Loango National Park
Gabon · Ogooué-Maritime · 10 m
Description
Loango is the park that gave Gabon its reputation, a hundred kilometres of Atlantic beach with rainforest, lagoon and savanna pressed up behind it. Forest elephants walk out of the trees onto the sand, buffalo graze the dunes and hippos swim in the surf, which happens nowhere else in the world. Habituated western lowland gorillas are tracked in the forest around Louri. Humpback whales calve offshore between July and September and leatherback turtles nest on the same beaches from November. Camps sit on the Iguéla lagoon, reached by boat and small plane from Port-Gentil. The park was gazetted in 2002.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 3 to 6 days (optimal 4 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: July – September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Forest elephants and buffalo on the beach
- Hippos in the Atlantic surf
- Gorilla tracking at Louri
- Humpback whale watching (July - September)
- Iguéla lagoon boat safaris
- Leatherback turtles nesting on the park beaches (November - February)
- Empty Atlantic beaches
- Sport fishing for tarpon in the lagoon mouth
- Red river hogs and sitatunga in the savanna
- Birdwatching on the lagoon shore
- Beach drives along the Atlantic shore
- Kayaking the Iguéla lagoon creeks
- Forest walks with trackers from Louri camp
- Nkomi lagoon and its fishing villages
- Night drives on the savanna
- Bottlenose dolphins along the surf line