Tiwai Island

Tiwai is a small island held in the Moa river and given over entirely to eleven species of primate that share a patch of forest smaller than most farms. Chimpanzees call out from the canopy at dawn and colobus move in troops overhead, while a night walk turns up bushbabies and the occasional pygmy hippo track along the bank. Villages around the island run the sanctuary themselves. Since 2025 it forms part of a joint world heritage site with the Gola forest further east. The river crossing by dugout canoe is genuinely part of arriving here.