Gorilla Base Camp

Multiple rainforest activities can radiate out from Gorilla Base Camp. (This extends visitor stay-time.) Visitors could opt to spend nights at the bai under the stars or in the treetop pavilion to awake with canopy birdsongs. They could look for gorillas in the bai, follow chimpanzee trackers, take long walks in the forest with guides, or search for birds and monkeys from aerial walks.

The proposed dining room and bar overlook a beautiful 15-meter waterfall and the rock clearing. Most of the cooling for the camp is natural, combining careful siting of buildings in the shade, roofs insulated with rare orchid and fern ecosystems and solar vents and fans that move air. These can be supplemented by air-conditioning in the cabin if needed.

WATERFALL

MAIN LODGE TRAIL TO LANGOUÉ BAI (DINING & BAR)

GUEST CABINS IN FOREST

TOP: Gorilla Base Camp will be built into the forest edge, barely visible from the rock clearing. RESEARCH STATION

ABOVE: There can be many solo and group activities but cabins are separated for privacy as a place to relax and enjoy nature.

RIGHT: The principal dining room and bar overlook the spectacular waterfall, perched on ABOVE: The structures should be at the forest edge for natural cooling under shade trees. Final rocks on the edge of a forest escarpment. location of all buildings will be decided in the field.

153 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK Langoué Bai was unknown to people for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years until LANGOUE BAI WCS's Dr. Mike Fay discovered it during his famed Megatransect in 2000. He followed multiple elephant trails, all heading in the same VISITING THE GARDEN OF EDEN direction toward this bai. A bai is a clearing in the forest cleared of trees by elephants as they Langoué Bai has been remote from people for so many centuries that its eat the rich soil. Here many of the animals are unafraid, a perfect condition for tourism. gorillas, chimps and other wildlife are naïve and unafraid of people. This plan proposes ways to bring visitors into this pristine area without damaging it ecologically or disturbing the wildlife. Visitors would stay at the Gorilla Base Camp for several days, exploring the flat rock clearing by themselves, going to the nearby Langoué Bai, spending nights in the canopy and forest, trekking through pristine rainforest to the peak nearby.

WCS’s Research Camp has been built at a small clearing nearby to integrate research with tourism.

An elegant forest waterfall covered with wild begonias is next to the site for Gorilla Base Camp's main hall. It is critical that no kitchen or shower water ever enters this stream which flows into the bai. Gorilla Base Camp will accommodate a maximum IVINDO of 16-20 visitors at once, with future overflow at an old village site several kilometers to the south. Its architecture protects the environment. The central dining and meeting rooms will use the natural cooling of the forest and waterfall as part of its ecological sustainability.

By day the skytowers at Langoué Bai are to be used for observing animals, by night they will be exclusive places to spend a night under the stars.

A treetop pavilion perched high in the canopy is to be used by day for treetop observation and by night for an exclusive experience (see next page).

Aerial walkways enable people to avoid elephant trails below and get closer to the canopy to see monkeys and birds.

Skytowers are to be built among the trees where the first scientists' flimsy observation platforms were built. IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 154 Seeing Elephants Up-Close at Night “The observation

A unique experience is planned for Langoué Bai. As at Kenya’s famous towers will quickly Treetops and The Ark, visitors will have a unique place customized for become an icon of both day and nighttime wildlife viewing. The idea is based on researchers and photographers platforms at Langoué Bai which were high enough over tourism in Gabon, the marsh grass to see gorillas and other wildlife. Several private “skytowers” are being built here, inconspicuously in the trees at the edge of the bai for one of the many visitor’s panoramic observation, sited directly over elephants’ paths. The ways to discover skytowers are connected by aerial walkways that keep human scent off the elephants’ trails, and also keep people safe above the elephants’ reach. A the tropical forest small pavilion high on the adjacent hillside away from the bai, connected by aerial walkways, will house composting toilets. Visitor’s evening picnics and its animals.” can also be held here. Red lights can provide observation for humans, but ROMBOUT SWANBORN, do not disturb the animals. OPERATION LOANGO/SCD

Elephants are deterred by the scent of humans on their forest trails, and will be displaced from their Red lights create less glare at night than white traditional routes if people use those paths. By putting people on overhead walkways, elephants are light, enabling people to see more. They have happy and visitors are not only safer but are able to see more nature. the added advantage that most animals are colorblind and do not detect them.

