Rainforest sounds - Night in the jungle

What does it feel like to be immersed in a rainforest, far away from people and surrounded by nature? As daylight starts to fade, this experience is not necessarily a blissful or relaxing one, especially if this is your first time in the Congo basin.

To begin with, the calls of daytime birds will softly wane as night sets in. Turacos, cuckoos and parrots will attempt a resemblance of a dusk chorus but not very convincingly. The insect chorus is pretty strong even during daytime, but this becomes even more loud and piercing at night. Since you're in a rainforest, a thunderstorm is never too far so you may also hear distant rumbling thunder reverberating through the jungle.

Once the last rays of daylight are gone, you may hear a very unsettling call. It starts off as a distant, soft whistle, but it soon becomes evident that this is a long series of increasingly louder calls. After a few minutes these eerie sounds become more urgent and piercing, building up to a climax of desperation. I heard this call repeatedly when sleeping on a local's porch in the village of Mohoba, Gabon and had absolutely no idea what it was. It took me a few months of research and guesswork before I found out it was the call of the Western tree hyrax, a plump and funny looking mammal about the size of a hare. Listen to its call towards the end of this recording.

Recorded in the Congo basin rainforest with Sound Devices 633 and Sennheiser DMS microphones. Enjoying the videos I upload on here? Feel free to support me by:

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