SUMMARY: The closing ceremony of the ecoguards training took place at Ndoki Formation under the high patronage of the DG of ACFAP, Mr BOCKANDZA-PACO, and the authorities of Kabo District; The monument that will host UNESCO’s commemorative plate honouring the status of the Tri-National Sangha as World Heritage Site has been completed; Clearing work has begun on the future site of the Bomassa Community Centre in partnership with Sabine Plattner African Charities (SPAC).

Please download the following PDF Documents:

201911_Nouabale-Ndoki National Park monthly report_NOVEMBER2019.pdf (1,018.5 KiB)

Dear friends, colleagues and supporters,

I am thrilled! Looking back to what we have accomplished this year makes me feel so grateful to our wonderful staff ... and it fills me with hope and excitement just to think about what will be able to achieve in 2020 !

Amongst many other things, in 2019, we have:

• ... doubled our ranger force over the last three years - All our rangers are fully equipped with topnotch materials and have received basic paramilitary training, as well as more advanced courses specific to their missions such as First Aid training, Human Rights and rules of engagement, etc. This is particularly important since we have suffered our first injury in combat this year ;

• ... completed the construction of 14 significant infrastructure projects - That's more than one a month popping up from the ground ! ;

• ... reached the threshold of 200 employees - Not an objective per se but a clear indicator of the ever-increasing level of operations at NNNP. The Chief of Bomassa village recently shared his feelings with me. He said: "I am happy today, because everyone in the village has earned something thanks to the Park and will be able to celebrate Christmas with their belly full". Four out of five head of households in this village are employed by the Park ;

• ... hosted about 60 tourists and hundreds of collaborators  despite our current lack of facilities to accommodate visitors. Luckily, we have addressed this issue and will soon be able to receive our guests in better conditions ;

• ... launched many interesting projects - For instance, the future ecotourism camp site, the experimental crop field to mitigate Human-Elephant Conflict, numerous individual research projects lead by young national researchers, the habituation of the third group of gorillas in Mondika, the first edition of WCS' Run for the Wild event in Congo, etc. ;
• ... and celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park !

Several of our colleagues have decided to pursue other adventures ... and new collaborators have joined the team. This is a privilege for me to me part of this fantastic adventure. This is why, in this festive period, I would like to send you a Big Thank You to all of you for supporting our work at Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park !

Happy holidays,

Eric ARNHEM, Ph.D.

Directeur du Parc National de Nouabalé-Ndoki | Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park Director