Gabon: Tourism versus Oil Revenues
Loango National Park is a national park in western Gabon. It protects diverse coastal habitat. The naturalist Mike Fay called Loango ‘Africa’s Last Eden’ and this is where Michael “Nick” Nichols from National Geographic, took his well-known pictures of surfing hippos. Both men call Loango the ‘Land of surfing hippos’. The park’s 1,550 km of savanna, pristine beach, forest and mangroves are a must-see in Gabon. Loango National Park offers the unique opportunity to observe elephants, buffalos, hippos, gorillas and leopards venturing onto the white sand beaches. Wikipedia. Photo source: ©© Marfis
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A decade ago Gabon set aside 10% of its land for national parks. It wanted to become Africa’s magnet for eco-tourists.
Of all the new parks in Gabon, Loango held perhaps the greatest potential to lure international tourists, given its rare wildlife and unusual coastal setting. Gabon saw the parks as a way to boost their economy, long dependent on oil.
All sorts of animals wander this rare stretch of undeveloped coast, western lowland gorillas, red river hogs, leopard tracks can been seen in the sand, elephants on the beach and hippo in the surf.
The idea was to turn Gabon into the African equivalent of Costa Rica, a country that has profited from its rainforests and wildlife through eco-tourism, hoping that tourism can help Gabon reduce its reliance on oil.
But if tourist cash doesn’t flow into the economy here, pressure could mount to open Loango and the other national parks to other forms of revenue. And the land that was set aside for the hippos in the surf, and the buffalos on the beach, could be handed over to people who value this place for other reasons, to extract its timber, minerals and oil…
Photograph: © SAF
Gabon: Surfing hippos, lacking tourists, Read Full Article, BBC
In The Land of The Surfing Hippos, National Geographic
