Afi Mountain Drill Ranch | Established Campground

March 5th, 2024 by rottenpatch15

Wonderfull place full of vets taking care of chimps, drills, and plenty of other species of monkeys. no bar or restaurant but you Can get food from the village close. don't take the road from the south except if you are driving motorcycle, the track is really damaged. follow the blue stars on iOverlander.
They asked 10 000N for 2 people for 1 night.
They installed starlink 3 weeks ago for wifi.
Safe journey !
@totoy_fm

January 27th, 2024 by pmarroquin

I spent a few days in this wonderful place, it is really worth visiting and getting in touch with nature, the Drill Monkyes reserve and the wonderful people who take care of them.

January 26th, 2024 by Curioso_ontheroad

The Drill Ranch is a fantastic place to visit, located in the middle of the jungle, where a passionate group has been preserving the Drill Monkeys for many years. There are about 700 monkeys living in the area. Jana, Carolina, and CJ are in charge of the place, and they’re really cool people.

November 6th, 2023 by ontravelling

The Drill Ranch is a spectacular place, where we have spent 3 days surrounded by nature, enjoying the drills and chmpances. We have also felt very well accompanied by the team and especially by Jana who has explained to us with passion the work being done in this project.

October 31st, 2023 by cheekymonkeys_overafrica

Such a special place to stay!!
Waking up surrounded by drill monkeys playing around is priceless. We initially thought we came here to watch the primates but these smart monkeys managed to turn it around by coming out of their enclosure, wake us soflty in the morning, watching us and roaming free. Such an unbielevable feeling!
Visiting the primates, roaming in the jungle, having a swim to the river stream flowing next door are some of the activities that will keep you busy here.
We experienced the true and authentical rainforest. The humidity, the insects (furious soldier ants ahead) and evening heavy rain are part of it. Do not forget your long sleeve T-shirt, long pants and plenty of insect repellent. Accept and embrace the fact that you are going to be wet and sweaty all day long (the evening shower is a blessing) and you will enjoy the ranch and its lovely people.
This place is definetly a blast!
@cheekymonkeys_overafrica

September 12th, 2023 by benjamin.michaelis.net

Just an amazing place. Zach, CJ, and everyone else were very helpful and welcoming, very relaxing to be there, hot shower, and good kitchen. Out of the way a bit but worth it, and the wildlife from drills to chimps are incredible.

We did have a bad run in with a few drunk locals who chased us down on the motorcycle on the way in, but we managed to de-escalate the situation and convince them that we could all discuss at the ranch, where CJ and Zach helped mend things over and the legal president of the community (Friday) came and apologized for the incident the next day. It wouldn’t be surprising if things don’t happen again, but for the moment we felt it was resolved, and is just normal Africa things, things happen sometimes :) . Would say it is still well worth still going despite sometimes local communities being unpredictable, but the work the ranch is doing and how they are helping the community by purchasing local produce to feed the animals, educate locals on the effects of deforestation, employ people from the local communities, and more which is very encouraging.

Would of stayed longer if we could, so bring extra supplies as you probably will want to stay longer than you expect as well.

Paid 2,500 / night / person which we felt was more than reasonable for car camping, and had access to the kitchen and so much more. Amazing!

April 28th, 2023 by 76Overland

Really worth a visit/detour. Definitely the highlight of our stay in Nigeria. The current team Zach & Pieter are awesome people and they work in difficult conditions. They've made us feel very welcome. Bring all your own supplies and more then you think, because you probably want to stay longer then you at first anticipate. You can organize hikes on the Afi Mountains with one of their rangers. There is a lovely shaded place for overlanders and the shower and toilets are out of this world!

November 9th, 2022 by gullivax

Don't miss it if you're in the area! The crew up there as well as in Calabar is impressively dedicated and work hard in sometimes difficult conditions to care for the animals and to preserve what can be of the forest around.
The site is still as mentioned, beautiful and remote, the drills and chimps are healthy and happy, and so are the mosquitoes. The cabins' nets are in good condition, so the latter are not an issue at night. (And has anyone mentioned the cool outdoor toilet and shower?)
Contact them in advance if you want to visit, or even better, just pop in their place in Calabar and get things organised from there. The crew on both sites will receive you with open arms. Overlanders are few and far between these days, especially since most of us now travel further north on the Taraba State route, but Afi Ranch is well worth the detour.

