david korte photographs

March 19.      I am relocating to Moulondo, a remote camp some 60 kilometers from Gamba on an undeveloped track between the Nyanga river and village of Panga.  It is the only road connecting Gamba with trading between Tchibanga and consequently Libreville, a mostly sand track prone to flooding throughout the savanna-forest mosaic fronting the sea.  Assisting a scientific team, I will be documenting the biodiversity assessment of the region scheduled for road improvement in the coming year.  No internet, limited phone service, and the rainy season conspire to make conditions challenging for cameras, transportation and sanity.

Camp Moulondo appears like a carnival on the savanna horizon; the roofing a red and white-striped vinyl awning, a generator for power, raised wooden floors.  About twelve people in the camp at this time, consisting of scientists, guides, drivers, cooks, laborers.  Once in the field, it is beautiful, I am seeing elephants, buffaloes, sitatungas, crocodiles, tracks of chimpanzee and hippos. My tent has room for a photo studio for small creatures (amphibians at the moment).

The roads are flooded, with bush taxis the only mode of travel, for the pools are deep and require 4-wheel drive and snorkels. It is very isolated, approximately 20 kilometers from the nearest villages on either side, each having a population of less than 30, I believe.

South of Gamba, crossing on the Nyanga river ferry between Mayonomi and Moungangara, the track enters jungle and savanna, into a world where the sense of time is left behind.