The Dzanga-Ndoki National Park is located in the farthest part of the southwestern region of the Central African Republic. Created in 1990, the park covers an area of 1,143.26 square kilometers (441.42 square miles). The park is divided into two separate parts: the northern Dzanga sector (also called Dzanga Park), which is 49,500 hectares (122,000 acres), and the southern Ndoki sector (also called Ndoki Park), which is 72,500 hectares (179,000 acres). A notable feature of the Dzanga sector is its high number of western lowland gorillas, with 1.6 gorillas per square kilometer (4.1 per square mile), one of the highest recorded densities for this species.
Between the two sectors lies the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, which spans 3,359 kilometers (1,297 miles). The national park and the special reserve each have their own protection rules and together form the Dzanga-Sangha Complex of Protected Areas (DSPAC).
Alongside the nearby Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of the Congo and Lobéké National Park in Cameroon, Dzanga-Ndoki National Park is part of the Sangha Trinational protected area. This area was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 2012.
Geography
The Dzanga-Sangha National Park is located in the far southwest of the Central African Republic, in a triangle-shaped area of the country. The main river in this region is the Sangha River. The exact border between the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and the Republic of the Congo is at 2°13′14″N 16°11′31″E (2.22056°N 16.19194°E) in the Sangha River, which is the farthest point of the park to the southwest.
The park's elevation ranges from 340 to 615 meters (1,115 to 2,018 feet) above sea level. The entire park is covered with alluvial sands. Along streams, there are open areas in the forest with wet, low areas called "bai." The Dzanga Bai, meaning "the village of elephants," is a sandy salt lick that is 250 by 500 meters (820 by 1,640 feet) in size. It is crossed by the Dzanga stream. Since 1997, Bai Hokou has been the base for the Primate Habituation Programme, where gorillas are trained for tourism and research.
Logging happened in the Dzanga sector during the 1980s, but not in the Ndoki area, which is a primary forest. In 2006, Amis Kamiss wrote about visiting fifteen diamond mining sites in the Lobé River region, which is in the northwestern part of the national park.
Flora and fauna
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park has three types of forests: dryland forest, semi-evergreen forest with swampy areas near rivers, and a closed-canopy forest dominated by Gilbertiodendron dewevrei trees. The dryland forest has an open canopy with trees from the Sterculiaceae and Ulmaceae families. It often has a dense layer of plants from the Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae families growing beneath. Along the Sangha River, there are groups of Guibourtia demeusii trees.
The park is home to many healthy groups of important forest animals, including western lowland gorillas, African forest elephants, chimpanzees, giant forest hogs, red river hogs, sitatunga, endangered bongos, African forest buffalo, and six types of duiker. In the Dzanga sector, there are 1.6 western lowland gorillas per square kilometer, which is one of the highest numbers recorded for this species.
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park is designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA #CF008). This area connects to two other IBAs: Lobéké in Cameroon (IBA #CM033) and Nouabalé-Ndoki in the Republic of the Congo (IBA #CG001). Over 350 bird species have been recorded in the park, with at least 260 expected to breed there. A new bird species, Stiphrornis sanghensis, was discovered in Dzanga-Sangha, but more research is needed to determine if it also lives in nearby areas of Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In May 2013, poachers killed 26 African forest elephants in Dzanga Bai, a reserve within the Sangha Trinational World Heritage Site. This event caused global concern among conservationists.