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Gorilla Conservation in Gabon

This project aims to conserve western lowland gorillas in Lopé National Park in Gabon through a combination of ecotourism development, forest monitoring and capacity building.

In 2003, with the aim of protecting its national heritage, Gabon set up a network of 13 National Parks with a vision of developing ecotourism to diversify the country’s economy.

However, a lack of national capacity to manage so many new protected areas has led ZSL to offer technical support to the new National Parks Advisory Council (CNPN).

Within Lopé National Park, ZSL takes the technical management lead at the Mikongo Conservation Centre (MCC) to develop an eco-tourism product which includes viewing western lowland gorillas accustomed to human presence, as well as carrying out field surveys and research to support tourism development.

Funds from the European Union, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and ZSL support the development phase of MCC by providing the financial means to train staff, provide salaries for the gorilla habituation team, procure equipment and uniforms, set the project up for biannual human impact surveys and build a laboratory to monitor gorilla health.

The project is active in and protects an area of 100km2, is a forest-experience and educational facility for tourists and village school groups, and crucially monitors trends in gorilla populations and health.

By giving value to the forest, and the animals therein, we hope to improve the chances that governments and local communities will support un-logged and un-hunted forests.

When the project is fully developed it is hoped that a high percentage of the running costs of MCC will be supported through the tourism revenues, making a sustainable project in Central Africa.

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Find out more by downloading the Gorilla Conservation in Gabon - Information Sheet (728 KB)