Salonga: Africa's Biggest Rainforest

Salonga National Park is bigger than Belgium, the Congo’s former colonial ruler, yet few people have heard of it. An estimated 80,000 elephants once roamed Salonga’s forests. After decades of poaching, only elephants 1,800 remain, but the forest is largely intact. To save this world heritage site, Congolese authorities are co-managing the park with WWF, using both a carrot and stick approach. 350-armed eco-guards now patrol this vast road less wilderness, trying to stop the illegal bush meat trade. Model farms, set up next to the park, are showing local communities, a more sustainable way to survive. GNV travels to the heart of Salonga, to see how rangers and conservationists are trying to save this biological treasure and one of the critical lungs of the world.
photo by Jonas Abana Eriksson.