Ivindo National Park

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Ivindo National Park: A Biodiverse Gem in Central Africa

Ivindo National Park, located in east-central Gabon, is a testament to the rich biodiversity and natural beauty found within Central Africa. Established in 2002, this expansive protected area covers nearly 300,000 hectares, making it one of the largest national parks in Gabon. The park straddles the border between the Ogooué-Ivindo and Ogooué-Lolo provinces, offering a diverse range of landscapes and habitats that support an impressive array of plant and animal life.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

Situated on the equator in northern Gabon the largely pristine site encompasses an area of almost 300,000 ha crossed by a network of picturesque blackwater rivers. It features rapids and waterfalls bordered by intact rainforest, which make for a landscape of great aesthetic value. The site’s aquatic habitats harbour endemic freshwater fish species, 13 of which are threatened, and at least seven species of Podostemaceae riverweeds, with probable micro-endemic aquatic flora at each waterfall. Many fish species in the property are yet to be described and parts of the site have hardly been investigated. Critically Endangered Slender-snouted Crocodiles (Mecistops cataphractus) find shelter in Ivindo National Park which also boasts biogeographically unique Caesalpinioideae old-growth forests of high conservation value, supporting, for instance, a very high diversity of butterflies alongside threatened flagship mammals and avian fauna such as the Critically Endangered Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), the Endangered Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) as well as the Vulnerable Grey-necked Rockfowl (Picathartes oreas), Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), Leopard (Panthera pardus), and African Golden Cat (Caracal aurata), and three species of Pangolin (Manidae spp.).

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

Criterion (ix): Ivindo National Park combines large areas of intact climatical Caesalpinioideae forests and undisturbed river ecosystems. The property has exceptional value due to its great diversity of forest formations, the presence of large areas of very old Caesalpinioideae forests, and monodominant Julbernardia pellegriniana or Eurypetalum batesii forests, all of which are unique in Lower Guinea and throughout all of central Africa. Covering nearly 300,000 ha of this forest ecosystem and surrounded by a buffer zone of over 182,000 ha, the property can be considered exceptional, providing enough space for evolutionary processes to continue undisturbed. The very old Caesalpinioideae forests represent a characteristic stage of forest evolution in Central Africa but have disappeared elsewhere in Lower Guinea. They do not occur elsewhere in the Guinean-Congolese region because the high diversity of Caesalpinioideae is unique to Lower Guinea. This forest ecosystem is also representative of the Lower Guinean or Atlantic forests of the Gabonese interior highlands, and more particularly of the​​ Ivindo Landscape Area which very likely forms a separate and very rich phytogeographical entity within Lower Guinea. The great diversity of the Caesalpinioideae forests of the inner plateau is also reflected in the fact that, at the site level, the forests of the western edge differ, by a proportion of 60%, from those of the eastern edge. The presence of the Langoué Baï and grassy meadows identical to those of the inselbergs, contribute very largely to the uniqueness of the region. This intact forest ecosystem helps preserve the integrity of the black waters of the Ivindo which are home to a swarm of some fifteen species of fish of the genus Paramormyrops (Mormyridae) – the only swarm of species found in rivers worldwide belonging to this family. It is one of the world's best examples of speciation in open waters in which the speciation process takes place at a very high rate.

Criterion (x): The rivers of the property are home to ichthyofauna of global importance and characterized by exceptional endemism, an extremely diversified flora and habitats of critical importance for the conservation of mammals, birds and amphibians. The intact forest ecosystem of Ivindo National Park and the Ivindo Landscape Area, with its diversity of habitats and, especially, its very old Caesalpinioideae forests, unique in west-central Africa and the entire Guinean-Congolese domain, is home to 161 plant species of high conservation value, 129 species endemic to Gabon and 35 species endemic to Ivindo. Ivindo National Park alone is home to 81 plant and 39 animal threatened species, including the Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), the Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), the Gray Parrot (Psittacus erithacus), and the Slender-snouted Crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus). In terms of zoology, this ecosystem has 126 species of mammals, including seven species of primates endemic to Lower Guinea. In addition, the Forest Elephant population is relatively large and includes many males with very large tusks, which is becoming very rare in much of Central Africa. Ivindo National Park avifauna includes 190 (68%) of the 278 forest species native to the Guinean-Congolese region and five of the six species endemic to Lower Guinea. The entomofauna includes 528 species of diurnal butterflies (probably 800-1000) many of which appear to be restricted to very old-growth Caesalpinioideae forests. Regarding the Kongou Falls, they are home to seven species of Podostemaceae, very specialized, rare and very vulnerable plants that are everywhere threatened by the construction of dams and the regulation of rivers. These seven species represent both 44% of the Podostemaceae flora of Gabon and the four known genera of the country. Ivindo is also home to 45 species of fish endemic to Lower Guinea, 13 of which are endemic to Gabon. The Ivindo River is home to 16 fish exclusively native to it, and to a particular wealth of Cyprinodontiformes and Mormyridae, with very specialized and fragile species of the genus Ivindomyrus, named after the Ivindo River. A dozen species of slightly electric fish of the genus Paramormyrops (Mormyridae) form swarms of freshwater fish that are globally rare.

Encyclopedia Record: Ivindo National Park

Ivindo National Park is a national park in east-central Gabon in Central Africa, straddling the border of the Ogooué-Ivindo and Ogooué-Lolo provinces. Its creation was announced in August 2002 by then-President Omar Bongo at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, along with Gabon's 12 other terrestrial national parks. Most famous for the spectacular Kongou and Mingouli waterfalls of the Ivindo River, known as the “wonders of Ivindo”, the park also includes the Ipassa Makokou Biosphere Reserve and Langoué Baï, one of the 5 most important forest clearings in Central Africa. The park was designated as a UNESCO UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021 for its outstanding biodiversity and relatively intact tropical forest ecosystem.

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IUCN World Heritage Outlook

The 2025 Conservation Outlook on Ivindo National Park reports the following assessment:

Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) · View assessment