December 21st, 2019 by Drill Ranch

Hi! We are Drill Ranch and we just want to correct some of the info in the main post. Camping is N2,750/night/person. Cabins are N8,000/night/person. The old canopy walkway is mostly collapsed - we don't own it and we don't really advise going on it! You can visit our drills and chimpanzees in their electrified forest enclosures but we prefer you do not do so at feeding time.

You can also spend a night or more in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary if you have the strength and gear to go up there. Drill Ranch staff can organize a guide (compulsory) and there are small fees which we remit to the state government. The Sanctuary is home to Cross River Gorilla - the most endangered gorilla subspecies, as well as wild drills and a few chimpanzees.

Please contact us in Calabar for more information or to let us know you are coming. +234 803 592-1262 or [email protected]

More info:
http://www.pandrillus.org/projects/drill-ranch/visitor-information/

Thanks!

May 9th, 2019 by our_african_odyssey

Great place! Wish we had more time to explore the afi mountains and also to enjoy the surroundings. Would have stayed for a few nights if we weren’t on such a tight schedule. We didn’t come across any armed bandits on the way. Road is tarmac-ed up to Baunchor village. We did have a group of villagers demand 2,000 naira for a group of less than 5 people before we could even get to drill ranch. Spoke to the ranch when we arrived and they said it’s not an official fee and they’re going to try tell the village that. The ranch buys 150k naira worth of food from that village to feed the monkeys on a weekly basis - so I think they’ll use that to convince the villagers not to terrorise tourists. We paid otherwise we would not be able to go through to the ranch as they were surrounding our car. Other than that drill ranch is an amazing place to see drill monkeys in their natural habitat, and also to learn about how they release them into the wild as soon as they can.

April 13th, 2018 by dbates1514

Great place to visit! Great staff, reasonable prices, and more monkeys (and chimps) than you can shake a stick at. The outdoor shower is a plus; the bugs are a minus. Price came to 6500 for two people for one night, including the canopy walk. Also took a night hike with Peter to look for snakes (brief glimpse of a forest cobra!), which was free but we tipped him of course. I appreciated the dedication from all of the staff.

April 29th, 2017 by ourepictrip.com

Great place however we were almost car-jacked by armed bandits on the way in so I can't recommend going.

At this time of year it is very hot but the road was very dry and the bugs levels were low. You need a high clearance vehicle for a couple of places.

The canopy walk was 1,000N per person for the guide. It is now fallen down in two places so not really worth it. (note the canopy walk is not owned by the ranch).

February 4th, 2017 by dieda-unterwegs.net

one of the highlights for us up to now. Do not miss it and plan to stand there for some days.

Just amazing!

February 29th, 2016 by wheretonextafrica

Amazing place! A definite must see in Nigeria. All staff are mega friendly and welcoming! Make sure to bring all your supplies (food, water, etc.), however they do have a kitchen area which is available with all cooking utensils. The chimps and drills are fascinating, particularly during feeds. Make sure to bring your hiking boots as there are fantastic walks up the Afi Mountains. 4500 Naira for two people camping.

September 30th, 2015 by lyz.iversen

4500 Naira per night for 2 people camping. Turn off from the Ikom-Obudu road is further north due to floods in 2014. Turn off 73km from Ikom junction at N06°23'02.37" E09°05'32.01" on a tar road through Wula village for approx 7km & the dirt then starts. Beautiful place in jungle where Pieter, the manager is very hospitable. Make sure you take repellant & cover up with long sleeves & pants due to the insects that can get nasty! Liza & Jason

March 23rd, 2014 by Norbert's Adventures

Camping in pristine rain forest surrounded by its sounds, brilliant outdoor shower, free entry to the ranch, don’t miss the drill and chimpanzee feedings and the partly collapsed canopy walk, 4500Naira/night (20,45€) for two people, turnoff from main road at N6 14.201 E9 01.411