Mbeli Bai Study
The Mbeli Bai Study aims to increase our understanding of the ecological importance of forest clearings to large mammals and to determine the ecological factors, such as density of fruiting trees and aquatic and terrestrial herbaceous vegetation, that influence gorilla and other large mammal density around Mbeli Bai.
Mbeli Bai is a large swampy forest clearing situated in the south-west corner of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo. The Mbeli Bai Study is the only long-term demographic study of western gorillas, using direct observations to collect important baseline information on their social organization, demography and behaviour. Detailed studies are also undertaken on the activity of other large mammal species using the bai, such as forest elephants, sitatungas, forest buffaloes and two otter species.
This applied conservation research is combined with a capacity building program. Two Congolese research assistants are currently being trained in all aspects of data collaction and analysis, and this is reinforced with a conservation education program. The Mbeli Bai Study has been running a conservation education program, Club Ebobo, since 1998. Activities were expanded in 2005 and Club Ebobo is now implemented in three different schools close to the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, reaching over 400 children.