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WCS Congo Blog

Stories and history of Mondika

At the edge of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, in a truly remote part of the northern Congo rainforest, the last 25 years have seen the Mondika research site evolve from a modest forest camp, into one of the world’s most important centres for studies on the western lowland gorilla, thanks to the dedication of a long line of incredible people. This is the history of the...

Empowering women through tourism development

While business opportunities are scarce in small villages of northern Congo, determination, skill, and support from her community helped Maman Saida to open her own restaurant in Bomassa, at the entrance of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. An amazing story of success that deserves to be highlighted on this International Women Day....

Nestor Massembo, 20 years after the Megatransect

Twenty years ago, the legendary expedition across Central Africa known as the “Megatransect” was coming to an end. This large-scale study of the Congo Basin’s forest brought unprecedented international attention to this biodiverse and endangered ecosystem. Among those who took part in this unique adventure, Nestor Massembo, a Ba’Aka tracker, has since then dedicated his life to wildlife conservation. ...

Notes from the Field: Floods in Congo’s Peat Forests

From the air, the forest in Northern Congo looks like a vast, green carpet, broken only by tree falls and glimpses of streams. At this time of year, if you were to plunge beneath the canopy, you'd be faced with a bizarre mirror-world, with still black water reflecting the forest above and below. In the Congo's north-eastern forests, rains fall onto deep layers of peat,...

Zoonotic viruses: preventing epidemics by monitoring wildlife mortality

For over 14 years, the Wildlife Health Programme (WHP) implemented by WCS in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Congolese Ministry of Health, has been working to monitor wildlife mortality and minimize the risks of disease transmission to communities. The project raises awareness among communities in northern Congo and has set up an early warning system for unexplained wildlife deaths that covers more than...

Rare giant pangolin rescue in Congo

A giant pangolin, the world’s most trafficked scaled mammal, was rescued and later cared for by our teams. Thanks to the collaboration between experienced pangolins carers from our Wildlife Health program teams in Congo, the Tikki Hywood Foundation to the Sangha Pangolin Project in Central African Republic, this species highly sensitive to stress, and generally dying a few hours or days from capture, was for once...

Meet Marcel Ngangoue, winner of the African Ranger Award

Marcel Ngangoue won the African Ranger Award 2019, which recognizes and supports the achievements and efforts of rangers working to combat the precipitous decline of Africa's wildlife species due to poaching, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade....