Waka National Park

Waka National Park is a national park in central Gabon. Waka protects over 1,000 km² of rain forest in the Chaillu Massif. The mountains of the Chaillu Massif- tough, steeply-valleyed and of a savage beauty- seem today to be at the heart of untamed nature. However, a second look shows that it has not always been so.

There is a narrow and deep forested rift valley 100 km long in the middle of the Mitsogho land. A remarkable feature of the site is the Ikobé-Ikoy-Onoy rift valley, deeply incised into the landscape. It follows a line of geological faults over 100 kilometres long with crystal-clear, pebble-bedded rivers funneling through it.

Culture

Aging oil palms and atanga (African plum) trees bear witness to ancient villages perched in unexpected places. History tells us about the resistance against Bakele and French incursions into Mitsogho country, the warrior Mbombe, and the Bwiti religion- today more widespread- but which had its origins, it seems, in the Chaillu Massif. What civilization existed here in days gone by?