“There are a lot more elephants at night than during the day, and when the moon is full, you can see them. Often there are more than 20 in the bai at a time and sometimes they are still there in the morning. They fight, they discuss the use of the water holes, and they trumpet until late at night.”

MODESTE DOUCKAGA, WCS SCIENTIST AT LANGOUÉ BAI To allow elephants to feel comfortable with humans close by, visitors will be kept off the ground by sky towers connected by aerial walkways.

155 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK UNDER NIGHT SKY AT LANGOUé BAI VISION SKYTOWERS AT THE BAI’S EDGE

At Langoué Bai, designers envision private five-meter high observation platforms built into trees at the edge of the bai. Visitors can have their own private area for an unparalleled experience. Platforms can be reserved for the night, for no more than four guests. By day visitors will observe Rainforest Gorillas, Sitatunga and rare birds. Interpretive booklets and brochures will be created by WCS scientists and designers to help visitors easily identify animals - not only by species but in some cases by individual gorilla or elephant.

By night, if visitors are quiet, Forest Elephant herds will use their traditional paths directly below the platforms. (Guest areas will be above elephant reach and attached to canopy walkways.) This powerful night experience will be remembered forever by tourists. IVINDO

Seeing a Forest Elephant up-close is an unforgettable experience. Strict care must be taken to ensure that elephants are comfortable with visitors being so close. For example, a special camera flash is needed.

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 156 WCS & cresolus A Network of Trails High in the Trees

VISION Walkways will provide a unique way to visit Gabon's forest without negative impact on the ecosystem and to help find wildlife. Aerial walkways will be built between sturdy trees here for three reasons. First, to enable visitors to see treetop animals while keeping human smells off of elephant trails on the ground. (Elephants are sensitive to human scent and will move away.) Secondly, the walkways enhance visitor safety - raised safely above elephant reach. It is not fun to meet a nervous elephant up close on the ground, especially at night. The final reason is to enable visitors to see monkeys, hornbills, and an entire world in the treetops that otherwise is missed by the viewer on the ground.

WCS & cresolus

Langoué Bai clearing

skytowers built into the forest edge

elephant trails

Human walkway off to the side of elephants’ paths.

Heavily used elephant trail on ridge

TOP RIGHT: Using proven technology, many dozens of canopy walks like this have been built in Costa Rica and South America.

RIGHT: Leading walkway experts from the neotropics will be brought to Gabon to help build with existing proven technology. They have developed "tree-friendly" construction that does not drill into tree trunks and thus does not weaken them by allowing tree-rot and insect access. Cables and tree protectors help ensure a long, safe, tree life. Few canopy walks have been built to date in Africa's forest.

157 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK Canopy Tree Houses A UNIQUE WAY TO EXPERIENCE FORESTS VISION A unique experience is planned for Ivindo’s forest. Designers propose a treehouse to be used for daytime viewing and as a special place to spend the night. By day the Langoué Bai canopy is the domain of touracos, Chestnut-backed Owlets are rarely seen from hornbills, monkeys, rare chameleons and other animals. By night, several the ground. owls and nocturnal prosimians like pottos and galagos awake in the treetops, the latter attracted to fruit and nectar.

Gorilla Base Camp’s guests will be able to visit by day in groups, and some will sign up to spend the night to awaken to the dawn chorus of birds. Treehouses built securely between emergent trees high in the canopy will be a unique feature of Gabon tourism. If built and outfitted with information properly it will become an icon of ecotourism in Gabon with long waiting lists for tourists. Chameleons and monkeys are best seen high up in the trees. IVINDO

African Pied Hornbills are a treat for the nature lover.

LEFT AND BELOW: Canopy towers and walkways create a spectacular way to see treetop birds in Gabon, such as the Giant Blue Touraco, six spectacular hornbill species and wary birds like Lyre- tailed Honeyguides, never seen from the ground. Monkeys may also be seen foraging in the trees.

RIGHT: Imagine a personal treehouse as one’s hotel room, high in the canopy of the WCS & cresolus Equatorial rainforest. IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 158 Tracking Animals

Few places in Africa offer tourists the opportunity to find two great apes as well as other rainforest primates. Many of Langoué Bai's most interesting creatures rarely visit the open bai itself but animals like chimps and monkeys can be seen high in the treetops foraging for a rich menu of fruits. Often heard at Ivindo, chimps are rarely well-seen as they are shy and disperse quickly when they meet people. A multi-year primate acclimation program will begin to acclimate these shy animals to the safe proximity of people. When heavily-fruiting trees are located by researchers, temporary treetop observation platforms can be installed to bring people up close. Canopy walkways will suddenly provide visitor access to the canopy for mammal observation. They will also enable visitors to find treetop birds, including six spectacular species of hornbill and others sought by birders, such as Lyre-tailed Honeyguides, bright red malimbes, and many iridescent sunbirds rarely seen from the ground.

Radio-collaring has been valuable to learn how much space elephants need, and whether they stay within park boundaries or venture out. This information can inform tourist operators as well as researchers.

“Canopy walkways open the final frontier in rainforest research and ecotourism and are a ‘must’ to

ABOVE: Irvingeya gabonensis is an important food source for chimps. showcase the spectacular architecture

LEFT: Science teams monitor elephant activity of African rainforests.” at Ivindo National Park. This large male was fitted with a GPS collar in 2003. DR.CHARLES A. MUNN, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, TROPICAL NATURE FAR RIGHT: Moustached Guenons, Greater Spotnosed and Crowned Guenons, as well as Grey-cheeked Mangabeys are the most commonly seen monkeys at Ivindo.

159 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK innovative interpretation TOURISTS HUNGER FOR INTERESTING INFORMATION

The visitor experience will mesh with research at Langoué Bai, which has proven to be one of the most fertile places for the ongoing study of large forest mammals in Central Africa. Visitors will meet researchers and go into the forest with them or with trained guides. Researchers will provide dinner presentations to guests and dine with them each week. Copies of researchers' notebooks will be accessible to guests at the Gorilla Base Camp, including pages with facial photos of distinctive animals so that visitors will be able to identify animals as the scientists do. As such, Langoué Bai will also serve as an important place for serious young Gabonese scientists to begin their field studies and to meet and explain to foreign visitors the value of Central Africa's forests.

Even the "skytowers" integrate with research, for they are inspired by the original platforms built here for research and photography, high enough for clear observation of the bai. New researchers will use the skytowers for observation too, while interpreting for the visitors.

The potential for pre- and post-visit website access with updates and images will reinforce visitors' learning and help create strong memories while also promoting the unique nature of an experience in Gabon. Thus this kind of IVINDO quality visitor experience will have strong potential not only for driving tourism but also has the potential for creating longlasting relationships with Gabon. Visitors will become global advocates for Gabon.

LEFT AND BELOW: Strong lenses are critical to bring distant scenes up-close. TOP: Observers at Laugoue Bai witness the dynamics of an entire ecosystem - with interactions between species. Modeste Douckaga is an established WCS researcher and a fountain of knowledge. Strong telescopes, like the one Modeste uses, are important to see distant animals close-up.

ABOVE: Interpretation at Langoué Bai will blend into existing study efforts. Visitors can learn about the bai ecosystem through researchers’ notes on local animals, used to identify animals by individual characteristics. Guests can use interpretive materials (and their own observational skills) to get to know animals by name. Researchers will interact with guests and present information to further enrich the experience.

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 160 Building Green at Langoué Building under shade trees is naturally cooler Lightweight materials are easier to transport than a building directly in the hot sun. into this location. To build in a rare ecosystem like Langoué Bai, one must employ special construction techniques and materials. The plan proposed here enhances A solar chimney uses the power of the sun to the ecosystem by enlarging habitat for the unique flora of grasses, ferns, Solar chimney and panels on the roof provide draw heat out of building interiors and pull in much of the electricity needed for the base cool air from the shady forest below. orchids and gladioluses. “Green” architecture techniques will provide camp and operate silently. space for plants to grow on the roof, protected from elephants.

