Tag: DRC

Aardvark

Aardvark

The Aardvark is an incredibly rarely seen animal. It is found on the savannahs of Africa, and generally lives well in and out of protected areas. It is quite a sizable aniimals, and has relatively high densities throughout its range (roughly 1 per square km in habitats that it is best suited to).

So why is it so rare to see this animal? They are one of the most exclusively nocturnal species that you can find. These are animals for which wildlife guides get excited.

The name, translated from Afrikaans means earth-pig. They are incredible diggers, and many of the burrows in the savannah are dug by them, who ever ends up using them.

The are insect eaters, and are well suited. Their claws are strong, allowing them to dig into the incredibly hard termite mounds, it has a long tongue of around 30cm, which they can direct down ant holes to get hold of their food. They have an incredible sense of smell and hearing to allow them to find the animals, and can shut their eyes and nose so as to avoid being attacked back.

Although rarely seen, there are places which have learnt how to watch them, giving you a great chance to see an animal few know about. Over recent decades, they have started appearing in zoos, with Colchester in the UK (should you visit, it is a species that needs patience, otherwise you are likely to just see a pile of aardvarks sleeping in their burrow.

It is at the top of animals I would like to see in the wild. Given, their range both in and out of reserves, I am hoping over time to build up plenty of places to see them out in the human world. Please get in touch if you are a farmer, who has these on your land.

Any of the savannah ecosystems on our wild places list will host these animals, however a great deal of luck will be needed to see them in the wild. However, we will add an special places we find where your odds are higher. For now, click here, if you want to visit a savannah ecosystem in the near future.

2. Subfamily Reduncinae: rhebok reedbuck and Waterbuck

2. Reduncinae - Rhebok, Reedbuck, Waterbuck

Boher Reedbuck

Boher Reedbuck

The bohor reedbuck  is an antelope native to central Africa.

The head-and-body length of this medium-sized antelope is typically between 100–135 cm. Females are smaller. This sturdily built antelope has a yellow to grayish brown coat. Only the males possess horns which measure about 25–35 cm long. There are 5 subspecies:

  • R. r. bohor Rüppell, 1842: Also known as the Abyssinian bohor reedbuck. It occurs in southwestern, western and central Ethiopia, and Blue Nile (Sudan).
  • R. r. cottoni (W. Rothschild, 1902): It occurs in the Sudds (Southern Sudan), northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and probably in northern Uganda.
  • R. r. nigeriensis (Blaine, 1913): This subspecies occurs in Nigeria, northern Cameroon, southern Chad and Central African Republic.
  • R. r. redunca (Pallas, 1767): Its range extends from Senegal east to Togo. It inhabits the northern savannas of Africa. 
  • R. r. wardi (Thomas, 1900): Found in Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and eastern Africa. 
The total population of this species is 100,000, and while it is decreasing, it is not currently low enough to justify a near threatened rating, though this might change in the near future. At the current time, I cannot see any of the subspecies being in a worse position but can change this if I find out more.

Mountain Reedbuck

 The mountain reedbuck has 3 subspecies. The western mountain reedbuck only has 450 individuals still living wild, (shown on the map in red) also known as the Adamwa mountain reedbuck which is restricted to the highlands of Cameroon. The Eastern mountain reedbuck (or Chanlers) has 2900 wild individuals, is found in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. The Southern moutnain reedbuck, blue, (33,000) is found in the Drakensburg mountains of South Africa.

Mountain Reedbuck

Southern Reedbuck

Southern Reedbuck

The Southern, or common Reedbuck is found in Southern Africa. It is a midsized  antelope, standing 134-167cm tall

 It was described in 1785 by Pieter Boddaert. Southern reedbucks live in pairs or alone, though occasionally they will form herds of up to 20. They prefer to lie in grass or reed beds in the heat of the day and feed during sunrise and sunset, or sometimes even at night. Old reedbucks are permanently territorial, with territories around 35-60 hectares, and generally live with a single female, preventing contact with rival males. Females and young males perform an ‘appeasement dance’ for older males.  Within this territory, it is active all the time in summer, but it is nocturnal in the wet season. It regularly uses paths to reach good sites to rest, graze, and drink water. They are hunted by all the top predators in the area, including Lion, Leopard, Cheetah hyena and wild dog, as well as animals like snakes.

