Travel Guide Parc National De La Lopé

With an area of 497,000 ha, the Lopé National Park is located north of the Chaillu Massif, in the heart of Gabon. The park presents varied ecosystems, primary and secondary forests, savannahs and waterways, in a splendid hilly decor, rocky in places. The Lopé National Park is composed of ancient savannahs at least 40,000 years old, and one of the forest regions known as "Pleistocene refuges". It is known in particular for its rich flora. The marantaceous forests of Lopé National Park have the highest animal biomass of any tropical rainforest in the world. The Lopé Park is also known for its large herds of mandrills, its rock carvings, reflecting a major migratory route used by the Bantu people, among others, and its carved stones dating back 2,000 and 400,000 years respectively. An internationally renowned research station, run by the International Medical Research Centre in Franceville and the Wildlife Conservation Society, has made Lopé one of the best known parks. Ecofac's program spurred the creation of the Mikongo Conservation Centre further south, managed for four years by ZSL (Zoological Society of London), which left the park in 2010. In June 2007, the Lopé Park was the first national park in Gabon to be classified on the Unesco World Heritage List