Orchid roofs expand the site’s rare habitat while Air conditioning is available in providing insulation from bedrooms only, but is largely the heat of the day and unneccesary due to the natural retaining warmth at night cooling system. which can be cool.

Tinted sloped windows protect birds from collisions with the glass. Termite-free building materials and window screens for occasional insects.

TImed showers with explanatory graphics reduce water consumption.

Elevated walkways keep foot traffic off fragile ecosystems. Composting toilets may look conventional, but use no water. Used for twenty years elsewhere and by Gabon’s military, Permeable decking allows rainwater they convert human to pass naturally through the waste to a dry powder. architecture and to continue to nourish plants below. A grey water system filters shower and sink water into the soil and prevents human scent from getting into the stream. Steel supports are made from recycled oil drilling pipes

A rare group of orchids, ferns and wild gladiolus Insulated roofs provide cooling by day and naturally grows on shallow bedrock here. warmth by night, as well as a new perch for Planting them on the roof of buildings will habitat that grows natually in expected locations. enlarge habitat for these rare plants.

It may look like a building but it is actually a machine for sustainable living.

Lightweight buildings sit delicately on the rock, providing a comfortable place for visitors as well as ecological sustainability.

Composting toilets are a standard technology that do not use water, preventing discharge of dirty water into pristine ecosystems like the clean waterfall at left. 161 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK sustainable architecture VISION at langoué

Proven elements from the international wave of “green” architecture provide new opportunities to build without disturbing delicate ecosystems. Proposed Base Camp architecture will be built high on recycled posts to enable light and rain to pass to the rare ecosystem beneath. Orchid “gardens” will grow on roofs to increase the habitat for endemic ferns, gladiolus, begonias, and orchids already growing in narrow fissures in the moist rock below. Special care is needed during construction, such as the absence of heavy machinery and “no-go” zones. Pre-formed parts will also lessen impact on the construction site.

“Green architecture respects the environment and is also less expensive to maintain.”

ANDREW COATES, CRESOLUS ECODESIGNER IVINDO

LEFT: Cabins will use sustainable or “green” architecture to not disturb the natural ecosystem. One of the biggest challenges is to ensure that no water from human septic, food, or bathing systems enters the streams here (which flow directly into Langoué Bai). Waterfalls must stay forever pristine as they were in 2000 when the rocky clearing was first discovered. Architecture must “sit lightly” on the land.

ABOVE: Marketing Gabon as an innovative leader in “green” design to protect unique ecosystems is a distinctive selling point and needs to be integral to Gabon’s sustainable global marketing plan.

VISION

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 162 WCS & cresolus Multiple Sports, Continuous Adventure a six day multi-adventure circuit

VISION The ability to explore Africa’s rainforest and wilderness rivers has special appeal to the adventure market, especially if tourists can explore nature in DAY 1: Fly inland to Makokou and board Gabonese war canoe replicas company of unafraid Hippopotamuses and Forest Elephants. in which up to 10 adventurers travel down the Ivindo River with local trained guide/naturalists and experts to learn boating skills and wildlife A specialized adventure tourism company that can combine river sports observation techniques. Sleep on platforms strung across two expertise with specialty hotel building and operations will be needed. canoes beside a roosting site for 5,000 African Visiting places as remote as Ivindo National Park means that simply having Grey Parrots. an egg for breakfast requires complicated logistics. Adventure tourists are DAY 2: Continue paddling down to the not as interested in comfort as traditional nature tourists are - but the spectacular Kongou Falls. Afternoon spent adventure travelers do require well-organized trips with expert guides, exploring the falls traversing roaring white- reliable kayaks and equipment, fresh food, and an occasional lodge to water gorges on rope bridges. Evening recharge camera batteries and take a warm shower. camping beside the falls.

DAYS3&4:Forest lore deep in wilderness: Follow the now legendary trail of Mike Fay’s “Megatransect” during a two-day hike. Visitors might see chimps, smell big gorillas up close, watch three species of monkeys from a high observation platform, watch hornbills and innumerable other birds, encounter large monitor lizards, and cross crocodile swamps.

