On the verge of the equator, shortly after three in the afternoon, the heat had subsided enough for us to go out and explore.
We board one of the Ducret Expeditions boats. We are joined by Nicolas Ducret, the mentor of these adventurous explorations.
He himself, an inveterate explorer, protagonist of long cycle trips. Of 3.300 km through the steppes and mountains of Central Asia, culminating, in Kabul, with his participation in a game of buzkachi, in which Afghan horsemen compete for a goat.
Ocean crossings followed on sailboats. Nicolas lived in Moscow for a long time. For more than ten years, he discovered Russia from one end to the other.
A recent opportunity took him to both Congos. And, in contact with influential people from Brazzaville and Kinshasa, he concluded that a large ship belonging to a Congolese minister was anchored on the banks of the Congo River, unused and deteriorating.
Nicolas ended up recovering that ship, the “Princess Ngalessa" and place it at the heart of his expedition company. In a few days, we would embark on it.
That afternoon, the priority was to set sail from the river island. We got off the boat. We pushed harder to free it from the sand that had accumulated around the island in the Sangha.
Once freed, the helmsman heads upstream of the Sangha.
Through Cameroonian waters, with the Congolese bank of the river a few hundred meters away.
Boat travels along the Sangha River, close to the Cameroonian bank
We sailed less than we expected.
Four or five minutes later, we reached the Cameroonian shore, confirmed by a green-red-yellow flag that the almost complete absence of breeze kept hanging from the top of the mast.
Lobéké National Park and its Hyacinth Star Ranger
Three men, two in military uniforms, come towards us.
They welcome us to Lobéké National Park. One of them, a larger man with the presence of a leader, takes charge of operations.
She introduces herself as Hyacinth. She answers a few questions in English about life in that remote and wild corner of Cameroon.
Small village on the banks of the Sangha River
Hyacinth boasts that he has managed to equip the park's headquarters with Wi-Fi. However, he remembers the mission that took us there. He enters the quarters.
When he returns, he carries an FN Scar Herstal machine gun on his shoulder. Belgian as it was for 52 years, the immense and chaotic Congo to the east of where we were traveling.
Hiking through the Intricate Jungle of Lobéké National Park
He is accompanied by Modest and two scouts.
Hyacinth's machine gun, in particular, was essential in case we came face to face with dangerous animals, such as gorillas or elephants.
Ranger Hyacinth poses on the Cameroonian bank of the Sangha River, next to a PN Lobéké HQ.
Hyacinth and Modest lead the way. Modest clears the way for us with a machete, cutting through tangles of vines and low bushes.
So abundant that, even so, we get tangled up in them and stumble. We walk along poorly defined paths.
Here and there, these trails open up into clearings that allow us to explore our surroundings. Modest points out relatively recent elephant droppings. The Lobéké NP team is on high alert. We never see any elephants. Nor do we see any gorillas, sitatungas or other larger animals.
The Odd Tales of Hyacinth and Modest
In their absence, as is usual among jungle guides, Hyacinth and Modest try to give the incursion a vegetal interest.
In a short time, his explanations make the jungle not only wild, but also strange and morbid.
Cameroonian ranger Hyacinth and an assistant at Lobéké National Park
There, around there, according to what they told us, there were trees whose leaves, bark, sap and different components helped women to abort and to get pregnant, a particular type, even with twins.
Others allowed those who drank their red sap to exorcise murders that had been committed.
From the trees, the guides began to mention species of ants that roamed the trunks and the ground, close to the roots.
The women of the tribes in the region had noticed that the bites of certain ants increased the size of their breasts.
“And speaking of breasts,” Hyacinth adds, “in these parts, we have another ancestral custom. It may seem strange to you, but when you’re walking in the forest and something gets in your eye and irritates it, the easiest solution is to ask a nursing woman to put some milk in that eye.
It disinfects and calms her down in an instant!” The most aggressive ants also served other macabre purposes. According to Hyacinth and Modest, some women learned to place the already irritated insects on cheating partners while they slept.
Ranger Hyacinth explains something about Lobéké National Park.
We laughed heartily at the successive narratives when Modest asked us to be silent.
They had seen mangabey monkeys. We followed the guides at a fast pace.
Despite the strenuous efforts of Modest and his colleagues, we only managed to catch brief glimpses of them in the treetops, too far away to allow us to take decent photographs.
At the behest of Hyacinth and her companions, we had walked through the night. With the afternoon planned to his liking, Nicolas restored order to things. We returned to the park headquarters.
Kapok tree high above the bank of the Sangha River
We took group photos. Hyacinth takes on the role of Lobéké's public relations officer and praises the author of this text.
He tells him that he looks like Francisco Ngannou, a French-Cameroonian boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) champion. Unexpected, the observation almost knocks us out.
Back to the Sangha, towards the Bank below a First Bay
We all re-embarked.
