Phenology Check at Loango

Simone's Journey

July 28, 2025

Today, I am doing the monthly phenology check with our eco-guides Darhly and Stephane. That means we are systematically checking marked trees along our trails, which provide food to chimpanzees or gorillas via leaves, flowers, or fruits. We specifically document the amount of fresh green leaves, flowers, fruits, and the general status of the tree.

Darhly and Stephane are amazing and explain the approximately 40 different species and how to best recognize them. They see and hear so much more and different things than I do. I felt somewhat embarrassed by how much time it took me to detect the forest elephant mumbling on our phenology tree 😌.

We also see an African rock python (Python sense), beautiful, moving on the ground away from us and hear vocalizations of individuals of our Rekambo group. We quickly put on our facial masks and check who is calling to find Freddy, Ngonde, and the females Aroide, her daughter Assala, beautiful and sadly orphaned Sassandra, Joy, and her infant daughter Janile. 

I was so tempted to abandon our tree surveys and follow the chimps instead, giving my neck muscles a workout tracking their movements through the canopy. However, we dutifully informed the chimp team, who fortunately were able to locate them, and continued with our phenology work.

A little adrenaline rush came when a small creature in the sand directly in front of me suddenly displayed its defensive "weapons." This brought knowing smiles to Darhly and Stephane's faces as we wrapped up our survey of around 150 trees after covering 30 kilometers. puh…

What a challenging and beautiful day at Loango!