Salonga National Park Tour

Salonga is both the DRC and Africa’s largest tropical rainforest. In this UNESCO World Heritage Site, you’ll find several endangered species including the Congo peacock, dwarf chimpanzees, forest elephants, and the slender-snouted crocodile. The park is quite isolated and you must take a boat to reach it. This vital ecosystem is so large that it plays an important role in climate regulation for the entire country.

Explore More About Salonga National Park:

Salonga National Park is Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. Situated at the heart of the central basin of the Congo river, the park is very isolated and accessible only by water. It is the habitat of many endemic endangered species, such as the dwarf chimpanzee, the Congo peacock, the forest elephant, and the African slender-snouted or 'false' crocodile.

Salonga National Park is the largest protected area of dense rainforest on the African continent (when considering the two disjointed sectors of the Park). Very isolated and only accessible by water transport, this vast Park (3,600,000 ha) contains the important evolution of both species and communities in a forest area still relatively intact. Playing also a fundamental role in climate regulation and the sequestration of carbon, it constitutes the habitat of numerous threatened species such as the pygmy chimpanzee (or bonobo), the bush elephant, and the Congo peacock.

The plant and animal life in Salonga National Park constitute an example of biological evolution and the adaptation of life forms in a complex equatorial rainforest environment. The large size of the Park ensures the continued possibility for the evolution of both species and biotic communities within the relatively undisturbed forest.

In 1984, the national park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its protection of a large swath of relatively intact rainforest and its important habitat for many rare species.