Loango National Park
Loango National Park (French: Parc national de Loango) is a national park in western Gabon. It protects diverse coastal habitats including part of the 220-square-kilometre (85 sq mi) Iguéla Lagoon, the only significant example of a typical western African lagoon system that is protected within a national park.
| Loango National Park | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Location | Gabon |
| Coordinates | 2°10′S 9°34′E |
| Area | 1,550 km2 (600 sq mi) |
| Established | 2002 |
| Governing body | National Agency for National Parks |
Situated between the Nkomi and Ndogo Lagoons, Loango National Park spans 1,550 km2 (600 sq mi) of savanna, beach, forest, and mangroves. The naturalist Mike Fay called Loango "Africa's Last Eden," and this is where Michael "Nick" Nichols from National Geographic took his well-known pictures of surfing hippopotamuses. Both men call Loango the 'land of surfing hippos.' Loango National Park offers extensive panoramas and the opportunity to observe elephants, buffalos, hippopotamuses, gorillas and leopards venturing onto the white sand beaches.
After South Africa, the world's largest concentration and variety of whales and dolphins can be found right off the Loango coast. The area has over 100 kilometres (62 mi) of uninhabited coastline with humpback and killer whales. Loango is renowned worldwide as a site for tarpon of record size, as well as many other large saltwater fish.
The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classed Loango National Park as a faunal reserve and protected area for conservation.[1]
History
In 1956, the first regional faunal reserves were created in and around what is now Loango National Park to promote sustainable use of the area’s wildlife and wildlands. The park was officially created in November 2002 when President Omar Bongo Ondimba created 13 new national parks in Gabon that altogether represented 10% of the landmass of Gabon.
Tourism and conservation
SCD (Société de Conservation de Developpement) was founded by Rombout Swanborn, a pioneering Dutch investor in "Conservation Tourism." WCS collaborates on research, park management, and educational programs. He also founded Africa's Eden, which developed the infrastructure and logistics to deliver high-end environmental tourism experiences in remote sections of Gabon (and, beginning in 2006, in So Tomé and Principe), based on the principle "Tourism pays for Conservation."
People
Very few villages currently exist within the park, as most are located on the opposite bank of the Ngove Lagoon. As such, the park is nearly devoid of people and home only to a vast and spectacular array of terrestrial, avian and marine wildlife. While some of these animals inhabit specific ecological niches to which they have been adapting over time immemorial, others such as elephants and buffalos range across several landscapes.
The human inhabitants of the Loango area remain dependent on the natural resources that surround them for their daily needs. Today, although some Gabonese citizens have migrated toward the urban centres or taken up employment within modern industries such as oil and timber production, most individuals living in traditional villages still depend heavily upon their natural surroundings for their day-to-day needs.
Village-dwelling peoples use a slash-and-burn agricultural technique and grow several domesticated plant species including manioc, peanuts, and mustard greens. Women are responsible for most of the gardening save for the preliminary felling and clearing of trees and bush. Men make their living by fishing or hunting. Fishermen use long nets, throw nets, gill nets, long lines, baited hooks, fish traps and spears to catch fish and shrimp. Land crabs are caught by hand. Traditional hunting gear such as bows and arrows, spears, deadfall and spring traps have been replaced by high-caliber rifles and shotguns. Several other food products are harvested wild in the forest, savannah, or from the beaches, such as turtle eggs.
Images
Elephant with GPS collar, Loango National Park
Elephant with offspring roaming
Southern Park Camp Site bar with a view
Single Wild Buffalo within the park roaming
References
- "Walking Safaris in Loango National Park". Africas Eden. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
External links
- Wildlife Conservation Society
- Virtual Tour of the National Parks
Loango National Park travel guide from Wikivoyage