One Man’s Plan to Save Africa’s Largest Forest Park
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📰 The quick summary: At age 70, Spanish conservationist Luis Arranz is leading efforts to protect Africa’s largest tropical forest national park, Salonga in the DRC, by combining wildlife conservation with new economic opportunities for local communities.
📈 One key stat: Salonga National Park covers 36,000 square kilometers, making it Africa’s largest tropical forest national park and one of the largest in the world, which means protecting it has an outsized impact on Congo Basin biodiversity.
💬 One key quote: “We cannot tell people not to hunt without offering alternatives,” said Luis Arranz, co-director of Salonga National Park. “They must eat, like you and me. So, we must propose other solutions.”
1️⃣ The big picture: Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is Africa’s largest tropical forest national park, spanning 36,000 square kilometers and serving as a critical refuge for bonobos, forest elephants, and other Congo Basin species. Despite its ecological importance, the park remains largely inaccessible and little known internationally. Since 2022, Spanish conservationist Luis Arranz has taken on the role of co-director with a clear mission to reverse the park’s decline. Around 800,000 people live near the park, and for many of them, hunting is one of the few available sources of food and income, putting significant pressure on wildlife. Arranz is tackling this challenge by pushing for agricultural alternatives like cacao and coffee, as well as laying the groundwork for ecotourism.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: A seasoned conservationist with nearly 50 years of field experience is now dedicating his efforts to one of Africa’s most ecologically vital yet overlooked protected areas. Plans for ecotourism, including bonobo habituation, an airstrip, and a lodge, could open Salonga to visitors for the first time and generate sustainable income for surrounding communities. Linking Salonga to other conservation landscapes across the Congo Basin could create a unique wildlife corridor, offering tourists the chance to see gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and mountain gorillas in a single trip, something possible nowhere else on Earth. Engaging the nearly 20 million residents of Kinshasa as domestic tourists adds a realistic and scalable path to funding conservation over the long term. By pairing wildlife protection with genuine livelihood improvements for local communities, this approach builds the kind of local support that makes conservation efforts far more likely to last.
3️⃣ What’s next: Arranz and his team are continuing to develop ecotourism infrastructure, including a lodge and more reliable air access to the park. Community engagement efforts will focus on expanding agricultural alternatives like cacao and coffee to reduce dependence on hunting. Over time, the goal is to connect Salonga with other major conservation landscapes across the Congo Basin into a single wildlife route.
Read the full story here: Mongabay – ‘I like impossible missions’: A conservationist’s mission to turn around Salonga’s fate