They are easily hunted, and combined with loss of territory to human expansion, the population is down. About 60% occur in protected reserves, but in some countries like Gabon and the DRC are though to almost be locally extinct.

Kob

Red Lechwe antelope are found in a band across Africa, including areas of Eastern, Central and Western Africa.

There are 3 subspecies:

  • The western kob, is found in the west
  • The Ugandan Kob is found in sub-Saharan Africa in South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • The white eared Kob is found in Western Ethiopia and South Sudan (this is one of the main animals in the huge migration within sudan)
None are currently threatened with extinction. Their total population is 50,000-60,000
Kob (queen Elizabeth national park)

Red Lechwe

Red Lechwe

Red Lechewe is a species of antelope found in the south of eastern African. The red lechwe is native to Botswana, Zambia, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Namibia, and eastern Angola, especially in the Okavango Delta, Kafue Flats, and Bangweulu Wetlands. They are found in shallow water, and have a substance on their legs which allows them to run pretty fast. Total population is around 160,000

Four subspecies of the lechwe have been recognized

  • Common red lechwe (Gray, 1850) – Widely distributed in the wetlands of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. (80,000)
  • Kafue Flats lechwe  (Haltenorth, 1963) – It is confined within the Kafue Flats (seasonally inundated flood-plain on the Kafue River, Zambia). (28,000)
  • † Roberts’ lechwe  (Rothschild, 1907) – Formerly found in northeastern Zambia, now extinct. Also called the Kawambwa lechwe.
  • Black lechwe (Kobus leche smithemani) (Lydekker, 1900) – Found in the Bangweulu region of Zambia. (50,000)

In addition, the Upemba lechwe (1000)  and the extinct Cape lechwe are also considered subspecies by some authorities. Although related and sharing the name “lechwe”, the Nile lechwe (below) is consistently recognized as a separate species.

Nile Lechwe

The Nile lechwe or Mrs Gray’s lechwe  is an endangered species of antelope found in swamps and grasslands in South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Nile lechwe can visually signal and vocalize to communicate with each other. They rear high in the air in front of their opponents and turn their heads to the side while displaying. Females are quite loud, making a toad-like croaking when moving. Known predators are humans, lions, crocodiles, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas and leopards. They flee to water if disturbed, but females defend their offspring from smaller predators by direct attack, mainly kicking. Nile lechwe are crepuscular, active in the early morning and late afternoon. They gather in herds of up to 50 females and one male or in smaller all-male herds. They divide themselves into three social groups: females and their new offspring, bachelor males, and mature males with territories. A males with territory sometimes allows a bachelor male into his territory to guard the region and not to copulate. They are sexually mature at 2.

Nile lechwe feed on succulent grasses and water plants. They have the special capability to wade in shallow waters and swim in deeper waters, and may feed on young leaves from trees and bushes, rearing up to reach this green vegetation. Nile lechwe are also found in marshy areas, where they eat aquatic plants.  Around 32,000 and are classed as endangered

Nile Lechwe

Puku

Puku

The Nyala is a spiral horned species

 found in Southern Africa. The nyala is mainly active in the early morning and the late afternoon. It generally browses during the day if temperatures are 20–30 °C  and during the night in the rainy season. The nyala feeds upon foliage, fruits and grasses, and requires sufficient fresh water. It is a very shy animal, and prefers water holes to the river bank. Not territorial, they are very cautious creatures. They live in single-sex or mixed family groups of up to 10 individuals, but old males live alone. They inhabit thickets within dense and dry savanna woodlands. The main predators of the nyala are lion, leopard and African wild dog, while baboons and raptorial birds prey on juveniles. Males and females are sexually mature at 18 and 11–12 months of age respectively, though they are socially immature until five years old. They have one calf after 7 months of gestation. Its population is stable, with the greatest threat coming from habitat loss as humans expand. There are thought to be 36500 and the population is stable.

Waterbuck

The waterbuck  is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa.It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833.

