Management Plan & Park Extension
In June 2003 the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park was extended to include an area to the south of the national park known as the Goualougo Triangle, at a meeting presided by the Minister of Forestry Economy and the Environment. The Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park management plan was officially adopted at the same meeting.
The annexation of the Goualougo Triangle, covering an area of 14,500 hectares, had earlier been announced at a 2001 press conference held in New York. The Triangle was previously part of a logging concession. The area is situated between two rivers, the Ndoki and the Goualougo, whose swampy flood plains had for centuries formed natural geographical barriers to humans, so that the triangle had remained undisturbed by man. The result is an area of extraordinary biodiversity, where many animals have never seen a human being. Chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle, for example, respond with little fear to the presence of humans, and often descend from the canopy to gaze in curiosity at those who enter the area. The annexation means that this intact ecosystem will be fully protected as part of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.