Bioko Primates

Joel Sartore in National Geographic:

Screenhunter_05_jul_19_0759My destination is the city of Malabo on Bioko Island. On a world map it’s a speck of land off the west coast of Africa, part of Equatorial Guinea. Malabo’s been called the Auschwitz of Africa for all the genocide that took place when the ruling tribe, ‘The Fang’ took over in the mid-1970s—one-third of the population either fled or was killed. The place has never recovered.

Once there, I’ll stay for a couple days in a tent on a soccer field that belongs to an oil company. They say they’ll have food, drinking water, and guards to protect the gear—and us.

Three days from now a boat will haul me, three other NG photographers, and a crew of students and scientists to the far side of the island. They’ll drop us off on a black sand beach at the base of a volcanic caldera, where the steep and rugged terrain has so far shielded most of the flora and some of the fauna from humanity. The goal is to photograph monkeys, some of the rarest in Africa. Easier said than done though. These primates have been hunted for years.

More here.  [Thanks to Marilyn Terrell.]