The western lowland gorilla is not as familiar as its mountain cousin, but the forests of Central Africa are gradually revealing the secrets of this elusive ape
Words and photos by ANDY SKILLEN
At first, I thought I was hallucinating.
But as I closed my eyes and concentrated every synapse I could muster, I could hear it. It was almost imperceptible through the whining drone of a million cicadas, but it was definitely there; a contented, low grunt surpassing in tone and resonance the deepest bass from any choir I’d ever listened to.
I peered into the gloom. Surrounding me was Marantaceae, a glossy, impenetrable mass of plant life that dominates the forest floor; above, most of the sky was obliterated by a tetris-like canopy of kapok, fig, ebony and Panda oleosa.
This was the Ndzehi Forest, in the northwestern reaches of the Republic of the Congo. A few metres ahead, my tracker, Zeferin, had turned from super-sensed ape-seeker to landscape gardener. Using his secateurs, he made a series of minor adjustments to our surroundings, bending a branch back here and clipping a leaf away there to free up just enough space for me to crouch down. A silent beckoning meant it was time to adorn my face mask; our quarry was close.
The stage was set and even the cicadas, as if anticipating the overture of a major stage show, fell silent. A combination of sweat and insect repellent eased its way into my eyes as I watched the wall of vegetation ahead, imagining that perhaps, like a set of theatre curtains, it would dramatically part to reveal an opening chorus. The low grunting became louder, accompanied by a rhythmic cracking of stems.
And then, it happened. Through an expertly clipped gap in the foliage, a deep brown eye met mine, just a few metres away and brimming with benevolent curiosity. I had just enough time to fire off a couple of frames before the animal moved on. I had encountered my first western lowland gorilla.
Gorillas are arguably the most iconic primate in Africa, but most people associate this great ape with the mountain subspecies that inhabits the leafy volcanoes of Uganda and Rwanda, and that has become a world-renowned ecotourism success story. The western lowland subspecies is far less well-known or visited, even though it is the most numerous gorilla in Africa, numbering about 100,000 individuals in scattered populations across Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and the DRC. Mountain gorillas, by contrast, number in the region of 1,000. And, unlike their oft-photographed cousins, who roll aro
