Central African Republic

DZANGA-SANGHA, Central African Republic — At dawn, a pale mist drapes the Dzanga Bai clearing. Forest elephants emerge from the shadows, their vast frames moving with slow, deliberate grace across sodden grass. Above, hornbills flash between branches while mangabeys chatter in the canopy. In the tree line, a small group of visitors — flanked by BaAka trackers — watch in silence, their cameras momentarily forgotten. These scenes, once rare, have become more common in Dzanga-Sangha, a remote reserve in the country’s southwest. Long scarred by poaching, logging, and political unrest, the park now sits at the heart of a careful push to position the Central African Republic as a destination...