Lomami National Park

Lomami was gazetted in 2016, the first new national park in the country for decades, covering around nine thousand square kilometres of forest and river between the Lomami and Tshuapa. It came out of a survey that in 2012 described the lesula, a monkey new to science with a strikingly human-looking face, found only in this forest block. Bonobo, okapi, forest elephant and the Congo peacock all occur here, and the park was created with the surrounding communities rather than over their objections.

What you actually see

• The lesula - a monkey described only in 2012, found in this forest and nowhere else.
• The Lomami river - the black-water river the park is built around.
• The bonobo - present on the left bank, in the species' core range.
• The forest - continuous lowland rainforest with very low human population density.

When to go

The drier windows, December to February and June to August, are the practical seasons. Movement is largely by river and on foot. Any visit is planned months ahead with the park authority.

Honest expectations

There is essentially no tourism infrastructure: this is a working conservation project rather than a destination. Reaching it takes days from Kisangani by river and road. Wildlife is unhabituated and sightings require patience and luck.

Nearby

Kisangani is north on the Congo river, and the Maiko park lies east.