Ntokou-Pikounda National Park, National park in Congo Basin, Republic of the Congo.
Ntokou-Pikounda National Park is a protected area of approximately 4,600 square kilometers in the Congo Basin covered by dense forests and swamps. It forms part of the TRIDOM landscape, a cross-border conservation area that links protected zones across three African nations.
The park was established in 2012 by the Congolese government to protect one of the largest remaining populations of lowland gorillas in the region. This conservation decision reflected broader efforts to safeguard wilderness across international borders.
The park lies in the Congo Basin north of the Republic of the Congo, bordering the Sangha and Cuvette-Centrale departments. Villages and towns around its edges hold a combined population of 25,000 to 30,000 people, and services for visitors are few. The name comes from the Ntokou and Pikounda areas it covers.
The park lies in the north of the Republic of Congo, bordering the Sangha and Cuvette-Centrale departments, and no tourist services exist in the surrounding towns and villages, home to 25,000 to 30,000 people. Access is by river through the Congo Basin forest, so plan supplies and time accordingly.
A population of Bouvier's red colobus monkeys was rediscovered in the park in 2015 after vanishing from sight in the 1970s. This rediscovery revealed that the protected area harbors species long thought lost elsewhere.
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