Trip of the week: tracking lowland gorillas in the Congo
Within Africa’s ‘green, river-laced heart’ is a ‘lush’ world teeming with spectacular wildlife
Sprawling across six African countries, the Congo Basin is the “green, river-laced heart of the continent” – a “lush” world teeming with spectacular wildlife.
There are elephants to see, as well as chimpanzees, leopards, lions and lowland gorillas, yet the region receives “only a trickle of lucky visitors”, says Stanley Stewart in Condé Nast Traveller.
The very luckiest of those stay at the four “upmarket” lodges of the Congo Conservation Company, which are spread across the Republic of Congo (not to be confused with its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo) and the Central African Republic. They are wonderfully comfortable, and they also fund local education and healthcare provision, and host a long-term gorilla research project.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From Brazzaville, guests fly in a bush plane over vast tracts of forest to reach the Odzala-Kokoua National Park, where Lango Camp lies amid a “waterworld” of meandering channels and swampy clearings known as baïs. Here giant kingfishers dart ahead of you from tree to tree, colobus monkeys gather in blossom trees, and herds of buffalo and elephant come to drink.
At Ngaga Camp, deep in the jungle, the insect life includes head-banging termites that make a noise “like a rattlesnake”, and ants that sew leaves together to make pretty nests. And on the five-hour boat trip up the Sangha River to Sangha Camp, the forest provides an “eerie” soundtrack “of calls and shrieks, of croaks and hoots, of whistles and songs”.
At both Sangha Camp and Ngaga Camp, trackers will lead you into the forest to sit and watch families of lowland gorillas. Peacefully dining on leaves at dawn, they look like “sumo wrestlers bent over floral needlework”. With their “delicate” fingernails, expressive faces and thoughtful eyes, these are the most astonishing of all the “wonders and miracles” in this amazing part of Africa.
Visit exploreinc.com and congoconservation.travel for more information.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Britain is struggling to stop the ransomware cyberattacksThe Explainer New business models have greatly lowered barriers to entry for criminal hackers
-
Greene’s rebellion: a Maga hardliner turns against TrumpIn the Spotlight The Georgia congresswoman’s independent streak has ‘not gone unnoticed’ by the president
-
Crossword: October 26, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
6 well-crafted log homesFeature Featuring a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace in Montana and a Tulikivi stove in New York
-
Film reviews: A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
-
Book reviews: ‘Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife’ and ‘Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It’Feature Gertrude Stein’s untold story and Jane Leavy’s playbook on how to save baseball
-
Rachel Ruysch: Nature Into ArtFeature Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Dec. 7
-
Music reviews: Olivia Dean, Madi Diaz, and Hannah FrancesFeature “The Art of Loving,” “Fatal Optimist,” and “Nested in Tangles”
-
Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
-
Ready for the apocalypseFeature As anxiety rises about the state of the world, the ranks of preppers are growing—and changing.