Tag: central Africa

Pygmies return to forest to isolate against coronavirus

by Camille LAFFONT PICTURES BY FLORENT VERGNES Agence France-Presse BAYANGA, Central African Republic (AFP) — Dzanga-Sangha, a wildlife sanctuary in southwest Central African Republic, is a remote place, linked to the rest of the world by a narrow trail that becomes impassable in heavy rain. But for the region’s Pygmies—outcasts in a country already ranked among the poorest in the world—Dzanga-Sangha’s isolation could be a blessing. As coronavirus spreads in the CAR, with more than 1,000 […]

In an African forest, a fight to save the endangered pangolin

by Camille LAFFONT Pictures by FLORENT VERGNES Agence France-Presse DZANGA-SANGHA NATIONAL PARK, Central African Republic (AFP) — The prehistoric shape is hard to make out as it moves slowly through the gloomy forest, so trackers listen for the rustle of scales against the leaves to pick up its trail. Their target is the long-tailed pangolin — a little mammal also called the scaly anteater, which will be lucky to survive to the end of this century. […]

African stargazers enjoy ‘ring of fire’ eclipse

SAINT-LOUIS, France (AFP) — Stargazers in south and central Africa were treated to a spectacular solar eclipse Thursday with the Moon moving across the Sun to form a “ring of fire”. At the eclipse’s peak, all that was visible was a ring of light encircling the black Moon — but the phenomenon was only fully visible to people in a narrow, 100-kilometer (62-mile) band stretching across central Africa, Madagascar and Reunion. Anyone north, south, east or […]