We climbed a little further up the Sangha, beyond a meander that, for a kilometer and a half, pointed the river to the east.
At this time, passed by successive pirogues.
Large canoe carries passengers along the Sangha River
Hyacinth rejoices in the company of outsiders who have only recently begun to appear in those African confines.
He answers each visitor's question with the panache and brilliance of an action series protagonist.
Even more so when the questions concern your machine gun and you can explain and display it to your satisfaction.
Sunset behind the Sangha River and the Congolese jungle
As we climbed, the sun sank. It tinted the sky with fire, above a line of dark jungle whose treetops made it undulate, like the flow of the river, reddish and agitated by the boat.
We stopped in front of a section of bank that the Sangha recess kept elevated. Hidden behind the riverside forest was a bay, the local term for a clearing, usually marshy or muddy, that broke the arboreal homogeneity of the jungle.
Until recently, there was still an observation tower that allowed visitors to watch the animals move, safe from the most dangerous ones. The tower was damaged.
Nicolas's Plan B was to wait, somewhat further away, waiting for the elephants that would access the river there.
We share it with other species. Elephants never show up.
Palm vulture perched on a sandbank on the Sangha River
We returned to camp as dusk began to fade.
Couple fishing in the Sangha River,
We joined other members of the expedition for a barbecue dinner served on the island's sands, a short distance from Sangha, warmed by a bonfire and intense conversation.
We fell asleep lulled by an incredible symphony, performed by the nocturnal creatures of the jungle.
New Raid, Upstream of the Sangha, Towards Bomassa
The next morning, we sailed against the current again. We and Anil, an American of Indian origin, with whom we shared the entire expedition. Guided by the young Congolese Shadrack.
We negotiate two steep meanders of the river. Halfway along a third, on the bank belonging to the Republic of Congo, we come across Bomassa, a small town and the entry point to the immense Congolese Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
We docked at its northernmost point, rightly known as Bon Coin.
A group of guides and park scouts welcomes us.
We followed them into the jungle, along a zigzagging trail, occasionally interrupted by fallen trees.
Sign, at the exit from Bon Coin, of Wali Bai, a clearing-lake in the jungle of the Republic of Congo
The Desperate Wait on the Wali Bai Platform
After almost an hour, we arrived at Wali Bai, a clearing in the jungle filled with a lake of shallow, crystal-clear water. Instead of the bay previously, its observation tower was intact.
We all settled in there, Anil and I, with cameras and telephoto lenses at the ready. We were hoping, at least, for the same luck as the expedition group who, the previous afternoon, had admired a young elephant there.
And yet, after three hours, the animals of the Wali bay They were left with a few fish, swallows and an osprey that was not very interested in fishing.
Swallow collects sticks to enlarge a nest under the Wali Bai observation tower
About noon, we gave up. On the way back to Bon Coin, we still tried to follow an elusive group of monkeys. colobus.
In vain.
The resident ibises alerted us to our presence with shrill, even somewhat sinister, calls.
Along the way, the guides tell us about the imminent arrival of the Nouabalé-Ndoki gorillas, and how they could become a source of tourist income for the people of Bomassa if they were to be trained.
As, still in anticipation of this reality, they were little more than a threat.
So much so that the adults of Bomassa prohibited the youngest from venturing onto the trails that leave the city.
Hiker on the trail that connects Bon Coin to Wali Bai
Unexpected and Scary Encounter with an Unusual Gorilla
We were frustrated at not having seen any elephants, not even antelopes or wild boars, and were engaged in animated conversation when the scout in front told us all to stop and be quiet.
We obeyed, intrigued.
A few whispers and whispers later, the scout points out a silhouette, almost imperceptible, leaning against the base of a tree.
We then realized that, if it weren't for the scout's attention, we would have bumped into a gorilla not used to humans.
A powerful male with a silver back, who would certainly be angry if we showed up without warning, if we interrupted his snack of sweet fruit.
Unaccustomed gorilla, a short distance from Bon Coin, Bomassa
Without wanting to, we had already crossed a safe distance. When we made moves in search of better viewing angles, the guides grabbed us.
We remained, therefore, in that moment suspended, in the vague expectations that the gorilla would not attack us, that it would move towards where there was light.
Master of his own will, the gorilla is fed up with seeing us contemplate him.
He drops the fruit. He heads into an area of dense vegetation. We catch a glimpse of him one last time, before he disappears into the vast, intricate Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
In a flash, we had gone from finding nothing to nearly being torn to pieces by a wild gorilla. The expedition had barely begun.
That remote Africa, with so much “Heart of Darkness”, had many other emotions in store for us.
Sunset behind the Sangha River and the Congolese jungle
How to go:
Fly to Brazzaville with Air France or Royal Air Maroc from €1600.
Book your preferred Ducret Expeditions program, from 8 to 15 nights, through the website expeditions-ducret.com, by phone +33 1 84 80 72 21 and by email: [email protected]
