Salonga National Park

Salonga National Park is Africa's biggest tropical rainforest reserve, home to many endangered fauna species notably the bonobo. It is a very isolated park, located at the central basin of the Congo river. The park can only be reached via water transport, and in parts is considered to be completely virgin and never accessed by man. It covers an area of 3,656,000 ha.

Salonga NP is crossected by many rivers, and its specific features include river terraces and plateaux. The land is almost completely covered with rainforest.

The bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee is only found in the wild here and in surrounding reserves. The bonobo diverges about 0.4 % from the common chimpanzee genome. It is possible that the formation of the Congo river led to the speciation of this particular chimpanzee species (they’re not great swimmers). They’re now an endangered species, with 29,500 – 50,000 individuals left.

Other animals found at Salonga include colobus monkeys, the Congo peacock, the forest elephant and the African slender-snouted or 'false' crocodile.

Salonga has been on the World Heritage In Danger List since 1999 due to the instable political situation in the DR of Congo and poaching.

Year	Decision	Comments
2007	Reinforced Monitoring
1999	In Danger	Poaching and illegal encroachments
1984	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription

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Links

» Trip report to Salonga National Park, dating from 2005.