The Nouabale-Ndoki National Park is a unique place – not a single road enters into the Park, and the tract of forest within its boundaries is some of the most intact in the Congo Basin. Despite good roads in the Park periphery, surveying remote zones of the Park, and moving between the Park’s two headquarters – one in the north-eastern periphery and the other on the opposite end of the 4000 square kilometre National Park is a challenge.

On the 9^th of July 2018 a significant step forward was made in facilitating the Nouabale-Ndoki Foundation’s ability to protect the Park. As the morning fog cleared, the WCS Congo Cessna 206 landed at the newly refurbished Kabo airstrip carrying a delegation of honourable guests travelling from Ouesso to attend the inauguration of the Kabo airstrip. The Prefet of the Sangha Department officially opened the airfield which is now finally back in operation thanks to extensive rehabilitation work done by the Park, through funding from the Fondation Tri-National Sangha and with the technical assistance of the forestry concession company Congolaise Industrielle de Bois (CIB), after it had been left unused for the past 12 years.

With the fully functional Kabo airstrip, as well as the Makao-Linganga airstrip lying to the north-east of the Park, also refurbished this year, remote clearings in the centre of the Park can be surveyed within 15 minutes flying time. Major rivers flowing out of the Park’s rich heart, that can act as passages of access for illegal fishermen and poachers, are now also monitored from the air on a regular basis, and if the need arises – Park authorities can quickly mobilise between the Makao and Bomassa headquarters.

The Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, spanning 4,200 square kilometres of pristine lowland rainforest, is managed by the Nouabale-Ndoki Foundation, a public private partnership between the Congolese Government and WCS Congo Program. Operating under the Nouabale-Ndoki Foundation, Nouabale-Ndoki’s law enforcement team works to help bring wildlife criminals to justice. Aerial surveillance patrols, made possible with support from the Foundation Tri-National Sangha (FTNS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, play an important role in tackling threats to wildlife in this vast landscape.