deep within the rainforests of the central african republic’s dzanga-sangha protected areas, conservation teams are fighting to safeguard one of the last strongholds of the african forest elephant. 

here, in a clearing known as dzanga bai, forest elephants gather by the hundreds — one of the few places on earth where this critically endangered species can be observed in such numbers.

what makes dzanga bai — meaning “village of elephants” in sango — so attractive to these african giants? the minerals in the soil. 

rich in magnesium, calcium, and potassium, the soil at dzanga bai is beneficial to forest elephants’ digestive and reproductive health. long before the diamond mining industry came to define the central african republic, elephants were “mining” the soil in dzanga bai — digging up the mineral-rich soil and shaping the landscape itself. 

dzanga bai is more than an elephant stronghold. it’s home to two types of antelopes — bongos and sitatungas — and the giant forest hog, the world’s largest wild pig.

in essence, dzanga bai is a rare watering hole for the congo basin’s most precious mammal species.

but dzanga bai’s openness also makes it a point of vulnerability: ivory poachers have long targeted the clearing, including a 2013 massacre that killed at least 26 elephants in a single day. 

today, dzanga-sangha’s eco-guards, local researchers, and indigenous ba’aka trackers work in tandem to protect the bai and monitor the herd, work that has helped stabilize elephant numbers here even as populations collapse across the congo basin region. 

but as poaching remains a threat, the survival of dzanga bai depends on constant conservation presence.

preserving the herd

the journey to dzanga bai is an arduous one, through dense bush and waist-deep rivers of dzanga-sangha. indigenous ba’aka trackers lead research teams in silence along trails shaped by frequent elephant traffic. one tracker was killed by an elephant in 2021, so groups are urged to remain quiet and vigilant along the trek. 

before you reach dzanga bai, you can hear it — a soundscape straight out of “jurassic park” echoes for miles.

when the forest opens, the sight is staggering: over 150 elephants roam this open expanse in the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest.

for research assistant timothée dieu sauve, this dramatic trek is simply his daily commute. working with the world wildlife fund-car and the elephant listening project, dieu sauve camps out everyday at dzanga bai’s timber observation platform to document the wildlife activities of the bai.

“this has allowed us to better understand not only the number of elephants and other species that visit,” dieu sauve said. “it has helped us identify [elephants] and understand their interactions.”

the secret language of elephants

because forest elephants typically live within dense rainforests, dzanga bai is unique not just for its mineral deposits but also as an open space for social behavior.

here, researchers can study the complex acoustic communication among elephants.

the elephant listening project, a cornell university study founded in 2000, has spent over two decades recording the bai’s soundscape, using acoustic recorders placed throughout the forest. researchers have analyzed sounds ranging from powerful distress roars reaching 117 decibels to low-frequency rumbles used to locate other members of herds. 

many elephant calls are infrasonic — undetectable to human ears — yet able to travel miles through the forest.

each day, researchers record the symphony of elephants, ranging from inaudible to deafening noises, in an effort to understand the interior lives of the largest land mammals.

researchers even hypothesize that elephants communicate abstract emotions such as grief. but much of the forest elephants’ acoustic language is yet to be understood.

dzanga bai serves as a living laboratory for researchers as they work to translate the language of forest elephants.

at the edge of extinction

of the african elephant species, the forest elephant is most threatened by poaching, according to the international union for conservation of nature and natural resources. in dzanga bai, the exposed forest clearing makes these elephant herds even more of a target for ivory and bushmeat poaching in the dzanga-sangha protected areas.

for this reason, an armed wildlife protection unit of so-called eco-guards patrol the perimeter of dzanga bai daily to deter illegal hunting. 

but there hasn’t always been this level of investment in the forest elephants’ protection. wwf vice president of african forests allard blom, ph.d., has been studying these forest elephants for over four decades, and when the protected areas were first established in 1990, he recalled a prevailing belief among conservationists that forest elephants were in less need of protection than their savanna counterparts because they lived in hard-to-reach forests.

“people were saying at that time, ‘forest elephants are fine. we don’t have to worry about it. there are plenty of forest elephants. they’re not getting poached at all, because nobody can hunt in the forest,’” blom said. “which was complete nonsense.”

according to blom, elephant poaching in dzanga-sangha has worsened in recent years, requiring constant vigilance. and in 2021, forest elephants were listed as a critically endangered species due to increased ivory poaching.

but monitoring elephant populations is not an easy task in highly remote locations like dzanga-sangha. so every five years, the wwf-car team conducts a wildlife inventory across more than 1 million acres of its dense rainforests. 

wwf-car program director antoine edé uses these surveys to track population health across the protected areas and determine where eco-guards must be stationed. the wwf-car conservation team surveys wildlife populations through a handful of inventory methods, including “dung counts” of elephant feces and edna from leaf swabs. 

results from past inventories are clear: nonviolent, persistent eco-guard presence directly correlates with stable mammal populations.

and among all species in this corner of the congo basin, edé says none is more critical to monitor than the forest elephant.

“it’s a keystone species for the forest,” edé said. “and it’s a good indicator of what’s around because it’s one of the most butchered species.”

as of this year’s inventory, edé reported that elephant populations have held stable in dzanga-sangha, indicating that conservation efforts are working at dzanga bai and throughout the protected areas — but only so long as they continue.

so when it comes to protecting forest elephants, there are no off days at dzanga bai.

each morning, researchers like dieu sauve return to the platform to listen — to the roars, the rumbles, and the inaudible pulses traveling through the rainforest — while the elephants, the ancient miners of dzanga bai, continue to unearth the minerals that sustain them.