Michael Fay completed a 15-month trek across the forests of equatorial Africa in 2000.

I literally want as many people on Earth as possible to see this place and fall in love with it.

—J. Michael Fay, biologist and conservationist, National Geographic's CongoTrek.

J. Michael Fay, a biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, set out across the forests and countryside of equatorial Africa with a mission to “create a lasting chronicle of what the African forest ecosystem was like before the arrival of human civilization.” For 15 months, Fay and his team hiked across 1,200 miles of terrain in central Africa, through equatorial forests and remote villages, ending up on Africa’s Atlantic coast. Along the journey, the team surveyed the Congo River Basin, researching and documenting information about the plants and animals of the region. Gorillas, chimpanzees, honeybees and tsetse flies are just some of the many organisms encountered by the team along their trek. Fay and his team used digital cameras and small computer systems to document the flora and fauna, as well as the many fascinating events, of their journey.

Near the end of the mission, food supplies ran dangerously low and the team had to reduce to 1/3 rations in order to conserve. Confusion about the best route to take in certain locations added to the dangers, but in the end, the entire team arrived at its destination safe and sound. As a result of Fay's "Megatransect," Gabon established its first system of national parks. Encouraged by this success, Fay conducted a "MegaFlyover" of the African continent in 2004 to document the impact of humans on the African wilderness.

Xpeditions
Research and Conservation: Doing the Legwork (6–8) helps students learn about the ways in which geographical studies can be put to practical use, such as in helping to preserve the rain forest. Students think about the importance of counting and studying all the species in an ecosystem, such as the Congo River Basin, and learn about biogeographical barriers, biodiversity and conservation.

Really Wild Animals: Will People Change Them Forever? (3–5) asks students to consider the ways in which human activities in the rain forest might affect the behaviors of some well-known African mammals, particularly in the Congo River Basin.

In Forest Features (K–2), students learn about different types of forests—temperate deciduous forests, temperate evergreen forests and tropical rain forests. Students concentrate on the tropical rain forest and learn about explorer Michael Fay's Congo Trek through the African rain forest.

Students examine research gathered through the conservation efforts of Dr. Michael Fay and the Wildlife Conservation Society as they study the impact of human population growth by conducting a study of its influence on Africa in Geographic Technology Assisting African Conservation (9–12).

In Take Off on the MegaFlyover Project! (K–2), students imagine that they are going to travel along with National Geographic conservation fellow Michael Fay on his MegaFlyover project, a follow-up to the original Megatransect project. They think about questions they would like to answer regarding human-nature interactions and then list the equipment they would take to study one of these questions.

In Two Threats to African Wildlife (9–12), students read about Fay's MegaFlyover project as they investigate two of the most serious threats to African wildlife today: habitat destruction and hunting/poaching.