Ecotourism Development
Ecotourism development has focused on gorilla viewing at Mbeli Bai, which is a large forest clearing in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo. The clearing is frequented by western lowland gorillas who come to feed on the aquatic vegetation. Bais provide a significant opportunity for tourism, primarily due to the excellent viewing conditions for typically elusive forest mammals, such as gorillas, forest elephants, forest buffalo, sitatunga, a variety of bird species, and otters.
Construction work in 2000 transformed the viewing platform from a simple observation tower into a two-tiered structure for separate research and tourism viewing. Currently, 13 gorilla groups and nine solitary silverbacks regularly use the bai, all of whom are habituated to the presence of observers on the mirador platform and are known by the research team who maintain a permanent research presence.
In 2000, work began near the Mbeli research camp (approximately 2.6 km from the bai along a well-trodden forest path) to develop comfortable tourism accommodation. This consisted of wooden platforms with large dome tents. Between 2000 and 2002 several groups of international tourists visited the bai, and important contacts were made with European and South African tourism agencies. In 2005 sustainable accommodation structures replaced tented accommodation at Mbeli camp, and the camp now boasts four wooden cabins with impressive views of the forest canopy.