Into the Congo: with Alex Bigwood

This week, we sat down with Alex Bigwood, Managing Director of Jungle Guides International, to talk about one of his most intense and inspiring expeditions to date—deep in the heart of the Congo Basin, supporting the Disney+ production Queens.

For eight weeks at a time, over three separate deployments, Alex provided medical and safety oversight for a world-class team of wildlife filmmakers and scientists capturing rare footage of bonobos in their natural habitat. The expedition took him to one of the most remote regions on Earth—accessible only by bush plane, followed by an exhausting jungle hike—where he lived and worked alongside local trackers and researchers from the Max Plank Institute.

Image: “The view of our location from the air on the flight in. We gave the gps location to the pilot and asked if he cold circle over it. Somewhere down there is our basecamp.”

A journey to the heart of the jungle

"We landed in Kinshasa after around 35 hours of travel, then crossed the city at sunrise to reach a small domestic airstrip," Alex recalls. "We boarded a Cessna Caravan and flew to Ipope, a tiny community almost dead center of the DRC. After refueling halfway, we finally touched down. Then we hiked all day, well into the dark, arriving at the Max Plank Institutes' basecamp run by Prof. Dr. Barbara Fruth and her bonobo research team."

That station, nestled in some of the most untouched jungle on the planet, became their home and staging base.

Image: Crew relaxing in the camp dining area after a long day.

Capturing bonobos on camera

The primary goal was to film bonobos in the wild—a rare and challenging subject that few have managed to document successfully. The team brought a range of tools and techniques into the field: camera traps tucked into key areas, drones flying just through the canopy, long lenses capturing moments from afar, and an ambitious world-first attempt to film bonobos high in the treetops—at eye level in their own domain.

“It was relentless,” Alex says. “They’re fast, they’re elusive, and the terrain is brutal. Bonobos are considered one of the hardest animals in the world to film, and for good reason. You might be waist-deep in swamp water, mud sucking at your boots, vines catching your pack, and you’re still trying to keep pace with an animal that can vanish into the trees in seconds.”

The physical demands were enormous. The camera operators and field team carried everything with them—camera gear, tripods, batteries, water, food, and safety kits—often over many hours of hiking through thick, humid forest.

“The jungle doesn’t care if you're tired. Everything’s heavy, it’s always wet, and you’re constantly working in low light under the canopy. But when it works—when you catch a glimpse of them through the trees, or get that perfect moment on film—the crew become ecstatic, and all the hardship melts away. It takes a unique individual to do that job.”

More than a medic

Officially, Alex was there as the expedition's Safety and Medical Advisor, responsible for planning and managing any medical emergencies and advising the Director on safety protocols.

"But in reality, you end up doing a bit of everything. Helping with gear, setting up camera traps, hauling loads, climbing equipment... sometimes just being someone’s jungle buddy so they weren’t out there alone. And all the while, you're running constant 'what if' scenarios in your head."

There was no backup, no helicopter, no rapid rescue team.

"If something went wrong, I was the help. And if it was bad, everyone would be in trouble. The evacuation would take days, and rescuers could easily become casualties themselves. So we leaned heavily on prevention, professionalism, and trust in each other. I was lucky—our team was top tier."

Image: Camera Operator Declan Burley setting up camera traps

Unexpected moments

Two memories stand out for Alex.

"The first time I saw the bonobos in the wild was unreal. A proper 'pinch yourself' moment. The second... was a little less majestic. A young researcher dropped her glasses down the latrine. She was devastated. We managed to fish them out with a stick, and I was the only one with the kit to sterilize them. To this day, I don’t know if she ever wore them again. I wouldn’t have."

Image: Camera Operator Tania Escobar on a platform rigged high in the canopy, hoping to film the Bonobos at eye level. She’s wearing a bug net as the bees were often intensely swarming. Photo taken by rigger, Tom Winterton who patiently spent hours, and days hanging in trees and covered in bees while camera operators waited for their moments.

Challenges of jungle communication

Staying in touch with home and HQ relied on satellite phones and texting devices, but communicating within the jungle team was far trickier.

"Sometimes we had groups hiking for hours in opposite directions. If something happened, just getting the word out took time. We had one incident where we had to evacuate everyone because of a bit of trouble with anti-poaching patrols. It took over five hours to get the message to the last team. You just have to accept that in places like this, comms will never be perfect - You do the best you can with what you have."

Image: “Community members preparing to carry all of our gear”

The power of the people

"Nothing we did would have been possible without the local trackers. These guys were phenomenal—they read the forest like a book. They knew where the bonobos were every day. We were there to support, but they were the real experts."

Getting the massive amount of gear into the jungle took an entire community. "We had 70 to 80 bags. The whole village helped. It really drove home the need to build capacity in these communities. You can’t just parachute in and expect to do world-class science or filmmaking."

Why it matters

Alex's experience in Congo only deepened his belief that spreading skills and professional knowledge into remote communities isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s the only way to do this work sustainably.

"It’s not enough to be a great medic or a strong team. You need to leave something behind. That’s what Jungle Guides International is about. Creating training and certification programs that elevate local leaders, empower young people, and raise the bar for safety and sustainability."

Image: Alex making flatbread over the fire in camp.

Final reflections

What’s Alex most proud of?

"Getting everyone out safe. Making new friends, and seeing our hard work on screen. Growing up watching wildlife documentaries, and then finding yourself behind the scenes with some of the best in the world... That stays with you. But most of all - seeing some of my very own footage being used in the final product - Pretty sweet for a total camera amateur!”

Stay tuned for more stories from the forest in our Voices of the Jungle series. If you’re inspired to learn more about safe, professional expedition work in the world’s most challenging environments, reach out to us at Jungle Guides International.

If you want to learn more about this film shoot, or the companies or individuals and logistics involved, check out the Series on Hulu and Disney+, Wildstar Films (production Company), or Secret Compass.

We’ll see you in under the canopy.

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