Explore the Congo River Basin—virtually. Move your mouse around the 360º image at left and click on animals and objects for videos, audio, and accounts of life in extreme Africa.

Explorer J. Michael Fay hiked 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) through central Africa to encounter the creatures in our image: gorillas, chimps, elephants, humans. Here you can experience them all in one spot—something you’d probably never be able to do in the wild.

Throughout the 15-month “Megatransect,” Fay compiled data, video, and photos of largely untouched but threatened wilderness—all part of his epic effort to help understand and conserve the Congo Basin.

Related site: Online-only field notes, photos, and video from National Geographic magazine’s coverage of the trek