Its 13 subspecies are grouped under two varieties: the common or ellipsiprymnus waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck. The head-and-body length is typically between 177 and 235cm  and the typical height is between 120 and 136cm. In this antelope, males are taller and heavier than females. Males reach roughly 127 cm at the shoulder, while females reach 119cm. Males typically weigh 198–262 kg and females 161–214 kg. Their coat colour varies from brown to grey. The long, spiral horns, present only on males, curve backward, then forward, and are 55–99 cm long. Waterbucks are rather sedentary in nature. As gregarious animals, they may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of 5 years, but are most dominant from the six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. Predominantly a grazer, the waterbuck is mostly found on grassland. In equatorial regions, breeding takes place throughout the year, but births are at their peak in the rainy season. The gestational period lasts 7–8 months, followed by the birth of a single calf.

Waterbucks inhabit scrub and savanna areas along rivers, lakes, and valleys. Due to their requirement for grasslands and water, waterbucks have a sparse ecotone distribution. The IUCN lists the waterbuck as being of least concern. More specifically, the common waterbuck is listed as of least concern. while the defassa waterbuck is near threatened. The population trend for both is downwards, especially that of the defassa, with large populations being eliminated from certain habitats because of poaching and human disturbance.

The common waterbuck is listed as least concern, while the Defassa is listed as near threatened. Only 60% of this subspecies population is in protected areas, so it could get worse, if they are lost.

Waterbuck

Agile Mangabey

Agile Mangabey

The agile mangabey is an Old World monkey of the white-eyelid mangabey group found in swampy forests of Central Africa in Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, and DR Congo.

Until 1978, it was considered a subspecies of the Tana River mangabey. More recently, the golden-bellied mangabey  has been considered a separate species instead of a subspecies of the agile mangabey.

Similar to other mangabeys, they are active during the day. Although generally tree-living, they do spend a significant portion of their time (12–22%) on the ground, especially during the dry season. It is often heard first, and males have a loud, species-specific call that is believed to be used to space themselves out – in a similar way that wolves operate with howls. Other calls are also used to maintain group cohesion and warn of predators. Group size can be as high as 18 members, led by a single dominant male. Group meetings can be friendly and may involve exchange of members.

Adult males not in groups often travel singly.

Fruit makes up a major portion of the agile mangabey diet. They are known to eat at least 42 different species of fruit. Their tooth structure and powerful jaws allows them to open tough pods and fruits that many other monkeys can not access. Agile mangabeys eat from a number of dominant swamp-forest trees, including Irvingia, Sugar plums when they are fruiting. They also eat fresh leaf shoots from Raffia palm when fruits are scarce. Grass and mushrooms, Invertebrates, bird’s eggs and some vertebrate prey, such as rodents.

As we find links, to help you book to see this species, the links will be added at the bottom of the page.

Allens swamp monkey

Allens swamp monkey

The Allens swamp monkey is found in the Congo basin in central Africa. They are concentrated in lowland forests of this region, including Cameroon, Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – as the name suggests, they inhabit swampy forests.

Given where they choose to live, they are currently listed as least concern, however, the population is declining, as a result of a mixture of hunting for the bushmeat trade, and habitat loss. While it is also hunted by raptors, snakes and bonobos, this hunting relies on the availability of the monkey, which means that as populations decrease there is less hunting, unfortunately we humans have overcome this natural method to stop extinction.

Below is a list of articles on this site which have been published on this site, and below this is a camera trap video of this monkey in the wild. Below both of these, we will add any links to places where this species can be seen in the wild, which will help the survival of this species.

Bonobo

Bonobo

Bonobos are a species of great ape, that split from chimpanzees between 1 million and 2 million years ago.

While for some people this is not that long ago, and Chimpanzees and Bonobos look so similar, their behaviour is significantly different. So what makes it so clear that these animals are separate species? Well they behave in totally different ways. 

Eastern Chimpanzee
Head and shoulders of a male chimpanzee
Bonobo sitting on a log

Where as male dominated chimpanzee society can be incredibly violent, and one of the first things that young chimpanzees learn is to get out of the way of the fighting as fast as possible;  Bonobo society is incredibly relaxed. Bonobos have found that the most simple way to deal with stress in through sex. Bonobos have a great deal of sex, and it occurs between all different couplings of members of the group. Female Bonobos are also the dominant ones .

