Destinations

Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic:

There are three means of access to the Congo Basin national parks – through Congo=Brazzaville; through the Central African Republic, and through Cameroon. CGT offers them all as program options but its preferred route begins in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo’s capital, and ends in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. This program is found under Itineraries

Republic of Congo’s other parks

Conkuati-Douli:

Located a rough four hours’ drive north of Pointe Noire, Congo-Brazzaville’s second major city and center of its oil industry, Conkuati presents complicated logistics to get there. Private 4 x 4 rentals are necessary and you must be completely self-catering. A mix of savannah and forest, similar to neighboring Gabon’s Loango National Park, Conkuati has suffered wildlife loss, but is nevertheless a possible alternate destination for travelers.

There is a private chimpanzee sanctuary within its borders, which existed prior to the formation of the park. This sanctuary is worth the effort involved to visit it. Consider a minimum visit of four days for Conkuati, of which two are for travel.

The Jane Goodall Institute’s chimpanzee sanctuary called Tchimpounga, a short drive north of Pointe Noire, also plans to open a tourism program in 2013. Pointe Noire is a good place to finish up a safari to Congo-Brazzaville, providing lovely, quiet stretches of beach and excellent French cuisine. A new airline associated with Privat Air flies several times a day between Brazzaville and Pointe Noire. CGT expects this area of Congo-Brazzaville to increase in interest. Meanwhile, it can assist in getting you there as the infrastructure now stands.

Odzala:

Wilderness Safaris opens its camps in Odzala in 2012, a move which raises international awareness of the Republic of Congo’s rich wildlife and other natural resources.

Wilderness offers three and six day programs and plans to primarily fly guests to and from the park from Brazzaville. CGT can book your visit to Odzala and looks forward to offering adventurous travelers road transport between Odzala and Nouabale-Ndoki further to the north during the dry season.

Other destinations

Gabon:

There are four flights weekly with reliable air companies ASKY and Rwandair between Brazzaville and Libreville, Gabon, a mere one hour flying distance. CGT’s director is based in Libreville until mid-2012 and therefore brings very current knowledge to its Gabon itineraries for CGT clients.

A habituated gorilla family may make its debut to Loango National Park visitors in 2013. The tiny idyllic island republics of Sao Tome and Principe are accessible from Libreville via twice weekly flights and are the perfect destination for ending a Central African wildlife safari.

Rwanda and Uganda:

Rwandair flights, which now connect Kigali with Brazzaville, open up the exciting possibility for people passionate about primates to incorporate mountain gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda with Central Africa’s lowland gorillas. And since Rwandair also links Kenya and Tanzania to Kigali, it’s easy to combine an East African safari with gorillas, both mountain and lowland.

Democratic Republic of Congo:

There is the option of adding a few days in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to any Central African safari program. Kinshasa lies just across the Congo River from Brazzaville and is reached by public or private boat. This allows primate enthusiasts to visit the bonobo sanctuary near Kinshasa, the only one of its kind in the world. Bonobos are human’s nearest living relative.

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