Elephants
17 places to see and hear elephants in the wild, in 12 countries from Guinea to Angola: when each one peaks, where to go on your own, what it costs and what you will hear. Wild animals only, no zoos.
Best time, place by place
Where to go, north to south
Ziama massif — forest elephants and the Guinean rainforest dawnA full Upper Guinea rainforest dawn — casqued hornbills' wingbeats and whooping, Diana monkeys, chimps, the great blue turaco — and at night the crash and rumble of forest elephants in one of their last Guinean refuges.
Sapo National Park — pygmy hippo, elephants and the deepest forest in West AfricaPrimary Upper Guinea rainforest with nothing man-made within a day's walk: casqued hornbills, chimps, Diana monkeys, the whistles of duikers, elephants rumbling at night, tree hyrax, and the full insect and frog layer of a forest that has never been logged.
Comoé: elephants, hippos and the savanna-forest mosaicHippos bellowing on the Comoé at dusk, elephants at the river pools, lions are not to be expected but spotted hyena whoop; the ground hornbill's booming duet at dawn and the harmattan wind in the gallery forest.
Elephants at the Mole waterholesElephants splashing, rumbling and trumpeting at the waterhole, baboon alarm barks off the escarpment, hyena whoops after dark, and a savanna dawn of helmeted guineafowl, hornbills and doves.
Fazao-Malfakassa: elephants, colobus and ground hornbills in the hillsThe deep booming duet of ground hornbills across dry woodland, the rolling roar of ursine colobus from gallery forest, baboons on the escarpment and — with luck and patience — elephants at a pool at night.
Pendjari: lions, elephants and hippos at the dry-season poolsLions roaring across the Pendjari plain in the small hours — one of the few places in West Africa where this is still likely — hippos bellowing at Mare Bali, elephants at the pools, hyena whoops and a savanna dawn of francolins, ground hornbills and doves.
W National Park (Benin sector): the Mékrou river and Koudou fallsHippos in the Mékrou gorge below Koudou falls, the water itself, bee-eaters and pratincoles over the river, and elephants at the pools; nights of hyena and nightjars.
Yankari: elephants on the Gaji river and Wikki nightsElephants at the Gaji river pools, baboon troops around Wikki camp, a savanna dawn of francolins, doves and hornbills, and at night the warm-spring valley's bats, nightjars and owls.
Omo Forest: forest elephants and a lowland-forest dawnA lowland rainforest dawn an hour and a half from Lagos — hornbills, turacos, chattering mangabeys — and at night the breaking branches, rumbles and occasional trumpet of elephants moving past the camp.
Waza: elephants, giraffes and the Sahelian floodplainElephants at the pools, crowned crane duets across the floodplain at dawn, a Sahelian chorus of doves, sandgrouse and larks, and hyena at night around Waza camp.
Lobéké bais: elephants, gorillas and grey parrots at the clearingsGrey parrot flocks whistling and screeching over Djangui, elephants splashing, rumbling and trumpeting in the mud of Petite Savane, gorilla chest-beats from the edge, forest hogs grunting, and the rainforest dawn behind it all.
Monte Alén: the Río Muni rainforest dawn, elephants and the goliath frog riversA Central African lowland chorus: hornbills whooshing overhead, the bubbling of greenbuls and the far pant-hoots of chimpanzees, mandrill grunts, elephant rumbles at the swamp edge. The goliath frog itself is nearly silent (no vocal sac) — its rivers are a night of other frogs and the roar of water over rock.
Langoué Bai: elephants, gorillas and red river hogs at the Ivindo clearingA bai at night is the best elephant listening in Central Africa: rumbles, trumpets, splashing and the squabbling of family groups at the mineral pools, with tree hyrax, frogs and owls in the forest ring. By day, red river hog groups of fifty, gorilla chest-beats and 'hoo' series from the edge, and the whistles of grey parrots in hundreds.
Loango: forest elephants, buffalo and hippos on the ocean beachSurf behind everything. Elephants are near-silent on sand, but the rumbles and the crack of branches at the forest edge carry at dawn; hippo grunts from the lagoons at dusk; red river hog groups snuffling through the leaf litter; the chatter of river-martin flocks over the water in August–October and chimpanzee pant-hoots from the forest behind Akaka in the wet season.
Odzala-Kokoua: forest elephants and grey parrots at Lango baiElephants blowing, splashing and rumbling in the bai's mineral pools a few metres below the deck, families greeting with trumpets and roars, grey parrot flocks whistling in to drink, forest buffalo grunting in the sedge, and a night of frogs, hyrax and distant hyena.
Nouabalé-Ndoki: gorillas and elephants at Mbeli BaiA silverback's chest-beats and a family's contented feeding grunts in the open, from a platform 20 m above one of the Congo Basin's most-watched clearings; elephants splashing at night, sitatunga barking, parrots at dawn, and a rainforest with no engine within a day's walk.
Kissama (Quiçama): elephants and the Cuanza riverElephants on the Cuanza floodplain, hippos grunting from the river at dusk, fish eagles, and the coastal savanna's dawn of francolins, hornbills and doves — with the fog of the cacimbo damping everything until mid-morning.