They live on the other side of the Congo river. Indeed, it it thought that it was the Congo river forming which split these two species, and ended interbreeding 

There is one huge national park that protects these animals – Salonga national park, which has an area of almost twice the size of Wales. There is also Lomami National park which covers 3500 square miles.

Alongside this national park there are a handful of reserves including Tumba Ledima Reserve, Sankuru nature reserve, Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve. As well as many more.

We hope to link to as many of these as possible over time, though currently we don’t have any. As we get these we will add them at the bottom of the page. Directly below this, is a documentary on the bonobo, and below that is a list of all articles that have been written on this website about these fascinating animals. As we make links, these will be added below both of these.

Gorilla

Gorilla

For anyone who has watched the scene from Life on Earth – where David Attenborough sits down with Mountain gorillas, the gorilla needs no introduction. Now of course if you go on a trek, you are unlikely to get quite so close (though you never know, the Gorillas have a mind of their own). 

What is important, is that if gorilla trekking took off across Africa, then every population of Gorillas would become very valuable. The problem is that through the process of habituation the gorillas loose their fear of humans – it is totally unfair to undertake this process anywhere where the Gorillas might need their fear of humans to avoid poachers – and this still covers way to much of the world.

Below the video, I take each subspecies of Gorilla in turn and discuss how it is doing. Below this, I will try to list places that you can visit the Gorilas. Currently we only have one place on the list, but I hope for this to grow into a complete list, to aid in your future gorilla trekking adventures. If anyone runs a lodge (or knows someone who does) please do get in touch using the List your wild place option at the top of the page.

The cross River gorilla is a critically endangered subspecies of the Western lowland gorilla species. The cross River gorilla are scattered in at least 11 groups across the lowland montane forests and rainforests of Cameroon and Nigeria, an area of 3,000 square miles, or a little smaller than Puerto Rico. There are only 200-300 that remain of this subspecies. While there are some physical traits that are different between these species, the cross River gorilla has become a Highland specialist. Although known to have interbred in the past, genetic analysis suggests this stopped more than 400 years ago. Changes in climate may well have been the catalyst to stop the interbreeding.

 

In this way, the cross River gorillas and the mountain gorillas have similar habits and ecosystem niches. In this way, it could be suggested that cross River gorillas are simply 50 years behind mountain gorillas in the sense that 40 years ago, there were only around 250 mountain gorillas – this population has increased to over 1000, so clearly it isn’t too late for the cross River gorillas numbers to recover. Could a similar recovery take place? Perhaps following the pattern set up by Diane Fossey for tourism of the mountain gorillas, might work?

 

Western lowland gorillas have a wild population in a fast healthier position, with an estimated 100,000 remaining. Unfortunately though, this is a very tough estimate as they live in some of the hardest to reach jungles so an accurate count is hard. It is however, thought that this gorilla population has seen a 60% reduction over the last 10-25 years. It is thought that if the pressures of placing and diseases were removed this population would recover in about 75 years (of course these pressures are unlikely to disappear, and with the loss of rainforest there may be nowhere for these gorillas to live if they did recover.

 

Eastern lowland gorillas are in a fast worse state than their Western counterparts – it is thought that only 5000 remain. It is only found deep in the democratic Republic of the Congo. This subspecies has face precipitous declines and is therefore considered critically endangered.

 

Mountain gorillas are only found in two reserves, however due to their plates being highlighted by dian fossey, the population spread between these two reserves as clients from around 300 in 1960 to 800-1000 today. There are no mountain gorillas in captivity.

 

It is unfortunate that there is little positive news on either of these species at the current time, but many people are working on it. However what is clear, is that with all four subspecies of gorilla are threatened with extinction – largely as a result of habitat loss and sweetheart down the African rainforest.

