillas in two species. You will not find any gorillas in Bili Uele or surrounding areas, as gorilla are pure forest species. So climate change is responsible for the evolution of gorillas in two separate species, West of the Congo, and East of the Congo, but all North of the Congo river.

 

Sub-species split due to the same reasons. For instance, for western gorillas, the region of Cameroon between South Cameroon and the border with Nigeria was sometimes covered by savannas, which ended the Western gorillas population to split during a long time, and thus to evolve into two separate different sub-species.

I also understand that the forests of the Albertine rift were once smaller and isolated from the Congo rainforests during drier climate cycles. As mountain gorilla populations got isolated, they evolved in a separate sub-species from the Grauer gorillas, and adapted to higher, cooler weather conditions in the mountain forests of the Albertine rift.

Edited March 4, 2023 by jeremie

[AKR1]

Thanks Jeremy for the clarification or actually education! So these are western lowland gorillas. 
Found this which provided some background for me as I obviously know little about the specific area and added to your narrative. 
https://www.wildatheartjourneys.com/blog/high-adventure-in-the-congo-with-lowland-gorillas

 

Also this comparison between the western lowland and mountain gorillas ( of interest to me as we are going to see the latter in a couple of months). Had no idea there are 100X the estimated number of western lowland gorillas compared to mountain gorillas in the wild. 
https://congoconservation.travel/western-lowland-vs-mountain-gorillas/

Edited March 4, 2023 by AKR1
Adding material.

[jeremie]

Thanks a lot @AKR1! This second link is great to understand the differences between western lowland and mountain gorillas! That's great you shared it here.

 

When we went to Uganda in March 2022, we focused in Karamoja, Ruwenzori/Kibale and Murchison Falls, so we missed the mountain gorillas. They are so cute but the decision was to avoid any long travel to Bwindi as we would meet habituated gorillas 5 times in the Congo Basin in the next two months (and maybe more if we would be lucky with wild gorilla groups anywhere, but we eventutally did not even in Ivindo and Lopé where there are fair chances). We saw the gorillas twice at Odzala (Congo), once at Dzangha Sangha (CAR), once at Lesio Louna (Congo, semi-captive orphan gorillas for a reintroduction project), and once at Loango (Gabon). The best place was CAR, I will later go on this part and explains the reasons why I think it was the best place ever for western lowland gorillas of the Congo basin.

 

Where are you going to meet the gorillas?

[jeremie]

Later on this second day at Ngaga, we again received the visit of putty-nosed monkeys. They are so cute!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Later on after a long rest after a spectacular lunch with homemade yoghurt very similar to the French Faisselle "Fromage blanc" (I am still wondering how they can make these miracles in the middle of the Congo), we went for a light afternoon jungle walk ending with a sundowner at the river.

[jeremie]

Further pictures from the stunning Ngaga camp!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever seen a gorilla dung?

 

 

Pictures from the room are from CCC website (did not take any):

 

 

 

 

Next pics from the river sundowner site are from CCC website, I did not take any:

 

 

 

The previous night we went back just after dusk and took our sundowner at the marvelous Ngaga Camp deck:

 

 

Night walk is really nice, when you come back at the lodge they are waiting for you with Luciole lights all along the way to your room

Edited March 4, 2023 by jeremie

[jeremie]

Before ending this first section focusing on gorillas, I would like to post some videos I have just uploaded on youtube. Again sorry for the quality, I understand that HQ vids on youtube are available but you have to pay for it, which I will not.

 

First videos taken with my camera (but not edited), to show root-mining gorilla behavior in the rainforest. Last one is from Karina's iphone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by jeremie

[AKR1]

Where are you going to meet the gorillas?
Rwanda

details here: 

 

34 minutes ago, jeremie said:

Where are you going to meet the gorillas?

 

[AKR1]

@jeremieYou are so fortunate to have been able to take a year off and do this extraordinary if not epic journey across Africa. And you both look very young- perfect time to do it! 

[jeremie]

Marvelous! I went twice in Volcanoe National Park in 2018, but focusing on climbing the Bishoke volcanoe (which was are highlight of our trip!) and for golden monkeys tracking in the bamboo forest. But we did the gorilla tracking at Nkuringo side of Bwindi in Uganda.

 

It was indeed a great time to take this year off right now. Later on it would have been much more tricky to find the time and quit our jobs...

[lmSA84]

@jeremie- first of all, thank you for sharing this incredible report! I have one quick question - do they offer any chimpanzee viewing in these areas? I noticed that they're present in the area but haven't seen any mention of habituated groups? Thanks