The Ndoki Forest in Northern Congo Brazzaville is a vast area of virgin rain forest where thousands of forest elephants roam, as well as bongo antelope, forest buffalo and the elusive rain forest leopards. It took several long trips to the Congo rainforest's before we actually say a leopard. The first of these sightings was on the 100klm. drive out from Ndoki to the river where our pirogue was waiting to take us up to Bomasa. It was a short glimpse of a small leopard bolting across the road. The second sighting was a year later in an open saline of a female and her cup. It bolted as we entered the clearing. The third one was more satisfying - we had a long look at a leopard hunting in the dense undergrowth on the opposite side of a small bai several kilometers from where we were camped. It seemed to be unaware of us watching from a leafy hide construed by our pygmy guides, however it cast us a quick glance as it stretched itself up and over a fallen tree and then silently vanished into the gloom. This painting is my homage to that very special moment . It took 5 months of walking the forest to get that sighting. The Ndoki forest is the locale of one of two small refugia into which rain forest receded during the last glaciation.
To see a video of an Ndoki foot safari in search of forest elephant, bongo and gorilla go HERE.. To read an article with photographs of a foot safari in the Ndoki go HERE.

*THE REFUGIA SERIES: We live in an era where every square kilometer of remaining wildlife habitat is now under threat. This new series of paintings is my homage to those special areas of Africa which, according to my own extensive experience, are going to be crucial for the survival of species and biodiversity. By definition 'Refugia' describes island-like tracts of land where circumstances have allowed species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas. Twenty thousand years ago, at the height of the last glaciation, the Congo basin was mostly dry savanna and the Namib desert dunes extended right up past the mouth of the Congo River. During that epoch two small rain forest 'refugia' patches remained. When the last glaciation ended twelve thousand years ago these two refugia expanded outwards to become the vast equatorial rain forest belt of today, stretching from West Africa to the Rwenzori Mountains in East Africa.
Present day refugia will be useful in the distant future when humankind has begun to reverse the environmental catastrophe we are now experiencing.

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