WCS & cresolus DAY 5: Morning kayaking down mysterious Djidji, past elephant herd at riverside, past ABOVE: Imagine being able to climb to the top of canopy trees 30 meters high! ABOVE: Imagine curious guests when camping in the Equatorial Rainforest. hundreds of Slender-snouted Crocodiles. If quiet you will encounter Congo Clawless Otters fishing in the river. Stop for a night in a camp close to the river and listen for VISION Tree Hyrax and elephant calls. Fish for your supper (only one fish allowed per person by park rules) and cook them in the traditional manner wrapped in arrowroot leaves and baked in the embers of a campfire.

DAY 6: Early breakfast and morning paddle down to exit point on the Djidji. Walk out to an old logging road and continue on mountain bikes to the magnificent Djidji waterfalls. Take care as you round each bend - elephants and gorillas feast on the wild gingers that line the track, and even leopards abound. At the falls learn how to climb a giant rainforest tree to get a spectacular view of the torrent. Dusk pickup by 4x4 vehicles for a night drive the Ivindo train station and transfer to Libreville on the Transgabonais railway.

ABOVE: The presence of Rainforest Gorillas, Mandrills, Forest Buffalo, and Forest Elephants make this a fantastic place to explore. The rapids below Kongou Falls (including Ilezi and Nsiete rapids) appear to still have Hippopotamuses. The rapids are enriched by mineral salines that attract good numbers of elephants…but also hunters. Total protection from poaching is critical. WCS & cresolus

ABOVE: Imagine cross-country mountain bike travels along elephant trails on bikes equipped with a small bell to notify animals of your arrival.

163 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK extreme adventure NICHE MARKET DISCOVERS GABON VISION

A young, relatively affluent market of 20- to 40-year-old outdoor sports enthusiasts in Europe and the US looks for new global adventure destinations including remote rivers to explore. The wild Djidji and Ivindo Rivers are perfect for this adventure tourism market. The Djidji snakes across rainforest wilderness of central Gabon toward great waterfalls, providing places for the energetic adventurer to cross whitewater rapids, portage around river-carried forest trees and discover other surprises in stretches of river where high densities of wildlife still exist, including Slender-snouted Crocodiles, otters and elephants. Hippopotamus still live in the Ivindo between Kongou and Mingouli, protected by the extreme remoteness of this frontier location but in need of immediate protection. Below Mingouli the Ivindo looks to be ideal for whitewater rafting adventures, joining the Ogooué and following it through forest and savanna hills to Lopé.

ADVENTURE SPORTS PHENOMENON

New groups of “adventure” and “extreme sports” enthusiasts in the USA and Europe (now even China) actively search for unique places in the world to combine their love for physical sports adventure with nature. IVINDO This is a lifestyle fueled by magazine advertisers selling sports gear, outdoor clothes and equipment. US advertisers claim 98 million Americans have taken some kind of "adventure trip" in the past five years; in Germany nature experiences mixed with sports activities (biking, riding, and other sports) is claimed to outsell pure nature programs alone 2.6 to 1 (WTO Market Intelligence Report, 2002). Outside magazine has an annual circulation of 650,000. The magazine featured an article on paddling the Djidji in their January 2007 issue.

BELOW: The “adventure market” is large, with its own health-oriented lifestyle magazines, clothing and equipment, and health exercise regimens. Some will want to visit wild central Gabon if the “adventure” is completely organized for them.

WCS & cresolus

ABOVE: Imagine adventure tourism with whitewater rides passing hippos and elephants. It can become as internationally famous as the surfing hippos at Loango. Total protection of these mammals is necessary now and patrol stations must be established immediately to prevent “the golden goose” from being eaten. Scientific inventories and sightings by fisherman indicate the probability of a small Hippopotamus population between Kongou and Mingouli Falls, but also increasing numbers of hunters (from Loa Loa and Ovan) since 2001. Strong measures against hippo hunting in the Park will be required to avoid losing the entire group. In the early 20th Century Hippopotamuses were known as far north as Makokou.

