1. André Félix National Park
The André-Félix National Park (in French: Parc National André-Félix) is a protected area with the status of a national park in the northern part of the Central African Republic. It was created after the country’s independence from France in 1960. It borders the Sudanese border in its northeast and covers an area of 1,700 square kilometers and borders the Radom National Park in Sudan. It is home to a savanna of Sudanese forests with Bambousa, Isoberlinia and Terminalia.
The main wildlife species are ostriches, buffalo, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, hippos, lions, leopards, wild boars, among others.
The André Felix National Park is between 420 and 1,130 meters above sea level, in the north and center of the Bongo massif, in the extreme southeast of the Chad basin. Its surface is covered by 51% of the forests and 49% of the vegetation type of the forest savanna of northern Congo.
Access to and conservation of the area becomes difficult due to intense poaching. There is hardly any information available for the park itself. From the Birao area, 228 species of birds are known, of which approximately 180 are breeding birds. On the outskirts of the park is the only population of antelope in Central Africa. Other species include Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Falco alopex, Merops bulocki, Lybius rolleti, Corvinella corvina, Piapia, Eremomela pusilla, Lamprotornis purpureus, Plocepasser superciliosus, Pytilia phoenicoptera, Estrilda troglodytes, and Emberiza affinis.
2. Bamingui-Bangoran National Park
The Bamingui-Bangoran National Park is part of a network of nature reserves and protected areas in the north of the Central African Republic. It borders the Faune du Gribingui Bamingui Reserve, the Koukourou Bamingui Faunal Reserve, the Avakaba Presidential Park Private Reserve, and several other protected areas that lie along the border with Chad.
Bamingui-Bangoran is located 400 to 500 meters above sea level and is crossed by several rivers, such as the Bamingui River which flows into the Chari River. The vegetation consists mainly of savanna forests with deciduous trees that cover much of the northern part of the park. In the southern part of the park you will mainly find ewe (river) forests. Much of the Baningui riverbank consists of seasonal swamp and small lakes.
Bamingui-Bangoran is part of the protected areas of UNESCO MAB. This Man and Biosphere Program is a program set up by UNESCO in 1971, with the aim of “acquiring new scientific knowledge for a balanced relationship between man and his natural environment”. The advantages of a status as a biosphere reserve is that a network is created, where work is done with the local communities. The people in the area are involved in things like sustainable tourism and sustainable development education. A nice goal, but unfortunately, despite good efforts, things don’t always go quite as planned.
You visit Bamingui-Bangoran mainly because of the beautiful untouched nature where your visit feels like a real adventure. Whatever it often is. You will not meet other travelers there. And the locals will be amazed at your visit to this remote part of the Central African Republic.
Bird lovers in particular can indulge themselves in the park. Of the 350 – 400 species observed in the Central African Republic, 250 live in Bamingui-Bangoran. Reportable species include the yellow-billed francolin, fox falcon, bronze-necked pigeon, green turaco, eagle owl, lovebird, blue-bellied roller, bee-eater, pied tok and others.
The big game includes leopards, wild dogs, lions, various antelopes and the African manatee. Don’t count on seeing them, though, other than maybe a stray antelope. However, this park is said to have a larger wildlife population than the other national parks in the Central African Republic.
3. Dzanga-Ndoki National Park
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park is a national park in the Congo Basin in the extreme southwest of the Central African Republic. It was founded in 1990 and covers an area of 1220 km². The park is part of the Northwestern Congo Lowland Forests ecoregion.
The national park consists of two non-connecting parts. To the north is the Dzanga Sector or Dzanga Park, with an area of 495 km², and to the south, the Ndoki Sector or Ndoki Park, with an area of 725 km². Between the sectors is the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve, covering an area of 3359 km². Together, the park and reserve form the Dzanga-Sangha Complex of Protected Areas (DSPAC). The area is known for the relatively high density of forest elephants and western lowland gorillas.
Dzanga-Ndoki is located in the extreme southwest of the Central African Republic, in a triangular spur to the south. It borders the Lobéké National Park in Cameroon to the west and the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Congo-Brazzaville to the east. The three parks are located in the Sangha Trinational, a vast forest area that was designated a World Heritage Site in 2012.
The elevation of the national park varies from 340 to 615 meters above sea level. The largest river in the region is the Sangha. At the center of the Dzanga sector is Dzanga Bai, an open salt-rich plain measuring 250 by 500 meters crossed by the small stream Dzanga.
The entire area consists of alluvial sandy soils, which are crossed by streams. Only the Ndoki sector consists entirely of primary forests. Three types of forest can be distinguished throughout the park:
– Dry forest, dominated by Sterculiaceae and Ulmaceae species; often with an undergrowth of Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae species.
