page_title: Minkébé National Park
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Minkébé National Park / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: English: Forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the swamp Mbeli Bai, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo.
context_page_description: Minkébé National Park is a national park in the extreme northeast of Gabon. It covers an area of 7,570 km². The WWF recognized it as an area needing protection as early as 1989 and has been actively working towards protecting the forest since 1997. The park was established as a provisional reserve in 2000 but the Minkébé National Park itself was officially recognized and established by the Gabonese government in August 2002. It is recognized as a critical site for conservation by the IUCN and has been proposed as a World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: The forest elephant is particularly important to the park and is believed by the WWF to contain one of the largest populations in Africa. The lesser forest in the park is inhabited by elephants, gorillas, and various small carnivores, porcupines, squirrels, african golden cats, leopards, giant pangolins, duikers and red river hog. The primary forest is inhabited by creatures such as mandrill, black colobus and chimpanzee. 
  The western lowland gorilla, chimpanzee, black colobus, mandrill and golden potto have all been listed on the IUCN Red List. The riparian areas of the Minkébé forest provide for creatures who require a water habitat, including the dwarf crocodile, spotted-necked otter, crested mangabey, sitatunga, and water chevrotain. The swampy areas interspersed with vegetation also includes habitat for parrots and python. The park contains some animals which are rare in Gabon including the bongo and the giant forest hog.
  Although the park itself is not permanently inhabited by humans, populations of Baka pygmy, Fang, Kota and Kwèl ethnic groups live in the forest region and possess a rich cultural and superstitious heritage, The Kota mask, the forest spirit, Baka Edzengui, and the Kwel Deke dance are of cultural note in the region.
  Species of bird, including the spot-breasted ibis (Bostrychia rara) and Rachel's malimbe (Malimbus racheliae), are fairly common in the park, and the tree species Sterculia subviolacea is found in the national park and not found elsewhere in Gabon.
caption: The forest elephant population is believed by the WWF to be one of the largest in Africa
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12,01", "Image DateTime": "2008:06:19 22:57:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "190", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "600", "Thumbnail YResolution": "600", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "374", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "18036", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3543", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2362"}