“There may be Hippopotamuses still at four different sets of rapids between Kongou and Mingouli”

DR SALLY LAHM, IRET/WCS

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 164 BIRDS OF GABON Importance of Birdwatching Tourism HIGHLY-SOUGHT RAINFOREST SPECIES BLACK-COLLARED LOVEBIRD A FAST-GROWING MARKET GREEN-BREASTED PITTA RED-HEADED PICATHARTES Birdwatching is one of the fastest growing segments of ecotourism, especially strong in northern Europe and the USA. The UK’s Royal Society AFRICAN RIVER-MARTIN for Protection of Birds recently aquired one million members. A US Fish ROSY BEE-EATER and Wildlife Service poll indicated a possible 5.52 million Americans BLACK GUINEAFOWL going out of their backyards to look for birds. Reputedly $32 billion is GREY GROUND-THRUSH spent in the USA on binoculars, books, travel, and other expenses relating LONG-TAILED HAWK to birdwatching. A percentage of these bird aficionados will want to visit RACHEL'S MALIMBE Gabon. This depends on their perception of Gabon as safe, easy, and SPOT-BREASTED IBIS rewarding. Publicity must also make people aware of what to expect. AFRICAN PICULET Birders are often the first wave of tourists into a country and do not LYRE-TAILED HONEYGUIDE require the more comfortable accommodations of the high-end nature CONGO SERPENT-EAGLE tourism market. PEL'S FISHING-OWL HAIRY-BREASTED BARBET There are about 10,000 kinds of birds on the planet, many of them in CROWNED EAGLE Gabon. Ivindo has one of the richest forest bird populations in Africa, WOODHOUSE'S ANTPECKER offering significant potential for bird-watching tourism. GREAT BLUE TOURACO BRISTLE-NOSED BARBET AFRICAN GREY PARROT GOSLING'S APALIS NUKULENGU RAIL BLACK-CASQUED HORNBILL BLUE-BREASTED KINGFISHER TOP RIGHT: The Emerald Cuckoo has a distinctive call: “Hello Georgie,” a common sound of the deep forest. BLACK DWARF HORNBILL BARE-EYED TROGON RIGHT: Cassin’s Malimbes prefer big trees in the forest. VERMICULATED FISHING-OWL FAR RIGHT: Every serious birder has to see a huge Pel’s Eagle Owl. ROCK PRATINCOLE BELOW: Birding is a strong area of nature tourism. Many birders travel the globe to complete GREY-HEADED BROADBILL their “life list.” JOHANNA'S SUNBIRD AFRICAN FINFOOT BELOW RIGHT: The Black Guinafowl is a species highly sought by birders. BLACK BEE-EATER GABON HELMETSHRIKE FIRE-CRESTED ALETHE BLUE-THROATED ROLLER PALE-FRONTED NEGROFINCH GREEN HYLIA RED-BELLIED MALIMBE RED-BILLED DWARF HORNBILL WESTERN BLUEBILL RUFOUS-SIDED BROADBILL AKUN EAGLE-OWL PREUSS'S WEAVER EMERALD CUCKOO CHESTNUT-BACKED OWLET SHINING-BLUE KINGFISHER FOREST FRANCOLIN

165 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK MAKOKOU BIRDING CREATING A NEW FAMOUS DESTINATION FOR BIRDERS

Makokou is the richest known forest area in Africa for birds but is unknown to the growing market of international birders. New construction is proposed here, to create an African forest birding mecca at Makokou. This is the optimum site to create innovative facilities and activities that enable people to see more birds - canopy towers, specialty guides and feeders, moveable blinds, and artificial nesting areas. Birders are a growing segment within the ecotourism market and this can become Africa's ultimate forest birding location.

Brilliantly-colored Blue-billed Malimbes live high in the canopy, thus are rarely seen. Creation of canopy walks near fruiting trees and with interpretive stations here will debut a new world to tourists.

IRET: It may be possible to establish a program with IRET (Institute de Researches en Ecologie Tropical) so that birding groups can pay to stay here in the recently renovated buildings. This will provide birders with ready access to the forest and IRET with some additional income (although breakfasts will need to be ready pre-dawn!). IVINDO

RIVER BOAT: Thousands of African Grey Parrots come here every evening from many kilometers away, to pass the night in the Raffia palms along the river. It is a bright, noisy spectacle that will appeal to more than birders. Moving “blinds” that hide people are needed here, as has been done in Peru.

