Wildlife to see in the Republic of the Congo in January
3 spectacles at their peak in the Republic of the Congo in January, and 2 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Republic of the Congo in January in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in January
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.
Conkouati-Douli: humpback whales and leatherback nestingBlows and breaches from the beach, humpback song on a hydrophone from a drifting pirogue, and at night the digging and heavy breathing of a leatherback on a wild beach with no lights for 50 km; chimpanzees pant-hooting from the lagoon islands at dawn.
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.
Also going on in January
Ngaga: habituated western lowland gorillas in the marantaceae forestChest-beats, hoots and the crashing of a silverback's display in dense marantaceae, the soft grunting and belching of a feeding family a few metres away, monkeys overhead and a night of tree hyrax and frogs from the camp's raised rooms.
Brazzaville: the Congo river and the Djoué at dawnNot a spectacle but a way in: the Congo river's rapids below the city, kingfishers and herons at the Djoué mouth, weaver colonies in the riverside trees, and the two capitals' noise across the water.
More: Republic of the Congo all year · January along the whole flyway