Hi,

we will travel north from Luanda soon.

Does anyone know good places to see gorillas?

In Gabon? Cameroon? Congo?

Thanks!

Not sure about Cameroon, but it should be possible in both Congo Brazzaville and/or Gabon. But I can tell you from personal experience that it is very difficult to arrange.

We came from the opposite direction than you and went to Lopé national park in Gabon. Seeing gorillas wasn't a big thing for me and I quickly gave up trying to see them when I heard the cost of the tours you have take. You aren't allowed into the area without a guide and a permit. These tours are operated from travelagencies in Libreville. And are usually booked for months in advance. It is a habituation project, so they don't just let hundreds of people go visit the area. It is not possible to just turn up in Lopé and arrange a tour from there to see gorillas (believe me, we tried for 4-5 days to arrange it.And in the end it fell through because of overbooking). You can however arrange for a tour to see mandril. Other local guides will take you out to see forrest elephant and buffalo at a reasonable price. There are two places to stay inside Lopé national park. The very expensive lodge and the not so expensive motel. The motel doesn't have a restaurant, but the owner can send out in the village for food. Ask the manager (can't remember her name) about a guide.

S 00 06.438 E 011 36.637 is the location of the cheaper motel inside Lopé national park.

We were told by two girls from a wildlife society (I forget which one) that it was possible to see gorillas at a project just outside Brazzaville in Congo. These were however not "wild" gorillas in their natural habitat like in Gabon. In my case, even the last option was not possible due to the safety situation on the road to Brazzaville at the time. I hope it has improved.

I know this wasn't the answer you were looking for. But what I am trying to say is that you should try to arrange a gorilla tour in advance and not just turn up and hope things work out. Libreville seems to be the place to arrange these things with a tour operator. If you are unable to spend a lot of time on the phone and send faxes back and forth, the Brazzville project seems to be your safest bet.

I hope I at least gave you a direction in which to search for a solution.

In Cameroon the Campo Ma'an national park has chimps, gorillas and pygmies. At Limbe there is a Primate Rescue Centre with a couple of dozen Lowland Gorillas as well as many other varieties of primates.

Many thanks for both your answers.

Reserve de Lopé looks like a relatively quick side-step from the main road.

How about the other one? Is it possible to enter the Reserve de Camp Ma'an from the Equatorial Guinea side? Would be a nice short-cut ... just driving north from Libreville through Bata.

I can certainly recommend Lopé national park as a side step. Absolutely beautifull area. Even if you don't get to see gorilas. Oh, and I understand from another thread that you somehow miss the "bad" roads. All I can say is...have fun in Lopé. Especially if there has been rain recently.

Thank you McThor !

From your Cameroon expertise: is it a good trip to enter CAR via Yokadouma and Nola and then to continue to Bangui?

The Michelin map doesn't even show this road.