Lopé National Park

Lopé National Park

Covering an area of approximately 4,912 square kilometers, Lopé National Park is located in central Gabon, bounded by the Ogooué River to the north and the Chaillu Mountains to the south. The park contains the last remnants of the grassland savannahs that developed in Central Africa during the last Ice Age 15,000 years ago, although much of the area is monsoon forest. When the Lopé-Okanda Game Reserve was created in 1946, it was the first protected area in Gabon. In 2007, for its biodiversity, unique savanna-forest transition zone and spectacular rock formations, UNESCO inscribed the national park and the surrounding Lopé-Okanda landscape on the World Heritage List. Lopé National Park is located in the rain shadow of the Chaillu Massif and is therefore dry compared to the rest of Gabon. In addition, a complex mosaic of dense tropical rainforest and savannah is created by a low rainfall belt along the Ogooué River. Since the last glaciation, the boundaries between the two habitats have shifted, with the rainforest extending into the savanna, but the dry climate has allowed the savanna ecosystem to survive in the northern part of the park. The park has an unusually high level of biodiversity. This is due to the complexity of its environment. The area also supports important habitat for the leopard and healthy levels of prey species such as the Red River Hog, African Forest Buffalo and Cane Rat. The endangered Giant Pangolin and Tree Pangolin, which often share roosts with Microchiroptera bat species, are other mammal species found in the park.