The Revealed

Category: Activities of The Revealed, Central African Republic, Forest Elephants | Date: Apr 24 2009 | By: therevealed

Miroslav Bobek, 24 April 2009

Andrea Turkalo has been living in a small camp at the Dzanga Baï clearing in the midst of a tropical rainforest in the south-west of the Central African Republic. It is a thirty-minute walk from her camp to the clearing.  “I have walked 33 thousand kilometres along this path,” says Andrea who left the comfort of the East Coast of the USA for her great passion - forest elephants.

The Dzanga Baï clearing is absolutely unique. Some say it is the only place in the world where you are always sure to see Forest Elephants. In any case, it is indisputably the absolutely best place in the world to watch them. Elephants, Forest Buffaloes, and Bongo antelopes come to the clearing regularly to drink from springs that contain salt and other minerals.

You can hear countless times about the view of the Dzanga Baï clearing yet the reality will take you aback. Giant trees set the stage for an unbelievable elephant show. You can see dozens and dozens of elephant cows with calves of all ages, as well as some huge bulls with two-metre tusks; altogether fifty, seventy, or maybe a hundred forest elephants in one place.

“There are some four thousand Forest Elephants in this area,” Andrea told us with a muted voice in her shelter, “and I meet around six hundred of them here”.

Andrea gave each of the six hundred elephants a name and keeps detailed records about them. Watching Forest Elephants in the clearing is one of few opportunities to learn something about them; it is impossible to track them in the forest… (By the way, the African Forest Elephant is a completely different species than the African Bush Elephant; one of the differences noticeable at first sight are orange to brown-coloured downward pointing tusks.)

Andrea introduced several of “her” six hundred elephants to us from her shelter  at Dzanga Baï. While Khalil was recording a video, she commented on what was going on in the clearing. At this point I can only promise the same as I did in the previous article about Makumba’s troop: you have definitely something to look forward to when we return and post videos and photos from Dzanga Baï on this website, together with an extensive interview with Andrea.

You can see more photos from Dzanga Baï on website of The Revealed.