Gabon
Lopé-Okanda
The Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda are rich in plant life and have seen over 400.000 years of almost continuous human settlement.
The area is located where the tropical rainforest meets the savannah ecosystems. It holds a high plant diversity with over 1,550 species recorded. Its archaeological sites show evidence of ironworking and some 1,800 petroglyphs have been found. In the Neolithic and Iron Age, it seems to have been on a major migration route of people from West to Central and Southern Africa.
Community Perspective: “an expensive site to reach/visit and an uncomfortable one to travel in” - Solivagant visited in 2001 and tried to find a western gorilla which proved to be much more difficult than tracking its relatives in Rwanda and Uganda.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda (ID: 1147)
- Country
- Gabon
- Status
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Inscribed 2007
Site history
History of Lopé-Okanda
- WHS Type
- Mixed
- Criteria
- iii
- iv
- ix
- x
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- gabon4you.com — Gabon4You
News Article
- Feb. 17, 2021 whc.unesco.org — Ecomuseum of the Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda reopens after 10 years
- June 24, 2020 whc.unesco.org — The oldest evidence of human presence in the Congo Basin finally dated
Community Information
- Community Category
- Wildlife habitat: Fauna
- Wildlife habitat: Flora
- Cultural Landscape: Relict
Travel Information
Recent Connections
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Savanna
"due to the relatively dry conditions p… -
Plant WHS not in a CPD
"Over 1,550 plant species have been rec… -
Mixed and Cultural Landscape
Relict CL
Connections of Lopé-Okanda
- Trivia
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Total Solar Eclipse since Inscription
3 November, 2013
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- History
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Neolithic age
"Criterion (iv): the collection of Neolithic and Iron Age sites together with the rock art remains appear to reflect a major migration route of Bantu and other peoples" (OUV) -
Historical Food Remains
Nuts and crops
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- Ecology
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Savanna
"due to the relatively dry conditions prevailing in the area where the nominated property is located, the rainforest could not re-colonize all the space occupied by savannah; thus resulting in an unusual interface between dense and well conserved tropical rainforest and relict savannah environments" (AB ev) -
Rainforests
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Critically endangered fauna species
Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) - approx. 50,000 remaing, decreasing fast; And: Werneria iboundji, a species of toad endemic to Gabon -
Elephants
African Elephant: "In 2006 there were some 5,500 forest elephants Loxodonta africana cyclotis (VU), the densest population in Africa" (UNEP) -
Endemic Bird Species
Cameroon and Gabon lowlands EBA, Lopé Faunal Reserve IBA: Grey-necked Picathartes (Picathartes oreas), Forest Swallow (Hirundo fuliginosa), Rachel's Malimbe (Malimbus racheliae), Dja River Warbler (Bradypterus grandis)See www.birdlife.org
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Inselbergs
inselberg forests (UNEP-WCMC) -
Otters
spotted-necked otter (UNEP-WCMC) -
Bovines
African forest buffalo (UNEP-WCMC) -
Crocodiles
African dwarf crocodile (UNEP-WCMC) -
Strepsirrhini
southern needle-clawed bushbaby, Gabon bushbaby, dwarf bushbaby, potto, golden angwantibo -
High-Biodiversity Wilderness Area
Congo Basin -
Gorilla habitat
Western lowland gorilla
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- Damaged
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Poaching
Control and regulation of commercial poaching is of priority, low threat, elephants for ivory, buffalo, duikers, bush pigs
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- World Heritage Process
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First sites filling gaps cited by ICOMOS
cultural sites of Central Africa 2007 -
Slow Starters
1986-2007 : 21 years -
First inscriptions
Gabon 2007 -
Mixed and Cultural Landscape
Relict CL -
Inscribed at third attempt or more
Ref 2005, Ref 2006, Ins 2007
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- Human Activity
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Human Migration
Evidence of major migration route of Bantu and other peoples -
Petroglyphs
1,800 to 2,000 petroglyphs
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- WHS on Other Lists
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Plant WHS not in a CPD
"Over 1,550 plant species have been recorded, including 40 never recorded before in Gabon, and it is anticipated that once all the floristic surveys and research are completed the number of plant species could reach over 3,000." (OUV) -
World Heritage Forest Programme
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- Timeline
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Holocene
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Built in the 2nd Millennium BC
relationship to the "Middle Holocene Bantu Migrations" (3,500-2,000 BP) which were eased by following the Savannahs rather than the forests
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- Science and Technology
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Recently discovered
Excavations started at 1987.
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News
- whc.unesco.org 02/17/2021
- Ecomuseum of the Ecosystem and Rel…
- whc.unesco.org 06/24/2020
- The oldest evidence of human prese…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
So, after deferrals in the previous 2 years, Lope finally got inscribed in 2007! As we had visited in 2001 I wish I could help celebrate another addition to my “seen list” by supplying a photo of a Western (or “Lowland”) Gorilla taken in the park. But, despite 2 hard and very hot days of tracking, our efforts were rewarded only by the roar of a male just a few meters away from us in a forest which was so thick that we still couldn’t see him! My photos are only of a gorilla hand print in the forest mud and a skull on the veranda of the Mikondo research centre in the Park!
In Rwanda and Uganda, trips to see the gorillas are advertised as “Tracking” more as an insurance against the possibility of a failure to see rather than as a true description of the experience. We saw them quite easily in both countries. In Rwanda at least, everything is so well organised with trackers out overnight following each of the families that you would have to be very unlucky not to see the creatures and you do not really “track” them – just go to where the trackers have already made contact. Even in Uganda it is more a matter of following a group which is not trying to evade you from the previous night’s location. And, when you reach them, they are so used to their daily “tourist visit” that they continue their lives totally oblivious …
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