louiseinlimbo

A public holiday meant a day off from my voluntary work, so after a morning lazing around reading a book, I decided to go for a long walk in the afternoon.  Other than going round and round the lodge’s forest trails, the only other walking routes are down the 3km access road and from there turning right towards the village of Mossapoula, or left towards the village of Babongo.  I hadn’t been left before, so set off in that direction, along the dirt road between the forest (with plenty of evidence of frequent road crossings by elephants) and eventually down to a small wooden bridge across the Babongo stream, surrounded by a big area of bamboo. A little over two hours from the lodge, I arrived in the village.  Of course it is difficult (no, it is impossible) to walk unobserved in such a place.  Any stranger would be noticed, but a white one really stands out.  & several of the lodge’s employees live in this village, three of whom came out to greet me.  Th...

Today we have a public holiday – Barthélemy Boganda Day - honouring the nation's first prime minister on the anniversary of his death.  So, a good reason to share a little bit of the history of this crazy country.  Oubangui-Chari was a French colony, established in 1903 by their merging two of their colonies, with borders close to those of the present-day Central African Republic.  Although rather than developing the colony themselves, the French leased most of it in concessions to companies who wished to exploit its resources. In November 1946, Barthélemy Boganda was elected as the first national leader. His strong anti-colonial views led to him becoming disillusioned with the French political system and leaving the priesthood in 1949, and forming his own political party, the Social Evolution Movement of Black Africa.  Hugely popular, he became the president of the Grand Council of French Equatorial Africa (which also included Chad, Gabon, and the French Congo) in 1...

Finishing lunch on Saturday under a cloudy sky, but with rain not appearing to be imminent, seemed to be a good opportunity to go out for the long walk along the Lodge access road and on along the main road to the nearest village, Mossapoula – perhaps even beyond the village to see if there were still any elephants around near the road. The access road is some 3km, and another 2km beyond that to the village, but it was a nice walk, with hundreds of pretty orange day-flying moths around as well as a number of beautiful locusts – in addition to the usual troops of monkeys in the trees and the accompanying sounds of African Grey Parrots and the heavy wing-beats of White-thighed Hornbills flying overhead.   & on the ground the giant millipedes, which I can never resist picking up as I love the feel of all those little feet on my hands.   Thankfully I’m not yet so used to all this as to take it for granted! On this day though, as I walked through the first part of the villa...

Whilst I’ve been a birdwatcher for many years, and also have quite a passion for reptiles, I’ve never really paid much attention to the smaller stuff – the insects and arachnids that many of those birds and reptiles eat.   But here at Sangha Lodge I’m learning how interesting this ‘small stuff’ can be.   Not because anyone has directed my attention towards it, but because interesting and/or beautiful insects and spiders are all around me. On the spider front, it started with the spiny-backed orb weaver, seemingly guarding a nest, just above the passenger seat in the Lodge’s car.  Not large, not hairy, and not looking as though it were going to run at me.  So I admired it, from a fairly close distance, without feeling my hair standing on end.  Then I saw a much bigger member of the same family - large enough to be scary, but it wasn't moving, nor could it get onto my body, as it was sitting in the middle of its web, in a plant next to the path.  Again I admi...

I’ll see if this is borne out if/when I ever return to live in London, but I was reflecting this morning on the benefits for me of travelling.  Not just the obvious ones – seeing new places, cultures and wildlife, and learning more about the world – but also learning to appreciate things at home that I would otherwise take for granted. I can get by here in the Central African Republic rainforest without radio and television, without yoghurt and fruit juice, without hot water and internet access on demand – because there are alternative pleasures to savour.  Setting out on a walk around the forest in the knowledge that I’m likely to see monkeys, tropical birds and colourful butterflies, watching the sun set over the river, swimming in the river – or even kayaking on the river which I tried for the first time this week (me on the left, being shown how to get into a kayak!). & on the other travels I’ve enjoyed since I set out on this nomadic phase last year, I’ve got by with ...

Well, I had an interesting weekend in terms of wildlife!  It started on Saturday evening, when the late shift of staff returned to the Lodge, telling us that their route home was blocked by a rather bolshy elephant and her calf walking along the access road, who they had not been able to move off the road to let their motorbike go safely past.  So the Lodge owner drove along the track in his big car, tooting at them and banging on the side of the vehicle as he got to the elephant, so that it moved into the forest and let the guys behind go past on their bike.  I was cross with myself that I hadn’t taken up his general offer, “Anyone want to come along for the ride?”. The next morning I decided to take a walk along the access road, as it gives a slightly different view of forest wildlife to that seen from the small trails cut through the forest.  I was pleased to see a flock of plumed guineafowl on the road at one point, as well as a clearly identifiable white-crested...

We have a new trainee guide here, and he needed to be shown the two main sites which clients visit – Bai Hoku and Dzanga Bai – and I was allowed to accompany him, as a perk of being a volunteer at the lodge.  I felt I should give this blog the same title that I used back in 2012, when I wrote then about my visits to these amazing two sites http://louiseinsenegal.blogspot.com/2012/07/wildlife-watching-in-car.html  Firstly on Friday we went to Bai Hoku to see the gorillas, the only habituated group that can be visited here now that the silverbacks of two other groups have died.  Exactly as I described previously, they are more difficult to watch than mountain gorillas as they move frequently – and they are difficult to photograph as the interior of the forest is quite dark.  However, it is still a wonderful experience to be close to such amazing creatures. We watched the group of seven gorillas, especially the silverback guarding the group – sometimes climbing trees wh...