Loango National Park lodge to re-open
mongabay.comSeptember 21, 2011
Elephant in Loango National Park, Gabon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
Loango Lodge will re-open December 15 after its owner, Africa’s Eden, and its sister company SCD Aviation came to an agreement with civil aviation authorities. SCD Aviation is a regional airline charter company that provides transport to tourists from Gabon's capital city Libreville to the park.
Africa’s Eden says the lodge and satellite camps will be upgraded prior to the re-opening. It adds that its operations employ 130 local people, making it the areas biggest employer.
Loango National Park is famous for its diversity of habitats and species. The park includes rainforests, savannas, wetlands, and white-sand beaches and houses lowland gorillas, forest elephants, important sea turtle nesting sites, and chimpanzees. Loango might be best known for its population of hippos which have been photographed by National Geographic "surfing" in ocean waves.
 Silverback gorilla in Loango |
Loango National Park was a key part of former president Omar Bongo Ondimba's vision of turning Gabon into the "Costa Rica of Central Africa", helping it diversify its economy which is heavily dependent on extraction of natural resources, including crude oil. As part of that effort Bongo established a network of 13 national parks in 2002.
But Gabon's ecotourism has been slow to develop and initial enthusiasm has waned, calling into question the government's commitment to protected areas. The reopening of Loango's major ecotourism operator may now give a much needed boost to the sector.
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