Episode 6: Rod Cassidy, Sangha Lodge

Charles and Jon are joined from South Africa by Rod Cassidy who runs world famous Sangha Lodge in the Central African Republic. A true mammalwatching nirvana.Rod talks about his early career as a bird guide and conservation researcher including his entry for the Darwin Awards during an ill-fated attempt bat collection expedition. He talks about the importance for conservation of the work he and his wife Tamar are doing in the Central African Republic and some of the spectacular mammals they regularly encounter including huge gatherings of Forest Elephants in Sangha Bai, Lowland Gorillas, pangolins and Bongos.Rod also talks about the very real challenges of persuading people to visit such a remote area and the importance of getting bums in beds to protect one of the last great strongholds of the Congo basin. For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcastNotes: The Sangha Lodge website has more information about the lodge and how to visit. Jon's 2011 and Charles's 2018 trip reports from Dzanga-Sangha National Park are among those on mammalwatching.com.Jon's trip report from the Azores will appear here in September 2024.Cover art: Non-habituated Lowland Gorilla, Dzanga-Sangha National Park, Jon HallDr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.