– Semi-evergreen forest, with swampy clearings along the riverbanks, called bai by the locals.
– A locally dense forest in the Dzanga sector, with Gilbertiodendron dewevrei (Caesalpinioideae) as the dominant species.
The national park is of great importance for the conservation of the western lowland gorilla, chimpanzee, forest elephant and bongo. They are key species in Dzanga-Ndoki, as are the giant forest hog, brush hog, sitatunga, forest buffalo and six species of duikers.
The Dzanga sector contains one of the highest known densities of western lowland gorillas: 1.6 individuals per square kilometer. Since 1997, Bai Hokou has been the base camp for the Primate Habituation Programme, a project to get gorillas used to tourism and research.
In order to get around, the forest elephants have created a network of paths through the forests. Uprooting trees enables the growth of young plants. By feeding on bark, wood and minerals around tree roots, the elephants have created large clearings in the park. Various herbaceous plants grow here. One such clearing is Dzanga Bai, which is a magnet for several large mammals. Between 50 and 150 forest elephants come every day to drink and feed on the minerals at the bottom of the swamps. According to a 1999 estimate, the plain is visited annually by 3000 forest elephants from all parts of Central Africa. There is a viewing platform built near the bai from which visitors can view the wildlife during their safari to Dzanga Sangha. This platform is ideal to take photographs.
Dzanga-Ndoki has been designated as an Important Bird Area. It joins two other IBAs: Lobéké in Cameroon and Nouabalé-Ndoki in Congo-Brazzaville. More than 350 bird species have been reported in Dzanga-Ndoki, of which at least 260 probably also breed here. A subspecies of the bosakalat, Stiphrornis erythrothorax sanghensis, has only been found in Dzanga-Sangha.
Wood has been harvested in the Dzanga sector since the 1980s. The researcher Amis Kamiss reported fifteen diamond mines in 2006 in the basin of the river Lobé, in the northwestern part of the park. Another threat is poaching. The massacre of 26 forest elephants in Dzanga Bai made global headlines in May 2013.
4. Mbaéré Bodingué National Park
The Mbaéré-Bodingué Integral Reserve is located in the Sangha-Mbaéré prefecture, at the confluence of the Mbaéré and the Bodingué in the middle of the semi-deciduous forest. It is a complex of four intervention zones of 824,000 ha.
The first one known as Rural Development is located on the outskirts of the buffer zone. It is operated by the villagers and the ECOFA-RCA association which provides assistance to develop existing resources.
The second zone, covering an area of approximately 86,000 ha, called Mbaéré-Bodingué, is used for the conservation of flora and fauna. It is the area par excellence of large mammals composed among others: of elephants, bongo, Cobe defassa which normally only lives in savannah areas, primates including the western lowland gorilla, chimpanzee and monkeys, including a new species (Cercopithecus cephus ngottoensis) unique to this reserve and not found anywhere else. We also find amphibians (hippopotamus, crocodile) there. The exceptional discovery of a single monkey (Cercopithecus cephus ngottoensis) marks the specificity of this reserve. In addition, the flora which is not completely studied includes precious woody species such as Sapelli (Entandrophragma cylindricum), Black ebony (Diospyros sp) and gives a good idea of all the vegetation which is of the forest type. dense semi-caducifolia.
The last is the Ngoto forest which is a pilot forest management experiment zone and which constitutes the buffer zone.
5. Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park
Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is a national park in the Central African Republic on the border with Chad. The park covers an area of 1 740 000 hectares. The climate is tropical, but there is still enough rainfall every year, especially in the months of June to November.
In 1988 it was included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO because of the great diversity of animal life present in the park. Among the species represented are the black rhinoceros, elephants, leopards, gazelles, crocodiles and buffalo. In addition, more than 300 bird species have been documented, including the pelican. However, the park has suffered greatly from illegal hunting of the animals by heavily armed hunters. The hunt is believed to have wiped out 80% of the park’s wildlife. In addition, park employees were repeatedly attacked and general security in the park declined sharply. Therefore, in 1997 it was decided to include the park in the list of endangered world heritage.
Several Ecofac guards died in 2009. The park is accessible by road via Ndélé, but two days of travel are then necessary, in conditions of minimum security since the coupeurs de route invade the area. The northern borders are not very secure either, due to the presence of armed groups (in particular Chadian rebels) and the proximity to Darfur.
It is a real shame since several hundred species of birds (ostriches, eagles, vultures, marabouts, pelicans, kites, cranes with red legs, guinea fowl, bee-eaters, multicolored rollers, etc.) live there and make it a real treasure for bird watchers. The waterways are full of crocodiles with also the pond of Gata which shelters one of the largest concentrations of hippos in the world …
