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Time spent with western lowland gorillas is a humbling and profoundly spiritual experience that has to be at the top of your bucket list.
Unlike other gorilla destinations, where you trek for hours on steep mountainous tracks to find habituated mountain gorilla families, in north Odzala-Kokoua, you wait in treehouses on forest clearings for western lowland gorillas to come to you.
Your Odzala-Kokoua gorilla watching involves visiting baïs to view wildlife from an elevated covered tree house. A baï is a swampy clearing in the forest where wildlife gathers to drink and ingest mineral-rich soil. This is the best way to observe secretive species such as forest elephants, forest buffaloes, bongos, western lowland gorillas and many bird species.
Come lowland gorilla watching with African Parks - no strenuous hiking, no time limits, no masks and no trek permit fees
Why is gorilla watching better than gorilla trekking?
Access to the observation treehouses is via a brief, non-strenuous walk on flat ground either from your lodge or after a drive along jungle tracks. A small baï near Camp Imbalanga is easily accessible via a 3-minute walk along a path and wooden walkway. Baïs further out can be visited during day trips.
Once the western lowland gorillas arrive in the clearing, there is no time limit to your encounter - these are wild, unhabituated gorillas that come and go as they please. Your sighting could last for hours or minutes. And you can remain in your treehouse for as long as daylight permits - sometimes resulting in multiple gorilla encounters in one sitting.
These are not habituated gorillas, so there is no trek permit cost.
No masks are required as this is not a close encounter.
More about the Odzala-Kokoua gorillas
Western lowland gorillas are distributed in the lowland forests of northern Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Southern Cameroon. The population is estimated at fewer than 95,000 individuals.
One of four subspecies of gorillas, western lowland gorillas are the smallest. They are distinguished from the other gorilla species by brown-grey/auburn hair on the forehead of adult males and larger skulls with pronounced brow ridges. They also have the shortest hair, longest arms and are the best tree climbers.
They eat fruit, plants and roots, which they supplement with termites and ants. Their home ranges vary between 7-14km², and they move about one kilometre on a typical day.