Not even the Pygmies go into some parts of the jungle. This is the Africa not of a hundred years ago, but before the presence of human beings. That extraordinary isolation is what ultimately lies on the chopping block of the loggers and poachers, experts say. In the utterly remote rain forest where the borders of Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic converge, enormously diverse animal and plant populations have been buffered from outside disturbance since before the last Ice Age. And unlike the more famous Amazon, the Congo Basin bustles with large animals.
Elephant populations are far higher here than in Africa's celebrated savannas.
Moreover, a unique system of jungle clearings, called bais, functions as a remarkable magnet for wildlife. You look at them, and they seem like uniform little patches of grassland. But we've counted 110 species of grass in one. Prodded by global conservation groups, the European Union and World Bank in August convened a meeting with Cameroonian officials to read them the riot act. Unless Cameroon got serious about cracking down on the devastating bush meat trade, the foreigners warned, further development funds would be frozen.