Arrival in Kinshasa

Your Sankofa guide meets you in the arrivals hall at N'djili International Airport and takes you to your hotel. Kinshasa is home to more than 15 million people and sits on the southern bank of the Congo River, the world's deepest river. Brazzaville is visible as a low skyline on the opposite bank. The afternoon is yours.

In the evening a welcome dinner introduces Congolese food, such as moambe chicken cooked in palm oil, or saka saka, a stew of cassava leaves with smoked fish. Your guide then briefs you on the route to Odzala-Kokoua, safety rules, realistic wildlife expectations, and what to carry in the forest. There is time for questions.

• Airport meeting and hotel transfer
• Welcome dinner with Congolese dishes
• Full trip briefing and map walkthrough

Journey to Odzala-Kokoua National Park

You leave Kinshasa early and cross into Congo-Brazzaville on the way to Odzala-Kokoua National Park, about 13,500 square kilometres of largely intact Congo Basin rainforest. You get there by charter flight, or by a mix of overland transport and small aircraft, depending on conditions and logistics. From the air you see unbroken forest canopy with rivers running through it.

Your eco-lodge or tented camp sits at the forest edge. After arrival you take a short orientation walk with a ranger guide along the park boundary. Colobus monkeys may be moving through the canopy. In the evening you get a briefing on forest safety, anti-poaching rules and responsible wildlife viewing.

• Charter flight or overland travel into Congo-Brazzaville
• Orientation walk along the park boundary
• Evening briefing on forest safety and park rules

First Forest Expedition

After an early breakfast you walk into the park's dense rainforest. The air is humid and heavy with the smell of damp earth and flowers. Your guide moves slowly and reads the signs: an elephant footprint in mud by a stream, bark stripped by a gorilla, birdsong that suddenly stops. You learn how the forest is layered, how bais concentrate wildlife, and how animal trails run through thick undergrowth. Typical sightings include forest duikers, putty-nosed monkeys, red-capped mangabeys, African grey parrots, hornbills and turacos.

In the afternoon you paddle a narrow forest tributary, where you may see hippos, Nile monitor lizards and kingfishers. By the campfire your guide talks about Congo Basin ecology and the conservation challenges facing Odzala.

• Morning forest trek with a ranger guide
• Afternoon canoe on a forest tributary
• Campfire talk on ecology and conservation

Gorilla & Primate Tracking

Today is spent tracking Odzala's western lowland gorillas, a critically endangered species. Tracking here is less structured than mountain gorilla trekking in Uganda or Rwanda. The forest is denser and the gorillas are less habituated, so encounters are wilder and less predictable. Trackers stay in radio contact as you follow knuckle prints, half-eaten fruit, bent saplings and nest platforms through tall primary forest.

You may also hear chimpanzee pant-hoots and drumming on tree buttresses, and see mangabeys and mona monkeys. Your guides explain gorilla and chimpanzee behaviour, and the community conservation programmes in which local BaAka and Mbati people help manage the park. Sightings cannot be guaranteed.

• Full-day gorilla tracking on foot
• Chimpanzee and monkey sightings possible
• Talks on community conservation

Full-Day Forest Exploration

Today focuses on Odzala's bais, the mineral-rich clearings where forest elephants, buffalo, bongo and sitatunga gather. Forest elephants are smaller and darker than savannah elephants, with straighter tusks. Your guide positions the group downwind so you can watch for a long time without disturbing the animals.

In the afternoon you visit a ranger research and conservation outpost. Rangers there use camera traps and GPS collar data, run anti-poaching patrols and keep up relations with local communities, and they explain their daily work. Late in the day you canoe side streams, with a chance to see river otters, kingfishers, dragonflies and butterflies.

• Full-day trek to the bais to watch forest elephants
• Visit to a ranger conservation outpost
• Late-afternoon canoe on side streams

River Expedition Begins

Today you leave the forest floor and board your motorised canoe for the river journey along the Congo Basin's tributaries. High forested banks drop to the water, with crocodiles and river birds on small sandbars. Hippos are common on this first river day, with just their ears and eyes above the surface.

