Epulu Station (Ituri) Tour

Located in the Ituri provinces, it has become a popular destination cause of the exceedingly rare Okapis and the presence of so many Bambouties (pygmies).

Pygmies live in villages that are categorized as bands. At the start of the dry season they leave the village to enter the forest and set up a series of camps that allow them to be able to use more land area for maximum foraging. These camps are solitary and temporary. Walls of the structures are poles that are placed in the ground. At the top of poles, a vine is woven to keep them together. Large leaves are also used in the construction of the huts.

Pygmies are primarily hunters, foraging for food in the forest. They have a vast knowledge of the forest and food it yields. They use large nets, traps, bows and arrows to hunt. Women and children sometimes help out by trying to drive animals into the nets. Each band has its own hunting ground although boundaries are hard to maintain. You will be allowed to follow such a group into the forest and, if possible, to take tents and set your camp near their bands. You are invited to spend the night around the campfire, listening to their endless hunting stories while they are smoking their cannabis water pipes under a beautiful blanket of African stars.

Other attractions in Ituri forest are: