Protecting one of the world's last great wilderness

Wild Places
Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park

In the heart of the world’s second largest rainforest, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is the world’s first site recognized for its ecological integrity under the Key Biodiversity Areas standards. The Park harbors a precious biodiversity, from endangered forest elephants to endemic insects and centuries-old mahoganies.

@
Photo Credit: @

The Sangha Tri-National Landscape, known as TNS, is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site since 2012, including Noubalé-Ndoki National Park in the Congo, the Lobéké National Park in Cameroon, and the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in the Central African Republic. 

Recent surveys found that it is home to 116 mammal species, 429 bird species, and 1122 plant species.

Wildlife

Covering 4,334 sq km, the Park harbors precious wildlife, including at least 3,000 forest elephants and 5,000 great apes

Employee

The Park employs over 200 permanent staff, over 90% of them local, and supports more than 400 schoolchildren and dozens of students

Rainforest

Lowland high-integrity old-growth rainforests are among the most effective forests for storing carbon to mitigate climate change

@
Photo Credit: @
Image
CHALLENGES

 

  • Loss of remoteness: growth in the workforce and roads needed to operate neighboring forest concessions, leading to increased anthropic pressure, habitat loss and encroachment
  • Lack of alternatives: increased reliance on bushmeat and ivory poaching as sources of protein or income
  • Regional instability: incursion of foreign poachers as other Central African elephant populations are wiped out
  • Ecosystem fragmentation: tarred road project linking Ouesso to Bangui, passing just a few kilometers from the Park
  • Disease dispersal: increased human/wildlife interface leading to greater zoonotic risks

Our Approach

Engaging Communities

Key actors in the Park’s creation, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities play a central role in its operation, making up more than 90% of its employees. The Park creates training, jobs and opportunities to improve livelihoods and facilitates access to education, healthcare and sanitation

Championing Research

The Park has invested in three long-term research projects to better understand the ecosystems it shelters and the threats they face. Applied science informs the Park’s strategies and the promotion of best management practices for extractive activities in the surrounding forests.

Strengthening Protection

In collaboration with the Congolese government, the Park has put in place a team of carefully selected and trained ecoguards, supported by an extensive network of intelligence, cutting-edge technology and lawyers to enhance lasting impact and deterrence.

Creating Opportunities

The Park’s holistic approach includes the promotion of various sustainable economic opportunities, such as the development of tourism, which creates economic activity as well as being a source of sustainable funding for the Park.

OUR IMPACT
  • Stable populations of large primates and forest elephants over the last three five-year surveys, from 2006 to 2024
  • More than 200 permanent employees: 60% of households near the Park have at least one member working for its conservation
  • Training of over 80 research assistants since 2005 and publication of over 100 scientific papers since 2012
  • More than 80 ecoguards, trained and supported by dedicated technologies (SMART, Earthranger, VHF)
  • No elephant poaching detected in the Park in 2023, a first in years • Fostering new sustainable activities: community tourism, poultry farming and support for 100+ micro-enterprises
  • Over 400 students enrolled in primary schools supported by the park in Bomassa et Makao in 2023
OUR IMPACT - Image

THE PARK’S MILESTONES

1993

Creation of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park,
following WCS studies and recommendations

1993

1994

Creation of the Mbeli Baï research site, enabling daily observation of wildlife visiting this important baï from a platform

1995

After appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1992, Ndoki made the cover of National Geographic magazine, which dedicated 25 pages to the Park

1998

Creation of the Goualougo research site in a particularly well-preserved part of the forest, home to “naïve” chimpanzees

1998

1999

Launch of tripartite agreement for the Park’s Peripheral Ecosystem Management Project (PROGEPP)

1999

2002

First successful gorilla habituation: Kingo becomes Mondika’s first habituated silverback

2002

2003

The Goualougo triangle is included in the Park, adding 340 sq km to its total area

2005

The Mondika research site, mistakenly thought to be in CAR, is included in the Park and comes under WCS management

2007

Creation of the Fondation Trinationale de la Sangha (FTNS), bringing together Nouabalé- Ndoki, Dzanga-Sangha (CAR) and Lobéké (Cameroon) National Parks

2007

2010

Worrying increase in elephant poaching, linked to the rising price of ivory on the international market, coupled with a major economic crisis

2012

Inclusion of the Sangha Trinational in UNESCO’s World Heritage List for the outstanding universal value of its biodiversity

2012

2014

Signature of a Public-Private Partnership for improved management of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park

2014

2018

Celebrating 25 years of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park

2019

In memoriam Marcel Ngangoue, Park warden (2015-2021) and winner of the 2019 African Ranger Award

2019

2023

First year with no recorded elephant poaching in Nouabalé-Ndoki since the start of the poaching spree in the 2010s
2023

2024

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is the first site in the world to meet criterion C (ecological integrity) of the global standard for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas.
© Scott Ramsay
Photo Credit: © Scott Ramsay


FIND OUT MORE ABOUT

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park Logo

NDOKI WEBSITE

The Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park has a dedicated website for the general public, providing more information on how to visit the Park