Salonga National Park (French: Parc National de la Salonga) is a national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in the Congo River basin and covers about 36,000 square kilometers, or 3,600,000 hectares (8,900,000 acres). This makes it Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. The park spans parts of four provinces: Mai Ndombe, Equateur, Kasaï, and Sankuru. In 1984, the park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List because it protects a large area of mostly undisturbed rainforest and provides important homes for many rare animals. In 1999, the site was listed as endangered because of illegal hunting and construction of homes. After improvements in how well the park was protected, it was taken off the endangered list in 2021.

Geography

The park is located in a rainforest area halfway between Kinshasa, the capital city, and Kisangani. There are no roads in the area, and most of the park can only be reached by boat on rivers. Some parts of the park are extremely difficult to reach and have never been thoroughly studied. The southern part of the park, where the Iyaelima people live, can be accessed through the Lokoro River, which flows through the center and northern regions of the park, and the Lula River in the south. The Salonga River flows in a winding path toward the northwest through Salonga National Park until it meets the Busira River.

History

The Salonga National Park was first created as the Tshuapa National Park in 1956. Its current boundaries were set by a 1970 order from President Mobutu Sese Seko. The park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1984. Because of the civil war in the eastern part of the country, it was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1999.

Since 2015, the park has been jointly managed by the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Ongoing discussions involve the two main groups living in the park: the Iyaelima, who are the last remaining residents, and the Kitawalistes, a religious group that moved into the park shortly after its creation. Park guards work closely with the Iyaelima, as their villages are used as guard posts. Bonobo populations are highest near Iyaelima villages, showing that the Iyaelima do not harm the park's key species.

Ecology

Salonga National Park is located in the center of the Congo Basin. It protects the biggest rainforest in Africa and the second biggest in the world. The large size and complex environment of this rainforest have allowed plants and animals to develop with little disturbance. Because of this, the park is home to a highly diverse and special ecosystem. In the southwestern part of the park, 735 plant species have been identified. Of these, 85% depend on animals to spread their seeds, a process known as zoochory.

Many large mammals live in the park in high numbers, including Bongo antelopes, black-crested mangabeys, leopards, and bonobos. Studies of bonobos in the wild have taken place in the southern region. Bonobo populations are much higher near the Iyaelima settlements than in other areas of the park. This is likely because the Iyaelima people do not harm bonobos and help protect them. Even though hunting occurs, a healthy group of forest elephants still lives in the park.

In addition to bonobos, the park is home to several primate species, such as the Dryas monkey, Thollon's red colobus, Allen's swamp monkey, golden-bellied mangabey, red-tailed monkey, potto, and dwarf bushbaby. Other mammals found in the park include the long-tailed pangolin, giant pangolin, tree pangolin, Congo clawless otter, spotted-necked otter, Angolan kusimanse, aquatic genet, hippopotamus, African golden cat, red river hog, blue duiker, yellow-backed duiker, sitatunga, bushbuck, water chevrotain, and forest buffalo.

The park also has many bird species, such as the cattle egret, black stork, and yellow-billed stork. The Congo peafowl, a bird that is found only in the Congo Basin and is the national bird of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lives in both primary and secondary forests within the park.

Fifty-six fish species have been identified in the park, including the catfishes Clarias monsembulai and Synodontis nigriventris. African slender-snouted crocodiles also live in the park.

Access

The main way to reach the area is by car or truck, or by walking along a dirt road that goes southeast from Monkoto Airport. There are homes and villages on both sides of the road, which leads to Salonga National Park.