Lopé National Park is found in central Gabon It was the first protected area in Gabon when the Lopé-Okanda Wildlife Reserve was created in 1946. In 2007, the Lopé-Okanda landscape was added to the World Heritage List by UNESCO. It covers an area of 4910 km² the terrain is mostly rainforest ,the park has the last remnants of grass savannahs created in Central Africa during the last Ice Age 15,000 years ago.
The park contains a small research station, named as Mikongo and run by the Zoological Society London, based in the village known as Mikongo, from which it gets its name.The park also hosts CEDAMM Training Centre, a Wildlife Conservation Society-run international conservation education center.
Activities in the Park
- Research:A research centre has been established in the park and is managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – similar to the establishment in the equally splendid Invindo National Park. Tourists are able to visit and stay at the research centre and take part in the daily research programme, which focuses on the behavior of the great apes, leopards, elephants, buffalo, mandrills, mangabeys among other animals.
Access to the research centre is usually in one of the research vehicles travelling along a bumpy dirt road at top speed with your luggage bouncing around in the back of the vehicle. A police check-point asks for yellow fever vaccination certificates and it is good you keep these with you along the journey.
Remember to wear long pants with gaiters, long socks and long sleeved shirts as the mosquitoes are very bad around the nesting spots.
Accommodation
This is very basic, so is the food, and the days are spent in the forest with a packed lunch, French speaking guides will take you through your visit.