Register your interest to join Steppes Travel’s Managing Director, Justin Wateridge, on a pathfinding journey in search of one of the world’s most elusive primates: the bonobo.
This potential pioneering expedition into the heart of the Congolese rainforest is very much about the experience as opposed to comfort. The rainforest is humid and home to a host of insects. The journeys are long, delays and breakdowns are an occupational hazard of travel in the DRC and accommodation is simple. Sense of humour is vital.
So why go? The fun lies in getting there – flying over an endless horizon of green then penetrating this rainforest by river – and entering a world where few have set foot. In a world of increasingly contrived travel experiences, this is an adventure…
The ultimate goal is to encounter wild bonobos. These fascinating primates can only be found in forests south of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Sometimes known as the pygmy chimpanzee, bonobos weren’t recognized as a separate species until 1929. As the last great ape to be scientifically described, much remains unknown about the bonobo—including the extent of its geographic range. Efforts to survey the species over the past two decades have been hampered by the remote nature of its habitat, the patchiness of their distribution and years of civil unrest within the DRC.