As can be seen from today's blog post, I made it into Dzanga Ndoki NP (Sangha) in the Central African Republic. Below I will share some practical information from that trip and the preparation stage.
Getting there
There are essentially 3 ways to reach Sangha, which lies in the far southwest of the Central African Republic. There is (1) unpaved road access from the capital Bangui (not recommended as it's not considered safe, and it needs private 4wd transport), sometimes (2) there are weekly charter flights from Bangui (this is organized by Sangha Lodge on specific dates for their customers) and (3) there is the overland route from Cameroon. I took the latter, which took 3 days of full-time travel from Yaoundé. Yaoundé also has the advantage of being much better served by international flights than Bangui.
The land route via Cameroon wasn't too bad, mostly because the roads in the dry season (December to March) can be driven well. There's just a lot of red dust. We did 7.5 hours from Yaounde to Bertoua on Day 1, 8 hours from Bertoua to Yakodouma on Day 2, and 9.5 hours (including a 2h boat ride) from Yakodouma to Sangha Lodge on Day 3. This all with few stops, mostly only for lunch and two bathroom breaks. On the way back, you do all of it exactly in reverse, so it's definitely not a trip for those who dislike long bus rides.
Accommodation
There are two lodges near the park:
Doli Lodge and
Sangha Lodge. Both are fairly comfortable but not overly luxurious in a Botswana safari way. Doli Lodge lies near the village of Bayanga and closer to the park entrance, while Sangha Lodge is a bit more secluded and the service is better. Doli Lodge is less expensive and from what I read online in reviews seems more open to accommodate individual travellers. Both offer generally the same activities as they are mostly organized by the national park.
Visa
When you access via Cameroon (which itself has a fairly easy e-visa procedure), the visa to CAR is done via a pre-arranged 'Message Porté' (arranged by the tour company) which will be exchanged for a visa stamp at the border. Like the ones you get from the DRC for visiting Kahuzi Biega and Virunga, this visa is limited in time and scope and specific to the park visit. The actual river border with CAR didn't take much time and was done by our local guide on his own carrying our passports.
Safety
CAR is one big red blob on all travel advisories: "Do not travel". Sangha however is so far removed from the capital Bangui (540km) that any unrest fails to reach it, and it has
never seen violence against foreign tourists even in the worst of times. I'd say the biggest risk factor is its secluded location, it's hard to get away when something like a medical emergency happens (although there is an air strip that could be used for evacuations).
Costs
Booking your stay at Sangha from abroad is eyewatering expensive. Most companies offer a week's stay including domestic transport, accommodation, food and daily activities at 10,000 EUR+ per person. When booking directly with Sangha Lodge this will cost you about 8,000 EUR. Additionally, you'll have to book a return flight to Bangui which is about 1,000-1,200 EUR from Europe.
I ended up paying 3,125 EUR by using a group tour. I think they bargained hard with Sangha Lodge, but they must have been happy that we filled all their rooms with 15 participants and Lupine is a twice-a-year return customer. It included 'only' 4 nights in Sangha instead of the standard 7 nights. At 7 nights, you will not do very different things than on the 4 nights itinerary but since you walk / navigate the area for more hours you're more likely to encounter the shier animals. In the end, 3 days/4 nights was enough for me and I think for anyone except the hardcore mammalwatchers who like to spot every bat and rat.
Additional costs included the flight to Yaounde, the Cameroon visa and some 200 EUR spent on food in Cameroon and tips.
CAR with Lupine Travel
So for the second trip in a row, I had to surrender myself to a tour group and a UK 'adventure' tour company. Lupine specializes in 'difficult' countries and approaches them from a budget perspective. Most of their tours are a week or so in a country including seeing what to me seems a few random things. 95% of their offering doesn't appeal to me, but
this 12-day Cameroon/CAR tour was a good fit as it got me to Sangha for less than half the price asked by Sangha Lodge directly.
The group had 15 people, about 75% of them were country counters including several with very high counts, in the 180-192 range out of 193 UN. The others were more interested in Sangha's nature.
Communication and guidance from Lupine, both before and during the trip, was excellent. They use
Authentic Africa Travel as their local ground operator, which also did its job well. The latter would be the first to contact if you want to organize something like this as a private tour. Be aware that it might be very expensive, as the car and driver stay idle on the Cameroon side of the rivers while you visit Sangha in C.A.R. and you need to travel with a guide/fixer to negotiate all the checkpoints along the way smoothly.
