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Located on the edge of the forest mass of the Congolese Basin, the National
Odzala Park, a vast area recently increased to 13,500 km2, has represented
throughout its evolution, one of the most extraordinary tropical forest
ecosystems to be discovered.
During the past thousand years and seemingly because of the climatic
variations, savannahs and forests have replaced each other in time in
the Odzala region, creating refuges of vegetation in which many endemic
species were to develop.
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Chimpanzee |
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Elephants |
The
specific element of the site resides in the presence of mosaics
of savannah next to forests, offering to the National Odzala Park
a great variety of animal and vegetal species. These forest immensities
formed by giant trees (mahogany, limba…) that are sometimes
40 meters high, are populated by big game, and in some places,
have never been touched by man.
However, one of the essential attractions of the park is the existence
of numerous openings with salt marshes inside the tropical forest,
presenting as many rare places where you can easily observe fauna
that are usually impossible to observe. |
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Therefore,
you can find these animals together feeding on mineral salts: sitatungas,
gorillas and elephants… as well as so many birds.
Created in 1935 upon the initiative of St.-Floris – the administrator
of the AEF at that time, the National Odzala Park has become one of
the oldest in Africa. In certain places, the fauna has almost never
been hunted since the site is so closed in and the human population
density is so scarce. The only human presence in the northern part of
the park was the illegal hunting of elephants for their ivory tusks. |
View of the Watchtower
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Chimpanzee
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The
intervention of ECOFAC in Odzala allowed, among other things,
the stopping of this illegal activity. The human population live
on the south-western border of the park. Different Bantu ethnic
groups live together with a life style based on forest resources.
*Interesting Points:
-Great variety and density of species: from the hyena
to the bongo…
-Odzala is a unique place for observing the lowland gorillas:
in Lossi (35 km from the park, in a gorilla sanctuary) two families
are peacefully living together and contacts with them are almost
guaranteed. |
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The observation of gorillas is also very frequent in the salt marshes
in the north of the park: North Maya and Lokoué have many gorilla
families, and also other animal species (giant forest hog, red river
hog, colobus monkeys, elephants….).
You can enter the thickest part of the forest by going down the Mambili
River in a dugout canoe.
*Your participation in the protection of Odzala Park and the struggle
against illegal hunting.
*Itineraries can be adjusted to suit your schedules.
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You can also visit the
Nouabalé N’doki Park
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