Salonga National Park
Salonga National Park is Africa's biggest tropical rainforest reserve. It consists of two locations: a northern and a southern sector, separated by a 40km wide settlement zone.
It is a very isolated park, located at the central basin of the Congo river and crossected by many rivers. 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.
The park is also home to many endangered fauna species notably the bonobo. 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.
Map of Salonga National Park
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Site Info
- Full Name
- Salonga National Park
- Unesco ID
- 280
- Country
- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Inscribed
-
1984 - In Danger
- Type
- Natural
- Criteria
-
7 9
- Categories
- Natural landscape - Forest
- Link
- By ID
Site History
2007 Reinforced Monitoring
1999 In Danger
Poaching and illegal encroachments
1984 Inscribed
Site Links
Unesco Website
Official Website
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