Afrinkong
Nature & Landscapes
The Congo Basin Forest
The northern edge of the second largest rainforest on earth, and it starts here.
Central & West Africa · Afrinkong
Central African Republic
Dzanga Bai, and the forest elephants.
Dzanga Bai is a forest clearing where a hundred elephants come to drink mineral water in a single afternoon, and Dzanga-Sangha holds western lowland gorillas habituated for tracking — one of the great wildlife experiences on earth, in one of the hardest countries to reach.
Where it is
Africa · Central & West Africa · Central African Republic
The land in brief
- Spans
- 1,430 km E–W, 970 km N–S
- Latitude
- 11°N to 2°N
- Borders
- 6 countries
- Sea
- Landlocked
- Best time
- December to February, and a shorter window in May and June. Check advice: only the southwest is travelled.
Also in Central & West Africa
CameroonAfrica in miniatureChadZakouma, and the lakes of OuniangaCongoOdzala, and the western lowland gorillaDR CongoVirunga, Nyiragongo, and the okapiEquatorial GuineaA volcanic island, and turtles on the black sand
Compare Central African Republic with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
December to February, and a shorter window in May and June. Check advice: only the southwest is travelled.
01Highlights
What Central African Republic is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Nature & Landscapes
Western Lowland Gorillas
Habituated groups tracked on foot, with far fewer visitors than in the east.
Mountains
The Fertit Hills and Mont Ngaoui
1,420 metres on the Cameroon border, in country almost nobody visits.
Beaches & Coast
River Sand
Landlocked. The sandbanks on the Sangha come out in the dry season and people use them.
Forests & Rainforest
Dzanga-Sangha
Old-growth Congo Basin forest, shared with Cameroon and Congo as a trinational park.
Culture
The BaAka
Forest hunter-gatherers whose polyphonic singing is on the UNESCO intangible list.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Central African Republic with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The Congo Basin ForestThe northern edge of the second largest rainforest on earth, and it starts here.
- The Fertit Hills and Mont Ngaoui1,420 metres on the Cameroon border, in country almost nobody visits.
- BoaliFifty metres of water on the M'Bali river, two hours from Bangui.
- The Sangha and the UbangiThe Sangha runs down to the Congo; the Ubangi is the whole southern border.
- River SandLandlocked. The sandbanks on the Sangha come out in the dry season and people use them.
- Dzanga-SanghaOld-growth Congo Basin forest, shared with Cameroon and Congo as a trinational park.
Wildlife
- Western Lowland GorillasHabituated groups tracked on foot, with far fewer visitors than in the east.
- Forest, Not SavannaThis is bai-watching and forest tracking. Bongo, forest buffalo and sitatunga, all on foot.
- Dzanga-Sangha's ModelThe reserve employs BaAka trackers and shares gate revenue with the villages around it.
- Forest WalkingEverything here is done on foot, quietly, behind a tracker.
People and culture
- The BaAkaForest hunter-gatherers whose polyphonic singing is on the UNESCO intangible list.
- BaAka and Sangha-SanghaThe BaAka in the forest, and the Sangha-Sangha along the river.
- BaAka PolyphonySung in overlapping parts, with no leader and no fixed melody, and it has been studied by composers for fifty years.
- Nets, Baskets and Bark ClothHunting nets woven from forest liana, and bark cloth beaten from tree fibre.
- Cassava, Bushmeat and Palm WineCassava as the staple, smoked fish from the river, and palm wine tapped in the forest.
- Not YetThis is expedition travel in a country with a hard recent history, and it is not for families.
- The Marche CentralEverything from cassava to river fish, and the noise of a city that never stops trading.
Places
- BanguiOn the Ubangi, opposite the Congo, with the Marche Central at the middle of it.
- Colonial and Forest CampFrench colonial in Bangui, and leaf-and-sapling mongulu shelters in the forest.
- Bangui's Colonial QuarterA river capital laid out by the French, and much of it still standing.
- Two SitesDzanga-Sangha for its forest, and Manovo-Gounda St Floris in the north, on the danger list.
Ways to travel
- Tracking on FootGorillas in the morning, the bai in the afternoon, and net-hunting with the BaAka between.
- One LodgeSangha Lodge at Dzanga-Sangha, and nothing comparable anywhere else in the country.
- Elephants in a ClearingDzanga Bai from the platform at four in the afternoon, when the light comes in sideways.
- Chimpanzees at Bai HokouA second habituated group, and the walk in is as good as the sighting.
03Why go
The case for Central African Republic.
Why Visit This Country
Why the Central African Republic
A hundred forest elephants in one clearing, watched from a platform, by almost no one.
Hidden Gems
Chimpanzees at Bai Hokou
A second habituated group, and the walk in is as good as the sighting.
Eco Tourism
Dzanga-Sangha's Model
The reserve employs BaAka trackers and shares gate revenue with the villages around it.
Heritage
Two Sites
Dzanga-Sangha for its forest, and Manovo-Gounda St Floris in the north, on the danger list.
04Go deeper
All of Central African Republic, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
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Begin
Your Central African Republic starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.