Blogs from Central African Republic, Africa

Dzanga Sangha is a National Park situated in the Central African Republic and listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This reserve is the place inhabited by unique animals - forest elephants. Forest elephants differ from their relatives savannah elephants in several ways-taste preferences, behaviour and a smaller size. Forest elephant is 2 meters in height and has very thick hair. They inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial west and central Africa but the largest population of these species live on the territory Dzanga Sangha. The role of the elephant in the reserve is unique as it regularly disperses seeds over unprecedented distances and also damaging the branches of the trees providing light to the plants and bushes of the "second layer". Also these hard-working inhabitants of the rainforest compensate the lack micronutrients in the ... read more

I'd like to tell you about my journey to the Central African Republic. I have two wonderful friends, with whom with a glass of wine I can spend hours discussing books and articles having read recently. One cold Moscow evening we were talking about the most famous politician- dictator and the cannibal in the history of Africa .Thus I first learned about the sadist, murderer, tyrant and the most famous high-ranker cannibal Jean-Bodele the Bokassa. Jean-Bedel the Bokassa ruled the Central African Republic for almost 13 years. It is interesting to know that his specific gastronomic habits revealed themselves when he was 19 years old when the future ruler served in the French Army. Once during one of the raids, it was a Vietnamese military company at that time, Bokassa was lost deep in the jungle. ... read more

Cela fait tellement longtemps que je n'ai rien écrit sur le blog que je ne sais plus par où commencer... En 2010, j'ai commencé à rédiger ce blog alors que je m'apprêtais à partir un an seule à l'aventure. 4 ans plus tard, j'ai voyagé dans une vingtaine de pays et pourtant l'envie de bouger et de faire de nouvelles rencontres est resté intact, voire s'est même amplifié. En cette fin d'année 2013 j'ai d'ailleurs mis le pied en Afrique et j'ai retrouvé un sentiment que je n'avais plus eu depuis 2010 : l'inconnu total, la surprise des premiers instants dans un endroit qu'on a jamais vu mais tellement rêvé, les nouveaux paysages, les visages, les odeurs, les contrastes de couleurs... En une seconde l'émerveillement me rappelle pourquoi j'ai choisi cette vie d'aventures et de lendemains ... read more

This was a some what of a spur of the moment trip. My friend the lonely planet writer wanted to head down to the Congo to continue the rest of his trip through central Africa via the Sangha River which runs along the borders of the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Congo. He asked if I wanted to go with him down to the Congo. The plan was that that we would hire a pirogue and head to Bomassa in the Congo, which is about 80 km away. (A pirogue is nothing more than a hollowed out tree that has been fashioned into a canoe. It is the dominate form of transportation on the river, and it has probably been that way for a very long time). We would go together to the Congo and then ... read more

Bayanga Bayanga is a small town sitting on the banks of the Sangha River in the southern most part of the Central African Republic near the border of Cameroon and the Congo. There are several thousand people living here. Most came for to work for a logging company, which has closed leaving a lot of people with out jobs. Most of the buildings are made from wood with bamboo leafs for roofs, but here are a few concrete buildings. Outside of town is where a lot of the BaAka (pygmies) live. Their homes are often constructed from sticks and bamboo leaves making an igloo like structure. There is a small center of town where there is a few small shops selling goods. The biggest is run by a Lebanese guy who seems some what out of ... read more