CONGO BASIN

Dense, complex and remote, the 4 million km2 Congo Basin is perhaps the continent’s least explored wilderness. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands in the middle reaches. The Congo Basin covers a region that stretches, partially or wholly, across 8 countries. Its forests act as the planet's second lung, counterpart to the mighty Amazon. It is home to the largest undisturbed tracts of tropical rainforest on the planet, in addition to large wetlands, and is Africa’s largest forest system. The rich tropical rainforest ecosystem is one of the planet’s most rich biodiversity hotspots, housing over 10,000 plant species and a number of rare animal species, including the critically endangered western lowland gorilla, forest elephant, forest buffalo, bongo, and many more.  

The 13,000 km2 Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the northwest of the Republic of the Congo, and the 7,500 km2 Sangha Trinational, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are part of a collaborative protected area from the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Central African Republic. Within the Sangha Trinational is Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve. Accommodations between Odzala Discovery Camps and Sangha Lodge differ, but the ethos remains the same – to protect and conserve the land and its inhabitants, making it commercially viable through low-impact tourism.