This is a photo of a buffalo that I saw on a recent trip to Wali bai. The forests of northern Congo contain a number of bais Рnatural forest clearings that occur across the region, including the neighbouring Central African Republic, Gabon, and southeast Cameroon. Wali bai is one of the easiest to visit, and is located a few kilometres from the headquarters of the Nouabal̩-Ndoki National Park (NNNP).
This particular clearing is essentially a lake, and is regularly visited by buffalo that plunge under the water’s surface to feed on the algae that grow on the lake bed. Forest elephants are also regular visitors. I photographed this buffalo as he swam through some of the deeper parts of the lake, at some points plunging almost completely below the surface, with only a thin strip of his back betraying his presence.
I try and visit the bai whenever I’m in Bomassa, and the clearing now forms part of the tourism circuit that is being developed by the NNNP staff. My guides on this most recent trip were three guys from the local village, and all were well trained in how to guide visitors through the forest. This is especially important for trips Wali, as it’s not unusual to run into elephants on the path that runs between the clearing and the NNNP base camp. The guides that were with me were actually guys that I’ve known for several years, and have grown up alongside the conservation project.
These clearings come in all shapes and sizes. Many are rich in salt and other minerals, which attract species such as elephants; these bais tend to be mainly sandy, and some of the larger ones can attracted dozens of elephants in a single day. There are also bais that are composed more of swampy vegetations, and these clearings are a haven for gorillas. The best known example of this kind of bai is Mbeli bai, which is located inside the NNNP and hosts a long-running research projet.
These clearings provide a rare opportunity to view forest species in their natural habitat, and so will play a big role as ecotourism is developed across the region. Wali bai is particularly important as it is located at the point where the borders of the three countries that make up the Sangha Trinational Protected Area complex, Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, intersect. As such, it will play a key role in the development of transboundary tourism activities.
