Gabon: Lope NP – Mandrill Tracking
Our main reason of going to Lope and suffering on the horrendous Gabon roads was to track mandrills in the wild. Gabon and Lope NP is perhaps the only place in the world where this is possible. Mandrill range is limited to a few parts of Gabon, and also Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon (but the latter two are vulnerable to poaching and it’s nearly impossible to see mandrills there). In Lope NP, mandrills are protected, monitored, and studied. Mandrill tracking requires permits (just like gorilla tracking) and these usually sell out for months forward. July is the best month in the year to track mandrills – this is the height of the breeding season and you could see males and females together, plus males have the most vibrant colors. Mandrills are the largest m Our main reason of going to Lope and suffering on the horrendous Gabon roads was to track mandrills in the wild. Gabon and Lope NP is perhaps the only place in the world where this is possible. Mandrill range is limited to a few parts of Gabon, and also Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon (but the latter two are vulnerable to poaching and it’s nearly impossible to see mandrills there). In Lope NP, mandrills are protected, monitored, and studied. Mandrill tracking requires permits (just like gorilla tracking) and these usually sell out for months forward. July is the best month in the year to track mandrills – this is the height of the breeding season and you could see males and females together, plus males have the most vibrant colors. Mandrills are the largest monkeys in the world, and also the most colorful, with alpha males having brilliant blue and red on their faces and bums. Mandrills usually are active during the day and are constantly on the move across the dense forests in large groups called “hordes” of up to 800 individuals. We got super lucky in our tracking – the previous two days it required nearly 2-3 hours of jungle hiking to find the horde once it was radio-located. Our horde was only about 15-30 minutes away in the jungle. Initially we followed the horde on the move, but then cut across the jungle and took a position on a flank of a narrow ravine. The ravine acted as a funnel and the entire 400-strong group of mandrills passed in front of us, probably only 30-50m away (mandrill tracking is not as intimate as gorillas or chimps). We saw lots on females and young, and several males, including one giant and ultra-colorful alpha male! A spectacular sighting!
