CAR’s Western Lowland Gorillas!

One of Makumba's adult females

I have been fortunate to have seen Gorillas in three different countries – Gabon, Cameroon and Rwanda. The latter was by far the best sighting but they were the mountain species with a shaggy black coat since they live at higher altitudes. The ones I had seen in Gabon and Cameroon were the western lowland species and although smaller, their coloring is more varied with shades of black, grey, silver, and even burnt red on their head.

Tree falling across the forest track is common

The gorillas in Gabon and Cameroon were also unhabituated unlike their more famous cousins in Rwanda – this means that their primary instinct when they sense humans is to flee. This is probably since the gorillas are hunted for bush meat and body parts by poachers. Unfortunately, this flight response meant that getting a close encounter with them was very difficult.

Habituated animals are as wild as the unhabituated one, the only difference is that the habituated ones have come to accept the presence of the human species as neutral agents in their domain. It takes years (3-5 years) of patient, repeated contact for them to finally let us be outside observers into their lives. The habituation of mountain gorilla program in East Africa (Rwanda and Uganda) is fairly advanced and well documented with multiple groups of gorillas habituated so far and rightly so since their population is far more critically endangered. It also then becomes a popular spot for gorilla tourism hence the top dollars for seeing them in East Africa. Rwanda now charges a whopping $1,500 for an hour with these magnificent creatures. I am glad I got it checked off before this steep rise (read more here on my Rwanda experience).

Makumba...!

As far as habituation of Western Lowland Gorillas is concerned, it lags the ones from the mountains in the East but there are a handful of national parks across CAR, Gabon and Republic of Congo where they have made significant strides in the recent past. The project in CAR started in the early 2000’s and is one of the best places to see Western Lowland Gorillas. I believe they currently have two gorilla groups successfully habituated and a third one is in progress.

A juvenile from the group

Fredrik had already visited the Mongambe group so we decided to go to the Makumba group consisting of 12 family members led by a silverback called Makumba.  The other group was led by the silverback Mayele and they reputedly live in a denser part of the park so sighting and photography is challenging due to the dense undergrowth. By going to Makumba I was hoping I could finally find that unobstructed close encounter I hadn’t had in Cameroon or Gabon.

Back at the watchtower at the Dzanga bai, the guides arrived in the morning as planned and we hiked back to the spot where the 4X4 was waiting for us. It took another 1.5-2 hours on bumpy jungle tracks to arrive at the research camp at Bai Hokou which is an important station for the gorilla and mangabey researchers and trackers. With so few tourists to CAR we didn’t need a pre-booked time-slot to go into the forest and had the pick of our day and time when we wished to go. This was quite nice compared to the strict rationing of time slots in Rwanda.

The cost for an hour with the gorillas was also significantly lower than Rwanda…possibly the lowest anywhere in the world to see habituated gorillas. Mind you, CAR was also expensive but the habituation is painstakingly long and resource intensive. Plus, most of the money goes back to the park coffers so the trackers and the rangers can be adequately manned so it eventually benefits in the conservation of the gorillas by providing a socio-economic benefit to the local community. It is money well spent!

Since there was another group that was out to see the Makumba group when we got there, we decided to rest a bit at the research station chatting with a couple of volunteers from Europe who where nearing the end of their 10-month assignment in CAR. The other group soon arrived furiously scratching themselves. Their sighting wasn’t very good since the gorillas in dense undergrowth and to get a good shot they had to stoop and crawl leading to ant bites. I was hoping better luck.

It was just me and Fredrik along with the trackers so the feel was of a more personalized wildlife experience. Also, luckily for us the Makumba group moved out of the thicket and out into the open area of the bai as soon as we started to track them. At one point Makumba sat just 3-4 meters from us across a small steam calmly munching on his lunch as we admired his impressive physique. We even got to see the first twins born to habituated gorillas and some of their other family member up close.

As our time ran out, I left Makumba behind and he soon got up, turned and headed back into the foliage almost simultaneously - as if he had just come out of the bush to greet and meet us. As he disappeared into the bush I looked at him one last time and thanked him and wished him well fully aware that there is no way I could have transmitted my sense of gratitude and regard for having graced me with his presence…ah!...Thanks Makumba!!!