The Red-chested Owlet is hard to see until one learns its call. Trained guides with tape playbacks can enable visitors to see hundreds of species here.

WATERFALL : The impressive Kongou Falls is a destination for all in the area to see, with possibility of lightweight cables to bring birders into the mist to look for waterfall-nesting swifts.

CABIN: A simple lightweight secondary camp for birders could supplement the major lodge at Kongou Falls.

The shimmering Shining-blue Kingfisher is a beautiful rainforest species. It will remain rarely observed until a covered bird blind is built with seats and interpretation over a forest stream.

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 166 Assisting Nature (and Birders) at Makokou

An objective here is to devise ways to assist bird populations, especially for rare species, while building for tourism. Certain birds like Gabon’s Picathartes (also called Red-headed Rockfowl) are rare because of restricted available habitat. They only build nests on steep rock faces and shallow caves in primary forest, and nature only provides a limited number of these sites. One proposal is to increase available habitat by sculpting artificial escarpments in suitable boulder forests at Makokou, incorporating photography blinds for tourists. Will the birds nest on a man-made rock? The answer is probably yes, for in 2003 Picathartes nested under manmade bridges at Lopé. Picathartes are so renowned that the tour company Tropical Birding promises to return half a tourist’s money if their tour to Cameroon fails to find one!

Several macaws in South America and hornbills in Asia have been found to have insufficient numbers of large hollow trees for nesting – might this also be true in Ivindo? If so, artificial nests can be installed near canopy walks to help the birds, while also making them easier to see. Flourescent light naturally attracts large numbers of night insects – a light-feeder in the forest might be sited next to an observation blind to attract birds where tourists can take photos. Might this be the way to see the elusive Green-breasted Pitta? It is brilliantly colored and lives at Ivindo, but no one ever sees it!

Few even dream of seeing a Picathartes. The plan is to sculpt artificial cliffs for Picathartes in perfect habitat to create more places in nature Imagine a moveable platform to see inside the nest of Africa’s Crowned Eagle normally too high in Photos of this exotic forest bird are extremely rare. for this bird to place its cupped mud nest, but also to create hidden photography blinds in the faux a canopy tree. They can be built in ways that do not disturb the birds as they hunt for monkeys and escarpment to enable tourists to finally be able to photograph this wily bird. squirrels to feel their young.

167 IVINDO NATIONAL PARK CREATING WAYS TO FIND BIRDS

VISION HARD-TO-SEE RAINFOREST BIRDS BECOME EASIER

The Makokou area may be one of the richer areas for bird biodiversity in Africa, but many rainforest birds are as hard to see as mammals, unless special ways of “parting the green curtain” are created. This includes building places to enable people to get closer to birds without scaring them, such as walkways into the treetops and nesting places.

Aerial towers and walkways will enable people to finally see hornbills and other canopy species. Canopy walk technologies are well-known in the neotropics but have rarely been used in Africa. Ongoing scouting programs would locate active nests of eagles and large hornbills in order to install lightweight temporary blinds for photographers and bird groups, without disturbing birds. Some nests would even have mini cameras installed for close-up views. Faux cliffs can be sculpted to expand the natural range of rare and localized species like Picathartes and Forest Swallows, thus letting people finally get good looks at them. Experiments to create worm feeders would attempt to lure jewel-colored pittas. Canopy nectar feeders would be created to attract colorful sunbirds into camera range.

A unique feature of Gabon can be access to interpretive information, so that tourists not only see wonderful birds and animals, but also know IVINDO what those creatures are, and what their interesting behaviors mean.

WCS & cresolus

WCS & cresolus

Anewillustrated guide to the natural history of Ivindo National Park published in 2006 by the Wildlife Conservation Society will be an important addition to any ecotourist’s travel kit.

The largest known flocks of Africa’s biggest parrot, the African Grey Parrot roost by the thousands The innovation here is that people see more wildlife and learn more about nature on Gabon’s each night along the Ivindo and Liboumba Rivers. Floating photography observatories will be built proposed canopy platforms. The technology for building canopy walkways without damaging trees has here similar to successful floating macaw blinds built at clay licks in Peru and Ecuador. been perfected in South America and can be imported to Gabon.

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK 168