“The countryside here is spectacular,” says Fay. “There are mist-covered hills, rocky rapids in the Ogooué River, and savannas.

“This forest was home to ancient hominid civilizations that lived here for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. Stone Age people cut down trees in the forest and developed complex communities. Then they died off, for unknown reasons, some 1,400 years ago.”

Large, isolated areas of dense forest in the region allow easy access for poachers from the nearby town of Libreville, who hunt forest elephants. Improved enforcement of antipoaching laws over the past decade, however, has enabled the elephants to increase in number.