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Republic of Congo’s Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is proud to have received a global conservation Gorilla FriendlyTM certification, which guarantees the application of best practices in all gorilla-related operations, from tourism to research, to safeguard the wellbeing of the primates and ensure active support for and from the park’s neighboring communities.
The Gorilla FriendlyTM certification is a program of Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN) and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP). This ecolabel is a first-of-its-kind global initiative designed to highlight operations that provide direct benefits to gorillas, an umbrella species whose protection profits many other plants and animals. Threatened by habitat loss and poaching, gorillas represent a culturally, ecologically, and economically important resource, and their protection is an opportunity to actively bring together parks and neighboring communities.
The certification is obtained through a thorough process of verification of all protocols and their correct application in the field and requires an annual audit. It proves that the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park’s management follows the IUCN Best Practice Guidelines for Great Ape Tourism and incorporates Global Sustainable Tourism Council criteria for sustainable tourism, as Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park develops its tourism offering, generously funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Park operations are carried out with the highest ethical standards in the interests of animal welfare and have benefited the communities without whose knowledge it would be impossible to work in the forest, creating job opportunities and building local capacities, turning poachers into trackers, and trackers into researchers, and enforcing strict protocols to guarantee animal health.
The Wildlife Conservation Society has been involved in the management of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park since its creation in 1993, and through a fruitful public-private partnership between WCS and the Congolese Ministry of Forest Economy since 2014. Earlier this year, the Park expanded in size to include the Djéké Triangle, a gorilla-rich, unlogged forest in its southern part and home to the three habituated gorilla groups and a research camp. The Triangle includes a community sustainable use zone, allowing for the continued collection of non-timber forest products and traditional fishing.
The Gorilla Friendly Certification rewards the decades of work that have gone into habituating four (and soon to be five) groups of gorillas to human presence, leading to major advances in our understanding of their ecology and social structures, and enabling the Park to offer a unique tourist experience.