The forest at Nouabalé-Ndoki is so thick and untouched that researchers who first explored it in the 1990s found gorillas that had never seen humans before - the gorillas were curious rather than afraid. That helped scientists learn that gorillas can be very gentle and sociable when they feel safe.
The park is part of the Sangha Trinational - three national parks in three different countries (the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Central African Republic) that together form one enormous protected forest. Animals can roam freely across all three countries without any fences in the way.
The forest here holds extraordinary numbers of animals: forest elephants, chimpanzees, bongos (large forest antelopes with beautiful spiral horns), African grey parrots and many rare butterflies. Researchers from universities around the world come to study them and share what they learn with the rest of humanity.