In 2023, Will Burrard-Lucas, a U.K.-based photographer who specializes in high-definition camera-trapping, set up cameras at four sites in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, a 4,000-square-kilometer (1,545-square-mile) expanse of lowland rainforest in the Republic of Congo managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Camera traps are routinely used for scientific research in parks like Nouabalé-Ndoki, including measuring wildlife abundance.

Nominated as a World Heritage site, Nouabalé-Ndoki is home to significant populations of endangered mammals, including gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants.

Closely related to African savanna elephants, the smaller, more elusive and critically endangered African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) roam Central Africa’s rainforests, holding them intact.

Although the international trade in ivory has been banned since 1990, poaching for ivory remains an immediate threat in the region. Habitat loss is also a growing threat, as humans and elephants come into ever-closer contact, underscoring the importance of large, intact, protected areas like Nouabalé-Ndoki as refuges for wildlife.

“For me, the ultimate thrill is to photograph predators, and my dream was to get a shot of the apex predator in Nouabalé-Ndoki: a leopard. These cats are very secretive and almost impossible to see in the thick rainforest,” said Burrard-Lucas, whose work in the park was part of a program to develop tourism here, carried out in partnership with Kamba Africa, the first tourism company to operate in Nouabalé-Ndoki, and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“To select spots for my cameras, I was relying on the knowledge and experience of researchers and trackers who had been studying the wildlife of the park for years. It was an incredible moment when I returned to one camera and found a photo of the most impressive male leopard I have ever seen! Of course, capturing these photos was a team effort, and I am very grateful to everyone who helped make it possible, particularly those in the field who kept the cameras running.”

“These photos are amazing; I am really happy that thanks to these cameras we are able to take pictures of the animals that are very difficult to spot,” said Seraphin Ngouna, who works at one of Nouabale-Ndoki’s research sites. A member of an Indigenous group native to this forest, he was instrumental in maintaining the cameras throughout the year.

Banner image: African palm civet (Nandinia binotata), Nouabale-Ndoki NP. Elusive yet abundant, nocturnal African palm civets are widely hunted for bushmeat in many parts of Africa. Image courtesy of Will Burrard-Lucas/WCS.

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