A Complete Guide to Odzala Kokoua National Park, a great home to the western lowland gorillas. This travel guide offers all the information you need to plan a gorilla trek in Congo. From this resource, find out the interesting things to see, things to do, inspiring tours to see the great apes in the wild.
Get started with planning your next safari with exclusive information on getting there and around, how to plan and book your next Congo trip, reservations for gorilla permits, lodging and even guided tours into Congo.
Welcome to Odzala-Kokoua. We look forward to sharing your adventures.
Odzala Kokoua National Park
Deep in the dense Congo rainforest is a place where it is possible to meet one of the great apes of Africa: the Western Lowland Gorilla. This, combined with the exploration of a remote, thriving and unspoiled rainforest system, is the Odzala experience. This region of the vast Congo Basin contains the world’s second-largest tropical rain forest, surpassed only by the Amazon.
Odzala-Kokoua National Park in Congo’s remote north-west is one of Africa’s oldest national parks, having been proclaimed by the French administration in 1935. It is some 13 600 square kilometres (1 360 million hectares) of pristine rainforest and is an integral part of both the Congo Basin and the TRIDOM Transfrontier Park overlapping Gabon, Congo and Central African Republic.
Covered in forests, rivers, marshes and swamps, the Park receives some 1 500 mm of rain annually, mainly during the two wet seasons. Permanent rivers are a primary feature, with the Lekoli and Kokoua rivers flowing into the Park’s major channel, the Mambili. In some places, the Mambili is up to 100 metres wide between densely forested banks; it then flows into the great Congo Basin.
Bais, or salines, are major features of this rainforest. These swampy, grassy areas are dotted across the rainforest and offer a rare chance to catch a glimpse beyond the ‘green curtain’ into the lives of the forest dwellers. Various mammal species come to the bais on a regular basis in order to access various elements, from water to minerals and salts to sedges and water-loving grasses to water.
Gorilla Trekking in Odzala Kokoua National Park
Come to one of Africa’s most important Western Lowland Gorilla tracking destinations – the Congo Basin – for an opportunity to engage with science and nature through exploration. Founded on research and conservation, gorilla trekking experiences in Odzala Kokoua National Park are conscious of our impact. We believe in observation, not engagement, and connecting with the gorilla families we meet in a respectful, authentic and personal way.
With Western Lowland gorilla tracking in the Congo Basin, you will find a genuine connection. The primate researchers in Odzala, whom you may get to meet, work with the gorilla families on a daily basis to maintain familiarity. This gorilla tracking philosophy is to allow the gorillas’ natural behaviors to continue, uninterrupted, as we observe from a respectful distance.
Gorilla tracks with us entail a maximum of 3-4 guests, as well as a guide and a tracker. The gorillas can then be observed for 1 hour going about their usual activities (often in the trees).