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Rainforest Leopards
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"For many the key reason to visit Lope is to spend time with wild Mandrills. David Lehmann, a French researcher, has been working with the monkeys for a couple of years, and has several females wearing radio collars and GPS tags. These females are a part of a troop of 1,000 animals. Yes, 1000! David offers visitors the chance to go out with him to see the Mandrills. This is quite expensive: he charged us 250 euros a person, and that price was double what it had been a month earlier. But it was money very well spent in my opinion: the experience was fabulous. He took us in small groups of 3 or 4 each morning. The proceeds help fund his research project.
The main troop is 1,000 strong , but a pair of Leopards had recently arrived in Lope and were hunting the Mandrills: this may be why the troop had split in two. So we were likely in amongst just 600 animals. They were everywhere, moving slowly along the ground through the forest, feeding and interacting. But always moving: photographic opportunities were not so easy.  *This image is copyright of its original author A pair of animals and cubs had arrived in Lope about the same time we did and were hanging out along the road and apparently trying to eat Mandrills. We saw animal(s) three out of four nights. These were the first Leopards David Lehmann had seen in the park and he thought their presence had caused his Mandrill troop to divide in two. https://www.mammalwatching.com/2018/10/22/central-gabon-2018/ |
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