At your first riverside village stop you see traditional fishing with basket traps and hand-woven nets. Through your guide-interpreter, elders talk about changes in fish numbers, river levels and wildlife over the decades. You sleep in a riverside tented camp.

• First day by motorised canoe
• Village stop and fishing demonstration
• Night in a riverside tented camp

Deeper into the Forested River

You leave the main channel for narrow blackwater streams, where the canopy closes overhead and the boat moves almost silently. On a stream ten metres wide, animals on the bank are close: red river hogs rooting in the mud, or a crocodile splashing in from a sunbathing spot. The motor is cut at times so the boat can drift.

Short hikes along the bank follow, led by your ranger guides. They show you how to read broken branches left by elephants, buffalo scent marks on trees, and half-eaten fruit pods left by gorillas. You spend another night in the riverside camp.

• Canoe through narrow forest streams
• Short hikes along the bank
• Tracking lessons from your ranger guides

Remote Village Visit

You spend the morning with a remote riverside community that receives few visitors. The village can only be reached by water and sits on a raised bank above the flood line, with smoked fish drying on racks. You watch fishing demonstrations with basket traps and hand-woven nets, while your guide interprets the fishermen's comments on reading the water and on fish behaviour.

Village elders tell oral histories of the forest and river spirits and explain why some forest areas are left untouched. In the weaving demonstration you can buy hats, baskets and fishing gear made from forest materials. In the afternoon you continue on the river and watch the sun set through the river mist before another night in camp.

• Fishing demonstration at a remote village
• Elders' stories and a weaving demonstration
• Sunset on the river

Jungle Trek & Elusive Species

Today you leave the canoe for a longer forest trek aimed at elusive species. Forest buffalo, a smaller and redder Congo Basin buffalo, are often found near bais and waterholes. The red river hog, rufous and black with white face markings, is most active in the early morning, in clearings and on trails. The forest has eight or more duiker species, from the tiny blue duiker to the bay and yellow-backed duikers.

The trek is physically demanding, with thick undergrowth, slippery stream crossings and long periods of concentration to spot shy animals. Lunch is a picnic in a natural clearing. Then you trek back to the river and camp.

• Long forest trek for buffalo, red river hog and duikers
• Picnic lunch in a forest clearing
• Trek back to the river camp

Canoe Safari & Scenic Exploration

Day 10 is the longest day on the river. Family groups of giant river otters are the morning's target, and you often hear their calls before you see them. Nile monitor lizards, which can reach two metres, bask on sandbanks and roots. Kingfishers are plentiful, including malachite, giant, pied, half-collared and African dwarf. Where the river drops slightly, a few small rapids may allow a swim in clear water above them, conditions permitting.

At the campfire, your local guides tell Congo Basin folklore. You hear about the Mokele-mbembe, the river creature of Congolese tradition, the role of forest spirits in controlling hunting grounds, and ranger stories from decades in the forest.

• Full day by canoe
• Giant otters, monitor lizards and kingfishers
• Campfire folklore

Return to Kinshasa

After an unhurried last breakfast and a final short walk or paddle, you transfer to the nearest airstrip by canoe or vehicle, depending on where the journey ends. A short flight takes you back to Kinshasa, with a last view of unbroken forest canopy and rivers below.

In the afternoon you visit a local craft market, where sculptors, weavers and painters sell work from across the DRC. The farewell dinner is Congolese food: grilled tilapia from the Congo River, goat stew, plantain and tropical fruit.

• Transfer to the airstrip and flight to Kinshasa
• Craft market visit
• Farewell dinner

Departure

A morning transfer takes you to N'djili International Airport for your onward flight. Your Sankofa guide goes with you to the departure hall.

• Morning transfer to the airport
• Guide sees you off at departures