In a country of remote locations and national parks, Maiko is the DRCâs most inaccessible national park. It is also the only park where youâll find all three of the countryâs endemic species: the Okapi, the Congo peafowl, and the Grauer gorilla. And donât forget chimpanzees, elephants, leopards, and bongos. Though itâs not well known or well visited, the forest represents an enormous carbon sink and its future protection is globally important to addressing climate change.
Within Maikoâs borders are the Simba Mai Mai people, who fled here in the 1960âs seeking a kind of political asylum. Today, the government is working to resettle the roughly 700 inhabitants in order to protect the forest.