OGOOUÉ-LOLO PROVINCE

Area of great forest with very mountainous landscape,Ogooué-Lolo takes its name from the two main rivers that water the region: the Ogooué in Lastoursville and Lolo in Koulamoutou.

Ogooué-Lolo province is limited in the East by Leyou river and by the river Offoué in the West.

Its boundary is characterized by a band of Savannah fromNorth to South. As for the West we find a range of mountains, of which the highest is Mont Iboundji which measures 972 meters above sea level.

This province is crossed by many rivers. The center of the province is mainly watered by the Lolo and its tributaries. The West and the East Meanwhile are bathed by the Lebiyu, the Offoué and their sous-affluents. Ogooué-Lolo, as in other provinces of Gabon, is subject to a hot and humid equatorial climate.

The average temperature varies between 24 and 25 ° C throughout the year. Two dry seasons, from May to September and then from December to January, alternate with wet seasons the rest of the months.
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Ogooué- Lolo Province has resources that can sustainably be useful to the realization of the vision of Green Gabon.

The beauty of the Province comes by its fauna and its flora.The flora and fauna are very rich with a high rate of endemism specifically in the massif of du Chaillu.

The marantaceae forests, closer to the savannahs in theNorth, are an ideal habitat for elephants and gorillas and therefore hold the biomass of the highest mammals met in up to now within tropical rainforests

Regarding animals, Ogooué-Lolo contains a biodiversity rich in typical forest species: gorillas, chimpanzees, bongos,elephants and many other animals but also a reservoir of biodiversity and of unique attractions.

Lastoursville, is located at 630 km from Libreville. The small town located in the Department of Mulundu has kept its charm as the capital of the district during the colonial period until when Koulamoutou took its place in 1949, years before the war Wongo around 1928-1929. The city inhabited mainly by the Adouma and the Awandji, kept the memory of this fierce battle fought by Wongo against the colonial militias. But it has also kept the memory of his ‘stationchief’ most famous: François de Lastours.

A little more than 130 years after his death, the relics of the recent past of a young Explorer are still visible. His burial,brick buildings and the layout of the town. But they have all died those who witnessed his existence in Madiville.
That Explorer who chose Africa for his adventures in the heart of a century marked by the conquest of the forest and new discoveries around the world was born on 26 May 1855 in Montauban.
If one recalls him as François de Lastours, let’s stress that his true name was Jacques Marie François Rigail de Lastours. He was born from a family of four,which is the only son. His three sisters were quickly married and their progeny are established in all France.
And that’s why Madiville became Lastoursville in1885.

Ogooué-Lolo province has 3 of 13 national parks created in 2002.

-The Park of Mont Birogou, located between Mbigou and Pana, has an area of 69 021 hectares. It is made up of mountain scenery and a forest refuge of great biological wealth;
-The Park of Ivindo with 300 274 hectares. Ivindo has specificity of impressive elephants and gorillas in the grandiose waterfalls and exceptional visibility conditions;
-The Park of Lope (491 291 hectares) with the largest concentration of Mandrills in Africa and traces of the presence of man aged more than 400,000 years. In its forest policy, Gabon initiates and encourages the implementation of the concession of all or part of its national parks. Private investors can thus promote ecotourism.

The province offers to tourists the opportunity to visit historical places and to contemplate directly the different national parks’s species and their exceptional vegetation.

-The caves of Lastourville: are listed on the indicative list for Unesco World Heritage. It is for the most well-known markand Mabelo caves which are about 5 km from the city and the giant caves of Kessipougou 12 km. These caves were used in traditional ceremonies for the Smiths, judges and healers.

-The forest of the bees: this is a large area of forest between the Ogooué and the offoué. It has an area of 2500 km2 and 441 plant species recorded.
-The Park of Mont Birougou: located between Mbigou in the province of Ngounie and Pana, 700 km from Libreville.With an area of 70,000 hectares, its relief is hilly and culminates at 900 m. it is an important water tower for the massif of du Chaillu, which concentrates the Onoye and the sources of the Lolo, as well as the Nyanga and the Louetsi.
-The Mont Iboundji: Located in the Massif of du Chaillu , it is a stone plateau, which offers many beautiful cliffs of more 100 m high waterfall.

-The sanctuary of the monkey – Sunny: it is located in the part of the forest of bees between Lopé and Koulamoutou.The Cercopithecussolatus, declared as protected was baptized byecologist Mike Harrison “Sun-tailed Guenon” because of the reddish stain on his tail.
-The falls of Doumé, Boundji and Sessengue: these falls lie on the Ogooué. Doumé falls are a cataract, those of Boundjiconsist of large boulders, and Sessengue are the rapids.Doumé and Boundji falls is the name of the neighbouringvillages.
-The Catholic Church of Koulamoutou built in 1949 in pink brick.