There are new, exciting opportunities for the intrepid traveller and photographer. For instance, why not plan to travel to the Republic of the Congo and the odzala National Park. The capital of Brazzaville can quite easily be reached from Europe or the US by plane, or by ferry from neighboring Kinshasa. You can fly from Europe directly to Brazzaville with Air France via Paris. Or you fly from Brussels with Brussels Airlines to Kinshasa. Other quite good services are via Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc or via Addis Abeba with Ethiopian Airlines. KLM also flies from Amsterdam directly to Kinshasa. And Kenya Airways both connects Kinshasa as Brazzaville alike from their hub in Nairobi, Kenya. Coming from the US this means your connecting destinations are Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Coming from Asia or Australia or South Africa, it might be Addis and Nairobi.

From Brazzaville take a domestic chartered flight to the National Park of  Odzala. Here you find two quite new camps by Wilderness Safaris, Ngaga Camp and Lango Camp. Wilderness Safaris is an eco friendly company from South Africa, and they especially care about conservation and local communities, they call this the four c`s, here is how they put it:

“Wilderness is a conservation organisation and ecotourism company that specialises in memorable wildlife experiences in some of the most remote and pristine areas in Africa, at the same time remaining fiercely committed to protecting the continent’s precious natural resources. Their sustainability strategy is encapsulated by “the 4Cs”

“Conservation, Community, Culture or Commerce. Make your selection above.
Wilderness views responsible, nature-based tourism as the most effective and practical vehicle to ensure the sustainability of African conservation in the modern era. We are serious about what we do and believe fully in our vision of contributing meaningfully to conservation.”

In the two lodges they set up in the jungle of the Republic of the Congo, the main activity for a wildlife photographer, is of course, tracking the local western lowland gorilla population.

Photographic activities range from gorilla tracking (habituated groups), pirogue rides along lush river systems, game drives in the savannah, night drives, walks along lush forest streams and salines, and of course time spent at the productive forest bais.

Wildlife in the jungle exists of around 400 species of mammals and uncounted species of birds. Walking and boat safaris are offered, season is all year. Electrical power is  available in the two camps, so photographers do not need to rely on their batteries, as battery charging facilities are available in the camps.

Colobus monkey in Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

As what photography concerns in the jungle, that is a different thing: light conditions are pretty complicated, you have a lot of light, but also a lot of shadows, and this is changing constantly. Focusing is difficult, because there is a lot of leaves and branches between you and the animal up in the trees. I suggest to only use a single focusing point, and I also suggest to increase or adapt your ISO  settings. To be sure, photograph in RAW and always expect light to be lesser than your camera suggests, so better tend to over exposure your images.

Auf der touristischen Landkarte Afrikas gibt es zwei neue Lodges in der Republik Kongo, auch bekannt als Kongo Brazzaville. Wilderness Safaris bietet diese zwei Ökolodges an, man erreicht sie von Brazzaville mit einem Charterflieger in den Odzala Nationalpark. Von Mitteleuropa, Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz bieten sich Flugverbindungen über Brüssel oder Nairobi an, von Frankfurt attraktiv ist auch die Verbindung über Addis oder Paris/Amsterdam. Genauere Beschreibungen der Flugoptionen seht ihr im oberen Bereich des Textes in Englisch.

Der Odzala Nationalpark beherbergt eine der grossen Populationen Afrikas des westlichen Flachland-Gorillas, als auch Waldelefanten, Colobusaffen und Schimpansen, insgesamt über 400 Säugetierarten. Fotografieren im Dschungel ist dann noch einmal eine der grossen Herausforderungen für jeden Fotografen: Schwierigste Licht- und Sichtverhältnisse, Schwüle, Feuchtigkeit, hier ist technisch-fotografisches Know-how und Schutz für das Equipment gefragt. ISO Werte sind hochzusetzen, und ich würde die Fokussierung auf einen Single-Point begrenzen, da Äste und Blätter die Fokussierung/Scharfstellung sehr schwierig machen. Im Montanwald des Arusha Nationalparks in Tansania habe ich einschlägige Erfahrungen gemacht, und die nicht sehr scheuen Colobusaffen waren wirklich sehr schwer fotografisch einzufangen.

• Website Wilderness Safaris Congo Camps
• Information Odzola National Park
• Odzala – Complete Product Information – 2012 from Wilderness Safaris (pdf)
• More About African National Parks (in German)