 

cross river gorilla
Eastern Lowland Gorilla
Afi-mountain-reserve-gorilla
Western lowland gorilla on nature background

At the moment our only links are to these two luxurious places to stay on a private reserve bordering the Virunga national park. We hope to add many more over time

Kataza house is the perfect place for a large family to stay. There is much to do, and people to look after children while adults go gorilla trekking
Kitondwa lodge is a place for small groups or individuals to stay during their trek. As a smll lodge your experience works around your likes and dislikes

Chimpanzee

Wild Chimpanzees photo credit Tai King

Chimpanzee

Given the incredible and very obvious similarities between humans and Chimpanzees, it is perhaps not surprising that seeing them in the wild is a wish for many people. Unfortunately, many fail to turn this wish into reality, for a variety of reasons. You cannot visit the Chimpanzees in a car, as the forest is too thick, so trekking is the way to go. Chimpanzee trekking is an incredibly exciting thing to do. Currently almost all of the chimp trekking takes place in just one or two of the places that they live wild.

If it is possible to change this, we can make chimpanzee populations across the tropical African belt valuable to local people, and therefore protect their long-term viability. The wild chimpanzee is an essential part of the places that they inhabit, so hunting and poaching threatens the collapse of the entire ecosystem.

Most of the places that they inhabit have already been invaded or lie close to human habitation so hunting and poaching threatens the collapse of the entire ecosystem One of our closest relatives and an image that we are very used to, unfortunately the chimpanzee like all other great apes is facing a precipitous decline in its population. Subspecies include, 

Eastern(21000-55000), 

Western(35000), 

Central(115000) and 

Nigerian-Cameron (3500-9000). 

As you can see many of these have wide ranging estimates which shows how little idea we have at the current time.

 

Chimpanzees inhabited wide-range of forests and open woodlands. When not attacked by humans, and when their homes are left standing they can do very well.

 

It is possible that organised tourism amongst some of these populations could help save them. Unfortunately it is entirely possible that many of these populations are lost before we can help. We aim to link to as many place that you can visit. These will be linked within a page for each subspecies, though some will also be linked at the bottom of the this page.

Chimpanzee
Central chimpanzee
Western chimpanzee
nigeria-cameroon-chimpanzee

We will also have a list of all articles on chimpanzee from this website below

White Rhino

White rhino

In Africa there has been horrible decline of rhinos. The northern white rhino was as recent as 1960 still living in numbers over 2000. Found through  Chad, the Central African Republic, South-western Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and North-western Uganda. Unfortunately this population has since crashed, and while they are not yet extinct there are so few left it is unlikely to recover. Embryos have been frozen in the hope that in the near future Southern white rhinos could host these.

Unfortunately, while the southern white rhino is doing far better with 18,000 (only a 12% decline in the last decade) it is not healthy and at the rate that poaching has occurred it’s not inconceivable that this population could be largely poached out of existence in a decade. In 2021, 457 rhinos were poached in South Africa with 77 lost from the Kruger. While this is horrific, it would suggest that Kruger is finally managing to protect its rhinos more effectively. Currently only 30% of Southern white rhino live in Kruger, which in the past this percentage was far higher (as high as 80-90%). Hopefully in the future rhino poaching will go back to being a thing of the past – while Kruger has the space, it cannot stop hundreds of determined poachers, while smaller reserves can do this more easily.

In the early 1900s, the Southern white rhino population fell to 50-100, thankfully this direction changed with (they are hoping) in August this year. The problem remains, that despite it having no medicinal benefit, if a rhino horn is valuable then people living near the breadline in the surrounding area will look on it with envy. Even if locals do not do it, it is worthwhile for criminal gangs. At the moment, white rhino horn can be sold for around $60,000 per pound, and an average white rhino horn weighs just short of 9 pounds. This means that each white rhino has half a million dollars attached to its nose. 

One important thing to note, is that the name white rhino does not come from the colour of its skin. Indeed, with a white and a black rhino standing next to each other it would be hard to notice a difference in the colour of the skin. Instead, it gets its name from the afrikaans word weit which means wide – the white rhino has a wide mouth for grazing, while the black rhino has a pointed mouth for browsing.

Either place gives you a good chance to see rhino in their home.

As time passes, we hope to add more destinations for each species. There is a list of all articles on this species below the destinations available.

Note:  to look at the rest of the rhino family click here

Limpopo Transfrontier park including Kruger sabi sands and other conservation areas
Greater Serengeti
See Animals Wild